liam_082's Metal Pedalboard

Very cheap buy well made and sturdy tuner. Why pay more for a well known brand when this does exactly the same function and is plenty strong enough too. Doesn't have an noticable affect on the signal and is noiseless too

Really great sounding amp. Very well made and feels very robust. The footswitch which allows you to swap channels and turn reverb on or off also feels sturdy.

The controls are as follows; Normal input, Bright input, Clean Volume, Channel select, Channel 2 Gain, Channel 2 volume, Bass, Mids, Boost switch, Treble, Master Volume, Presence and Reverb, Standby and Power. It has an effects loop, two speaker out puts, impedance switch which goes from 4ohm to 8ohm to 16ohm. Pentode/triode switch.

The EQ is very effective with a smooth transition through the control range with no large jumps etc. Very linear. The onboard digital reverb is actually quite good and very usable if you are into reverb. Having the ability to switch reverb on or off is great.

The lead channel or whatever you want to call it is very good and works great for me. Is actually quite high gain but when boosted with an OD/tube screamer it really comes alive and will do metal tones with ease. The amp also accepts pedals really well and modulation pedals sound great both through the front of the amp or in the effects loop.

The clean channel is really great sounding. It's chimey but not harsh and has a lot of depth and responds well to picking dynamics. Distorts nicely the louder you turn the amp up. The boost switch gives a sort of vox like feel to the clean channel too. The normal input takes away some of the shrillness you get with single coils and the bright channel helps to give humbuckers a less dark tone if needed.

The amp has 3 preamp tubes and 2 power tubes which are as follows. 3x 12AX7s and 2 EL84s. V1 and V2 are both gain stages and V3 is the phase inverter stage which splits the signal for the two EL84s. The Bugera branded tubes it comes with aren't very great or reliable although their sound quality isn't bad by any means. I recommend atleast changing the power amp tubes though as mine blew an EL84 after 25 hours or there abouts of play time.

The construction is very good and robust. The PCB is high quality and the valve sockets are not directly mounted to the PCB either which lowers the risk of heat related problems arising in the future. Looks wise it looks like a Badcat however it isn't a close on one. According to Bugera it isn't a clone of any amp that was already or previously on the market.

I'm very happy with this amp head and look forward to many years with it, providing I don't buy a Marshall JCM2000 in the future. Though I'd probably keep this still. If it were to break is definitely replace it with another and don't be followed by the 22watts. It is very loud indeed through my 2x12 cab. Easily loud enough to play live without having to turn it up too much

I bought this as a cheap guitar to play around with. Out of the box it's not bad at all. 9-42 strings on a 24" scale guitar are a bit stupid though, in my opinion atleast.

The neck plays well with no sharp frets. The frets are also pretty well leveled for a guitar at this price point, some do have a little bit of corrosion however.

The bridge is cheap and nasty with very long screws that could make intonation awkward to get perfect. It was well intonated out of the box with only G needing slight adjustment.

The pickups all sound okay, not really great though but I wouldn't expect that at this price. They will be good enough for someone who's just starting though.

The machine heads are half decent and seem to hold tune well but I will be getting roller strings Ts as the strings tend to bind in the ones fitted causing tuning instability at times.

I have replaced the pickups and cheap electronics and electronics. Opting for an Tonerider Octane alnico 8 in the bridge and an Tonerider Birmingham alnico 5 in the neck which has given the guitar the sound that I want. I've also put on a set of Ernie Ball Titanium coated 10-52s which are much better than the 9s fitted but may put 11s on

It is quite a versatile distortion pedal as far as metal pedals go. You get 4 controls, Gain, Level, Bass and Treble and a switch which I guess is a mids switch, Raw, Fat and Scooped. All the controls have a wide range of adjustment unlike a lot of pedals, especially at this price point. All sounds are very usable apart from in my opinion the scooped sounds unless you only want to play at home.

The scooped switch does as it says and scoops the mids giving an almost Metallica sort of tone but it is totally useless for playing in a mix as it will be lost in the mix. I don't personally use it as I like my mids

The raw position on the switch gives a very obvious mids bump, almost the same sort of sound as you get on a wah pedal around halfway through its sweep. Great for soloing or if you just want your guitar to really cut through the mix. You definetly want to turn the bass and treble up on the pedal otherwise it can be quite shrill.

The fat switch is my favourite and it just gives a really fat in your face tone. Will cut the mix easy and doesnt muddy your tone, all the notes remain clear but im sure pickups and amp settings play a part in it. It gives you a very fat in your face tone as it implies.

I'm very impressed with the pedal, it is very robust and solid. I'd imagine I could drive over it in my car without any significant damage. The pedal is also very weighty. I think if it had a battery compartment flap it would be better as taking it apart to put a battery in isn't ideal but it can be run from a 9v supply.

I'd buy another if it broke or went missing and at £32 plus postage it really is a bargain