cammojodragon's Reviews

Great sounds

As loud as I need it to be, breakup sounds natural and wonderful, plays very nicely with my pedals, even has some nice built in digital reverbs (the Hall is my favourite). I will say that I found the clean channel to be uninspiring, although strangely, I run the distortion channel clean and that sounds fantastic (and what's more, when I let my pedals go crazy, that lovely break up comes in and adds to it all).

Incredible, classic sounds

Simplicity at its most wonderful; easy to find, incredible sounds, without sacrificing variety. This goes everywhere from a subtle hint of stereo movement to Johnny Marr-goodness to faux-leslie extravagance. If you like Chorus, you've come to the right place. My preference would be for there to also be a mix knob, but the wet/dry output kind of takes care of that, so no complaints at all.

Does it's job, sounds great.

Not much more to say really. If you're after a cheap delay that sounds good and isn't too complicated, here you go.

Why Aren't There More Mistress Clones?

This thing is cheap; too cheap for me to have believed how good a job it does of emulating one of the most iconic and sought-after flangers of all time. Pair it with a delay and chorus for some Andy Summers delights, or pair it with a screaming fuzz for some Gilmour/J Mascis brilliance.

I own the E-Lady; the difference between that and the ElecLady I confess I do not know, but I will say I perceive a slight volume drop when I turn it on (it really is only very slight though). I put it behind my Satisfaction fuzz, and it completely opens that fuzz up, eliminates the fizziness I experience with that pedal, and (surprisingly) seems to give everything a little more clarity. I'm very satisfied with this.

Cheap, cheerful, and does the job.

Bought to satisfy my fuzz needs while I'm parted from my muffroom cloud over the summer. And it does that. It's not my muffroom cloud; it gets a bit fizzier, and it doesn't have anywhere near that kind of clarity. But it works, and I'm happy with it.

Divine. Simply divine.

After being relatively uninspired by my Strymon BlueSky some months after buying it, I decided to sell it, and find some other reverb for all my shimmery needs. This pedal came to my attention after finding out it's Julien Baker's shimmer of choice, and I love Julien Baker's tone almost as much as I love her. So I saved up to grab this, and it's the best pedal purchase I've ever made.

Very easy to use, with the most intuitive use of expression control I've ever seen, the possibilities of this pedal are endless. From your basic hall 'verb, to symphonic swells of upper and lower octaves, to far-out reverse synth-y sounds and everything in between. I like adding that shimmery stuff to my rhythm parts, but I also have a lot of fun adding a little lower octave to lead lines, adding a little low end dramatics.

It's easy to write this pedal off as being very niche, the sort of thing you only buy if you know it's the sound you want. And it is that (though I'd add that even if purchased on a whim, you'd be surprised what you can do with it), but here's the thing; it does that one thing better than most, perhaps better than anyone.

Plays great and sounds great.

I picked one of these up second hand (mine had a hardtail bridge, which I'm considering swapping out for a Bigsby) and it was a little underwhelming to begin with; bends would constantly choke out, and it just felt a little dull and lifeless. A little cleaning and a fresh set of strings really brought out it's fantastic character, though. Don't let the strat-style pickup configuration fool you, this thing has a life of its own. This feels like a proper guitar, which is astonishing for how little it cost me to pick up. My bends are still choking out in a few places, though. That being said, the bridge on mine has clearly not been well looked after, whether or not I go for a bigsby, I'd do well to change the bridge.

All in all though, the guitar itself is a fantastic find if you can grab it.

Everything I ever needed a tremolo to do

This has the full range of tremolo, everything from the softest bit of movement to the feeling of listening to a helicopter through a giant fan blade. Bought second hand, but you couldn't tell what with how rugged Boss pedals are. I know volume drop is seemingly a common complaint on this model but I'm happy to report I for one haven't had such an issue, I've just had cracking tones! Well worth the purchase to have such a surprisingly versatile effect at your feet (and it's not even that MUCH money!)

It does one thing, and it does it beautifully

Strymon enthusiasts may be aghast at the thought of a single-knob reverb pedal, but this thing is gorgeous. Though it would be nice to have a little extra control (particularly over decay, which gets quite lengthy quite quickly), for it's price point and quality of sound, it's very hard to argue with the results. It's tantalising in so many ways, a fantastic choice, particularly for the aspiring bedroom guitarist with no reverb on their small bedroom amp.

Not too bad for a basic clean sound

Your basic channel is classic clean Fender, takes pedals well, no complaints there. A few of the 'drive' channels are worth looking at; I particularly enjoy the low-gain Blackface and Tweed models, but the high-gain metal stuff is weak in the way most Fender products tend to be, and the 'Jazz' setting is just too much low end. The effects are also a mixed bag; the standouts are the Tremolo and Vibratone settings that are quite stunning, but a little part of me is dying inside as I tell you that this Fender amp is kind of lacking reverb. If you've got a pallete of effects pedals to work with, this is money well spent for a bedroom/studio amp; if you're looking for all-in one, you're better off looking elsewhere

Will suck your tone away from you

This pedal will only sound any good on a neck pickup; anywhere else, and it sucks away every last ounce of low end you have, and becomes painful. Wouldn't recommend, unless you've got some way to compensate (though I'd suggest you simply look elsewhere)

Gorgeous budget chorus tones

Tone City consistently knock it out of the park with their stuff and this is no exception; it's a fantastic chorus pedal. It won't get you the faux-leslie tones a classic CE-2 will get you, but it WILL give you that luscious undercurrent that defines everything from Paradise City to The Division Bell to Zakk Wylde. Bravo!

High Quality, great tone

A killer 'secret ingredient' if ever their was one; perhaps I'm biased because I spent money on them, but my strat seems to go that extra mile with these strings across its fingerboard; at one/two up on each string from the Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinkys that I do so love, they've got the perfect balance; the high strings bend with pristine sustain, and the bottom strings howl just the way they should. I will say that these seem to need replacing at a slightly faster rate than the equivalent Ernie Balls, but as far as I'm aware, this is the only straight-out-the-packet way of getting this string gauge; well worth the money if the set's right for you!

Into Guns N Roses? Look no further

Although inspired by a certain top-hatted guitarist, this guitar is capable of most any hard rock/heavy blues, is affordable and brilliantly made to boot. The Wilkinson hardware and strap locks give it a quality of build that's practically unheard of for such a low price point. Highly recommended!

The controls go up to twelve - it outdoes Spinal Tap!!!!

Wow. Anything and everything you'd want out of a small Fender valve combo is here, and then some; the cleans are warm, responsive and dynamic, the on tank reverb is gorgeous (and more than you'll ever need, which is far better than the alternative), and while there's no drive channel, there's a fat switch that'll take you to a pretty fantastic overdriven place; even without, a TS/Klon type pedal will give you a rich, creamy drive even without the fat switch!

For those of you sceptical about the benefits of a proper valve amplifier over solid state technology, the Blues Junior is a serious case in favour of the tube; nothing responds to your playing the way tubes do, and this amp is one of the finest example. Small, but more than capable of roaringly loud volumes, this amp is a mighty beast to take with you to the studio or the local venues, and will do you proud anywhere you put it. Highly recommended, particularly for those that like their gain coming from their pedals (and ESPECIALLY for those that like fantastic amplifiers!)

Exactly what you expect

Say what you will of the Dyna Comp, it certainly can't be accused of not having enough compression; I've never had the sensitivity up beyond 1/2 o'clock, which is plenty heavy compression. Setting the output to a little above unity allows you to get a decent clean boost out of the pedal, and even with the sensitivity dialled way back, you get that satisfying pop of the note for all your country needs, and a sweet, natural sounding sustain. I use mine in front of a Soul Food and a Custom Badass '78, and the Dyna Comp gets a smooth crunch out of the Soul Food, and gives the C' Badass the sweet sustain the pedal somewhat lacks on its own. My one gripe is that the perfect compression setting for the higher strings/notes will really muddy the lower notes at times, although I imagine that's true of most compressors. Still, it's one of the cheaper compressors on the market, and I still highly recommend it!

Everything you've heard from RATM and more

The detune feature on these pedals is what really makes it magic for me, but I couldn't name you many (if any) artists who use it widly; the shallow detune is effectively a chorus-y modulation that sounds pretty fantastic, on top of everything else you already know the WH-1 is famous for. Nothing to complain about really; these things are pricey, but if you dig the effect there's nowhere better to turn!

Cheap and Cheerful

Does exactly what it says on the tin; nothing special, but equally nothing to turn your nose up at. Plenty of gain, great as a slightly dirty boost. That's what I was using it for, but that's become a bit redundant now I have a Soul Food (even though this is made in the Tube Screamer mould) - still, I really appreciate the 2 band EQ! Many a pedal could stand to have that extra bit of control on board

A Solid Low End Guitar

At its low price point and incredible versatility, this is a pretty fantastic choice for any beginner, and is reliable enough for a moderate amount of gigging. The neck pickup brings all the beauty and twang of a Tele pickup, and it blends brilliantly with the Strat middle pickup for those lush, Hendrix-y inbetween tones. That middle pickup also howls, by the way; it doesn't feel redundant at all, you'll get some serious screaming blues out of that thing on its own, and the difference in output makes simply switching to the pickup feel like a volume boost.

My own problem is that the bridge pickup is very quiet; the humbucking position doesn't bring enough to the table, and the single coil, at the same volume levels for the other pickups, is almost entirely inaudible. That's nothing that can't be fixed with a decent Seymour Duncan 'bucker (I recommend the Stag Mag to keep the tone within a Fender realm), but if you're buying this low down the price range, I doubt you'll want to fork out what often becomes an extra £100+ in sorting that out. Still, it's not really what I bought the guitar for, it's easily fixed, and the guitar itself has so much more to offer that I often forget about that limitation.

A great harder rock distortion pedal

This pedal isn't exactly to my taste, but that doesn't mean I can't tell a brilliant pedal when I see one; it's got plenty of drive, plenty of sustain, and the tone shift is always able to give that little extra kick. It has a lot of low end - too much for my own taste, but if that's your thing, this pedal is great for you!