Had a few things coming in an out recently. Thankfully selling more than I'm buying, but only just. Here's a few brief reviews:
Caitlinbread Formula 5F6: I've never really loved amp-in-a-box pedals, but this thing absolutely nails an edge-of-breakup tone with Strat and Deluxe Reverb. Best OD I have played in this context. Woolly to the point of unusable with my 335, but maybe I need more time dialling it in.
Reg-built Treble Boost: already got one. Now have two. Because I never run my amps clipping, I use them to hit the front end of an OD/distortion. Love 'em.
Onehunga Prickle Weed: strangest OD I've ever used. Has a three-way switch which seems to go from RAT to clean-tone-thickener to angry-RAT. I don't use distortion much so spending all the time on the middle setting. Almost no break-up, but lovely compressed warmth with a touch of hair (like how I imagine a hug from BG would feel)
Big Noise Honey Pie: JanRay clone. Does what it says on the box. Great low-gain OD, very versatile. Doesn't mind a treble booster in the front end.
Monarch FuzzBoy XL: need to spend more time with this. All sorts of spitty Velcro goodness. Lower bias setting can be quite smooth, not Big Muff smooth but also not ToneBender razors. Haven't managed to stack them nicely yet.
OBNE Dark Star: weird, ambient, haunting. Three completely bizarre sounds. Easy to dial in a terrible tone. Once you get it right (e.g. pitch-shifting juuust above and below dry pitch) sounds lovely.
Strymon DIG: more approachable than my Volante, but coming from tape-style echos feels a bit dry. Nice to be able to dial it in without a forty minute dive into the manual.
Think that's all for now....
Pedal GAS outcomes.
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- robthemac
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- dayl
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- dayl
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Re: Pedal GAS outcomes.
Some of mine....pretty vaanilla compared to Robs, but anyway...
Digitech Supra Distortion: Purchased a something I gassed for as a kid. Worked with the valvestate... failed with this... terrible distortion.. like dialing in a turd...its always shit. Blushing and feeling embarrassed at the thought of selling it... may throw it in a furnace to remove it from this Earth.
Vox - Cutting Edge Distortion: Promised BS like 'Nutube' 'Valve Energy' and 'Iconic amp sounds' while sporting a strange digital oscillator screen.. it never seemed like it would work... why does Vox keep getting it wrong... but hold up... this thing sounds great and is one serious high gain pedal. Tight, clean and heavy. It's a keeper... for now.
Red Witch - Ivy Distortion (Seven Sisters): More nano than nano, this tiny thing delivers a thick brownish distortion. Very one dimensional one trick pedal but it is meant to be. It does the trick well and is worth keeping even if its beause of how cute it is.
Keeley Filaments Distortion: I have yet to put this through its paces mainly because is has so much tweakability (because thats a word). It does an excellent reange of distortions and overdrive sounds so far. I haven't been able to make this sound bad.. its that good because Im that bad... most, like myself will find themselves jamming on a setting for a while forgetting there are so many more options available.
Proco Rat Distortion: Sounds like Im auditioning for LA Guns back in the mid 80's. Doesn't get overly heavy but gets rude enough to keep me interested. You know what it is.
Boss OS2 Distortion/OD: First pedal I ever purchased. I wasn't long released. This pedal was my teenage years OD/Dist knob at 1am tone around 11... loved it. I plugged into my sons old Orange micro terror, selected neck pickup, diled in a bit of gain and just hit those fat long bends to nowhere all night.
TC Electronics Fangs Distortion: What can $60 get you? well this is one of those pedals that is pretty average but if you dail it in right it will be a tight clear and heavy riff monster... but the rest of the time its just you wading through lots of 'meh' until that sound is found.
ARIS Effects Nemesis Preamp/Distortion: What an amazing piece of kit this thing is. Tone shaping dream and difficult to make sound bad. Can tighten up or rain fire from above. Love this purchase.
EH Metal Muff Distortion: Is it distortion or is it fuzz.... its neither.... its muff. Any thats cool... it can sound great but kinda isnt that useable .. have had a number of these.
Pepers Pedals Dirty Tree OD: If you use an OD to tighten up your gain get this. It does some thing magic. One setting is the Dirty Tree setting the other is the OD that lets you tweak the tone etc. Very Very good OD pedal and while there are glowing reviews out there, it still can be had for $100-$120 used which is a steal.
Mashall Valvestate Distotion Channel: Fap fap fap fap fap God sound.
Digitech Supra Distortion: Purchased a something I gassed for as a kid. Worked with the valvestate... failed with this... terrible distortion.. like dialing in a turd...its always shit. Blushing and feeling embarrassed at the thought of selling it... may throw it in a furnace to remove it from this Earth.
Vox - Cutting Edge Distortion: Promised BS like 'Nutube' 'Valve Energy' and 'Iconic amp sounds' while sporting a strange digital oscillator screen.. it never seemed like it would work... why does Vox keep getting it wrong... but hold up... this thing sounds great and is one serious high gain pedal. Tight, clean and heavy. It's a keeper... for now.
Red Witch - Ivy Distortion (Seven Sisters): More nano than nano, this tiny thing delivers a thick brownish distortion. Very one dimensional one trick pedal but it is meant to be. It does the trick well and is worth keeping even if its beause of how cute it is.
Keeley Filaments Distortion: I have yet to put this through its paces mainly because is has so much tweakability (because thats a word). It does an excellent reange of distortions and overdrive sounds so far. I haven't been able to make this sound bad.. its that good because Im that bad... most, like myself will find themselves jamming on a setting for a while forgetting there are so many more options available.
Proco Rat Distortion: Sounds like Im auditioning for LA Guns back in the mid 80's. Doesn't get overly heavy but gets rude enough to keep me interested. You know what it is.
Boss OS2 Distortion/OD: First pedal I ever purchased. I wasn't long released. This pedal was my teenage years OD/Dist knob at 1am tone around 11... loved it. I plugged into my sons old Orange micro terror, selected neck pickup, diled in a bit of gain and just hit those fat long bends to nowhere all night.
TC Electronics Fangs Distortion: What can $60 get you? well this is one of those pedals that is pretty average but if you dail it in right it will be a tight clear and heavy riff monster... but the rest of the time its just you wading through lots of 'meh' until that sound is found.
ARIS Effects Nemesis Preamp/Distortion: What an amazing piece of kit this thing is. Tone shaping dream and difficult to make sound bad. Can tighten up or rain fire from above. Love this purchase.
EH Metal Muff Distortion: Is it distortion or is it fuzz.... its neither.... its muff. Any thats cool... it can sound great but kinda isnt that useable .. have had a number of these.
Pepers Pedals Dirty Tree OD: If you use an OD to tighten up your gain get this. It does some thing magic. One setting is the Dirty Tree setting the other is the OD that lets you tweak the tone etc. Very Very good OD pedal and while there are glowing reviews out there, it still can be had for $100-$120 used which is a steal.
Mashall Valvestate Distotion Channel: Fap fap fap fap fap God sound.
- robthemac
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Re: Pedal GAS outcomes.
Those tiny Red Witch pedals are so cool in theory, but I struggled with the fact the battery drains of cables are plugged in. So when sitting on a pedalboard, they're constantly draining battery.
I want one of those Dirty Tree boosts if you're ever selling!
I want one of those Dirty Tree boosts if you're ever selling!
- NippleWrestler
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Re: Pedal GAS outcomes.
The Fuzzboy XL is 2 fuzzboys in one enclosure with a bit more filtering in there to knock down the ensuing oscillations of 2 fuzz pedals in series. That's a lot of fuzz. I did a demo of it on the Monarch youtube but there's a million tones in that pedal from classic rock to screechy saggy banshee screams to regular fuzz stuff. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but looking back was a relatively basic design compared to the modern iteration of the FB.
If you want a dirty tree look for the Fortin 33, of which the DT is a clone. Or the TC Integrated Preamp, of which the 33 was a clone except doesn't have the EQ, hence the EQ in/out switch on the Dirty Tree. Basically, like all pedals, there's nothing new under the sun (in analog world at least, digital is a whole other ballpark).
If you want a dirty tree look for the Fortin 33, of which the DT is a clone. Or the TC Integrated Preamp, of which the 33 was a clone except doesn't have the EQ, hence the EQ in/out switch on the Dirty Tree. Basically, like all pedals, there's nothing new under the sun (in analog world at least, digital is a whole other ballpark).
- jeremyb
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Re: Pedal GAS outcomes.
Fuzzboy is bloody good, love my one, gives me the Jack White Lazaretto toan which I love...
I have the Demon FX 66 which is a 33 clone but not 100% the same, sounds slightly different in comparison videos to me... but still does that thing...
I have the Demon FX 66 which is a 33 clone but not 100% the same, sounds slightly different in comparison videos to me... but still does that thing...
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