The Ballad of Little Jimmy

Posted by Andrew Ilgunas on March 9, 2021

Ok, so this is an incredibly overdue announcement that was really meant to be delivered in video form via an episode of Beer and a Chat. Sadly, due to current personal circumstances, a new episode of Beer and a Chat is unlikely to happen for quite some time and as such I felt the best way to address this most pressing of matters was in the form of the written word.

I have to say first of all a huge apology and massive thank you for his extreme patience with me to Simon at JSA Effects pedals. It was in October of 2020 that he got in touch with me regarding this and it was planned for the release to take place in early January of this year as a means of getting over the January blues. Sadly life has thrown me a few curve balls which have meant that I’ve had to persistently push this back and back. I also have to say huge thank you’s to my great friends Marcus of Marcus Dlux Pedal Boards; John of Stomp Slaps and Rich of Stompkins Pedals. All of whom have contributed their awesome work to this project at a price well below its true value and all have shown huge amounts of patience with me gradually dragging the disparate parts of this project into place.

Now that’s all said dear readers, let us get to the heart of our story…

Meet Little Jimmy. As you can probably tell from his picture, Jimmy is one of life’s malcontents. He’s an under achiever and dissatisfied with pretty much everything in his life.

He lives in a dingy basement flat but feels he should be occupying a penthouse.

He has a pretty, patient, attentive and incredibly tolerant girlfriend whom he knows he should adore but instead he resents, just because she’s so damn good for him.

He has a job that actually pays quite well and offers him a level of financial security that many in these times of trouble would give their right arm for. Jimmy is far from grateful though and perceives this 9-5 daily toil as a source of oppression holding him back from achieving his true dreams in life.

Pretty standard teenage angst shit then yeah?

Only Jimmy isn’t a teenager. Despite what his abysmal attempt at a moustache might lead you to believe, Jimmy is in fact twenty four years old. He’s been to Doctors and tried all the pills thrown at him and engaged in all the therapy offered in a bid to lift his malaise; but nothing has worked. Largely because his cynicism and over inflated sense of entitlement have dulled the potential good they could do him.

Having reached a point verging on the limit of her tolerance for his persistent whinging; his girlfriend sets him up with an appointment with a different kind of Doctor. A man named Simon who, rather than a medical professional, describes himself as a “Mad man with a soldering iron”. The appointment is a success and Simon quickly makes a diagnosis of what he terms P.T.A or, to give it its full and most glorious title, Post Teen Angst. The good news for Jimmy is that it’s an incredibly treatable condition and Simon quickly prescribes a tiny black box containing pure sonic release!

Upon plugging his electric guitar into the tiny little box presented to him, Jimmy immediately finds the means of expression he has been searching for all his life. A brutal, face melting, high – gain, Rodent type, op amp distortion circuit with a special sprinkling of magic, unique to JSA Effects which results in an incredible clarity of tone being retained; even at full gain, arse ripping settings!

Yes my dear friends; what I present to you here is the Post Teen Angst pedal by JSA Effects. The PTA is the 3 knob version of JSA’s none more black, offensively named one knob distortion monster. This version, available exclusively at Funny Little Boxes and in strictly limited numbers (currently only 5 available) has been redesigned specifically to be made available at a sub £100 price tag. And trust me, it sounds incredible! I have put it up against the aforementioned one knob version with the really expensive op amp in and I genuinely prefer the affordable 3 knob. The clarity of tone (dare I say “transparency”) is genuinely incredible for such a high gain pedal and it is positively addictive to play, whether for absolutely hammering riffs, chunky rhythm chords or screaming leads; it is a truly incredible pedal.

However, as it’s a pretty special little box which is, due to various factors only available in very limited quantities, I decided I wanted to make it even more special. As such, not only do you get the amazing pedal, but also an exclusive stomper from Stompkins Pedals; an exclusive, custom mini vert board from Marcus Dluxe Pedal Boards and awesome stickers, bag and certificate of authenticity all designed and produced by Stomp Slaps.