jimmarchi1's Reviews

better than vintage

a solid colorsound overdriver copy in a reasonably sized box with a master volumeso you can get the gnarly fuzzy grind from it without hitting your amp full tilt.... max the master volume and its pretty muchs tock. I had a real one and another clone by a small builder. this sounds closer to the original, the other one was more raspy. The overdriver (AKA powerbooster) is a great circuit and everyone should try one. its sort of a fuzz, a boost, a basic EQ, you name it. Its a great rock n roll gadget.

great

this is worth the money just for the preamp and the 1 to 1 port of that classic U2 delay from unforgettable fire and Joshua tree... but it does way more. This unit overs everything the the TC Flashbacks don't. I wouldn't pit the TC stuff against a strymon for tape delay or anything but I feel confident that the SDD's digital delay will own on the Strymon DIG. Its got MIDI, so I;m happy. My live rig just uses this and the TC. Between them they get close enough to every delay I would w ant to use and they're all built into my presets library.

another CMOS dirt machine

this pedal is very similar to the Ibanez 10 series CMOS distortion

essentiafor vitnage amp owners in the USA

in the USA line votlages have gone up, up up.... not only is this hard on your vintage amp, it also is causing it to run incorrectly. You're not hearing it the way it was designed to sound. Youc an pull a van halen and run a variac, but theyc an be costly, they're heavy as hell and if someone accidentally bumps the voltage up while you're playing you'll fry your amp for good... the BrownBox handles the job of slight line voltage reduction. it has a few settigns getting all the way down into EVH 'sponge out' turf. This device works rally well. I would endorse it. Set and forget. Not too heavy. Well built. Reliable. Safe.

serviceable 80s chorus

this was a weird period for mxr where they abandoned their roots to try to blend in. this is a regular old 3 knob chorus. Not particularly nice sounding. It was given to me along with a guyatone flanger by the brother of a former employer in the recording biz. Nothing special here

not sure why i bought this

this is a pretty generic sounding dirt box until you screw with the bias control and the volts knob which seems to be some sort of voltage starve/transistor jackassery going on, then its full of 'bad' tones that just might make you feel good. Someone else said "only as good as your amp' and that's true. Mostly a gimmick device. It must have really tickled me in the store because I think I bought this new at full price a while back!

swing low sweet chariot

the gold standard of o80soctave down pedals but that's more for the build quality and buffer then the actual circuit which is quirky and finnicky.... it makes heinous low noises in case you need that sort of thing. I'm sure its been bettered for tracking and soundquality but the old designs have charm as noise machines. not as dun as an octave multiplexer and not as good at tracking as the arion, but it has a place. Want to really frustrate it? put a synthesizer into it! Prepare for silliness. Reminds me of an mxr blue box that's not fuzzy, just synthy and velcroey....

amazing

this nails the harmonic vibrato sound from big brownface fender amps as closely as you can without using tubes. Has that phasey, choppy magic.

unique

someone gave me this because it was too extreme for him and eh went back to crybaby... Its a crazy sounding wah wah to be sure. Wah for the guy who doesn't like wah. I forgot I had this. I should use it on a recording. Is this company stilla round?

twangy

the Nashville drive.... plug this into a matchless or BF fender with your tele and become the lead sound of every country album you grew up with. Very nice sounding dirt box. Not a tubescreamer in any way as fr as I can hear. It does this one trick really, really well. I'm not sure if theys till make these but JRockett has copied the original circuit.

well loved and for good reason

one of the best CMOS inverter rives. Goes from slightly hairy to tweed grunt all the way to pseudo fuzz... lower noise than most CMOS drives. Plug it into a small fender combo or an AC30 and sound like Mike Campbell all day. Run it into a TS9 or SD1 and prepare for some ripping lead tone.

CMOS!!!

they don't make this anymore, its a great CMOS inverter distortion... a bit noisy but it ahs a helluva sound. Its lower gain like the Red Llama whereas the SCOD they used to make is a high gain CMOS design. that's also good but I don't have it. This is a mini pedal so you have to run it off a power brick which is annoying.

a true winner in boutique univibes, great price/performance ratio

a very good, compact univibe copy... up to MJM's typically high standards. I have had a lot of their stuff including an original britbender with the huge hammerite enclosure and labelmaker control labels LOL When you want to get Hendrix, Gilmour or Trower phase tones this is a real good option.

it does what it says

makes a soemahwat tuneable feedback noise at any amplifier settings... its also a generic 80s distortion effect not unlike a DS2. I suspect its a DS2 circuit with a cocked wah thing built in. thatw as all ther age for awhile when Iw as a kid. really goofy effect. Best sued when you have to fil in for Snowy White in Roger Waters band or when you just want to annoy people.

very good delay for conservative echo users

this doesn't go into freakout like the DM2, its way more companded so the repeats are a lot more polite.. It ahs some extra D-Time if I recall. The repeats murk out really nicely though and it really is one of the most polite vintage delays going. Does a pretty good Foo Fighters "Rope" analog delay tone.

hahaha

this can do all the same silly stuff the Space Station did... and the some. if you go in for that sort of thing.

modified hrmonic percolator

I haven't made a lot of use of this pedal but tis up to catalinbread's high standards... although as a clone I can't speak to it's accuracy having never used an original percolator. Too extreme for me, sold to a more deserving player...

warble warble swoosh

very generic but versatile flanger form the 80s that belonged to an old boss' brother

typical EHX

straight up AB switcher, wired with the grounding right to successful switch amplifier without noise. Enclosure tends to bend with repeated stomping. Sold, I'll just build one in a good enclosure if I need a passive switcher for hum free operation of 2 tube amps.

ina gadda davida

I had an original and sold it for a big profit when I purged my collection. I told myself it was only good for iron butterfly covers but I missed it. It has a sitar like quality at certain settings that no other fuzz captures. Catalinbread nailed this fuzz. its perfect.

amendment: if this is your only fuzz you either are going for something really specific or you misfired, for a person with a drawer full of interesting inspiration pedals this is a good addition and 5 stars as it nails the real one