Stefan Karlsson

Mark Hooten’s Missing Link Audio (MLA) has carved out a unique niche for itself as the leading purveyor of the Allman Brothers’ Fillmore East Live Sound. This manifests through a broad range of Allman Brothers inspired tone machines - including Amps, Pickups and of course Effects Pedals. I actually only encountered this brand very recently courtesy of Shane ’In the Blues’ Diiorio’s Best of 2021 Roundup where he included the MLA Peacock and Germanium Peacock Overdrives in his selection. Most unbeknown to me - Missing Link Audio has actually been around for 24 years - and is probably best known for its superior line of Mason-Dixon Amps : FE 22, FE 44-Duane 1x12, and FE 45 Dickey 1x12. In any case from Shane’s demo I was spurred into acquiring the limited edition Germanium Peacock - which is currently en-route to me and imminent. Before that has had a chance to arrive though, Mark and his team have created a further evolution / enhancement of the Fillmore East Sound - in the shape of the brand new HotLanta Dual Drive.

The range of Mason-Dixon Amps inspired the MLA Peacock series of overdrives initially - which consists of the Stock Peacock Overdrive, Peacock Handwired Edition, Peacock Dual Drive and the aforementioned Germanium Peacock which I acquired.

Controls - Level, 1-2-3 : 3-Way Treble Cut-Off, Gain, Tone, Voice (Presence & Bite), On/Off Footswitch, Boost Footswitch.

So the HotLanta is in effect the latest enhanced and ultimate evolution beyond the Peacock series - with even more touch-sensitivity, dynamics, headroom and guitar volume cleanup. Mark is the master of Opamp tweakery - and has managed to bring forth exceptional transistor-like sensitivities from the Opamps he deploys.

This is for sure the ultimate manifestation of the Allman Brothers sound in pedal form - where Mark describes it as more of an all-round authentic feel and experience - beyond just being a great sounding overdrive. This is all about the dynamics of interaction between the player’s fingertips and the wonderfully nuanced output which emanates from this pedal. It is the culmination of many years of tireless research and development - and the new more vibrant livery reflects the pinnacle of what has been achieved here.

While this range is new to me, I understand that Allman Brothers aficionados worldwide have long held these as cherished secret weapons - where I guess it’s time now to extend the proliferation further into the mainstream. Mark is quick to point out that the Boost element (+5dB) is pretty much a second drive channel as it’s a textured sort of dirty boost - which indeed imparts significant flavour - hence ’Dual Drive’ versus Overdrive + Boost.

Shane Diiorio is due to deliver his own demo take in a month or so, and in the meantime we need to make do with the Dr. D introduction / overview below - which for me doesn’t quite do the pedal full justice. So I’ve included some Live Allman Brothers footage to demonstrate the kinds of tones you can expect to achieve. I’m sure Shane will do a darn fine job on his demo - while I would really like to see this pedal demo’d by Alberto Barrero and Chris Buck - I believe those two are the most suited to the task. And following on from this article I will endeavour to persuade said gentlemen to showcase the heights of what this pedal is capable of.

I’m of course waiting to receive my Germanium Peacock before I put in my order for the HotLanta - which seems pretty inevitable. The HotLanta is available for order right not on the Missing Link Audio Webstore - at $279.99. You are advised that Build to Ship Time is typically a fortnight or so.

Any Allman Brothers fans among you? And are any of you already deploying Missing Link Audio Amps, Pedals or Pickups? Don’t be shy in sharing your own insights!

Demos and References