klaus_benson's Reviews

It is what it is.

If by that you mean, "The best thing to happen to the guitar since the tube amp", you would be correct. This pedal does something extremely subtle and transparent to your sound that just sets it above any beyond every other pedal to come before it. I was looking into Klon Centaurs and various Strymon products before stumbling upon this beauty and I just have one thing to say.

Look no further.

Game Changer.

This is the first pedal to literally make me cry. Don't judge me. It is just that good. The "mash" button will hate on your bare feet, but trust me, it is worth putting on a flip-flop for. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would.

Best Way to Upgrade Your Amplifier.

Tossed this into my Blackstar Club 40 after a lot of research and it made a world of difference. It plays quiet for bedroom levels (which was almost impossible before) and has a lot more overall presence when cranked up. Great overdrive tones. Slash uses these, I mean come on.

Exactly as Advertised.

This pedal does what it says it will. When you tap it the signal is completely cut for as long as it is tapped. It is totally passive and doesn't need to be powered. One thing to know going in is that it works best when using distorted/dirty tones since they drown out the audible 'click' that travels through the amp every time the switch is engaged. This click is rather noticeable on a clean tone, but to be fair I can't think of a scenario where I'd be using it in that scenario.

It is small, sturdy, and light enough that I wound up improvising a loop of velcro around my guitar's strap and mounted it right where the strap attaches to the bottom of my guitar. This way I can influence it with my hand like a proper poor man's kill switch. 10/10, would velcro again. At the time of my purchase this little machine only set me back $45 and it is hard to beat that kind of value.

Pure Drop Tuning.

I mostly use this pedal because I like to switch down a half step and I'm lazy. This pedal is perfect for that. I find it works the best either totally clean (no boosters, no compression), or distorted to hell.

If you boost or compress the signal the latency becomes more pronounced and 'poppy', so if you're playing clean riffs just keep the signal completely clean. If you're distorting the signal it doesn't really seem to matter, and works great even down to the extreme down-tuning.

It doesn't really do anything else and it is expensive AF. I wound up putting it before my Digitech Whammy (first pedal in chain) to get the most consistency, and to this day I wonder why I didn't just buy the Digitech Whammy DT.

Such is life, eh?

If You Just Want a Volume Pedal.

This pedal is big, heavy, and built like a tank. The main mechanism isn't a piece of twine so it won't break on you like an Ernie Ball and there is virtually no "tone suck". Even when using the tuner output I can hardly tell a difference. It doesn't need to be powered either which is a huge plus. Just plug it in and go.

If I were to be critical of anything it would be that the sweep towards the heel has a bit of a dead spot, but to be honest after a little while of playing on it I really learned to like the leeway when doing swells. It ultimately makes it easier to ease up into the notes so I find it a bit of a positive in hindsight.

First in Chain!

Put this pedal first in chain. Yes. First. Everyone else is wrong. I know this isn't a review. Just... trust me. The Gen Vs are true bypass now. First in chain. So good.

Most Versatile Delay.

If you're an analogue snob go pick up the Carbon Copy. If you're reading this chances are you're already comparing. It does what it does better than the Flashback, but that one trick pony can't do a tenth of what this pedal does. So if you're just looking for pure delay get the Carbon Copy, if you're looking for a staggering amount of options and sheer versatility, this pedal belongs on your board.

Need a Wah just 'Cus?

If you're looking for a wah pedal that gives you wah and don't want to spend a ton of money and tie up a fifth of your pedal board, this thing is perfect.

Literally no frills. It has decent sweep and the smaller size is actually pretty easy to get used to. Seems nearly indestructible.

I almost want to give it 3 stars because it doesn't have an LED to indicate that it is on. What year is it? Must we continue to live as savages?

Almost Perfect.

I never thought I'd be in the position to need an isolated power supply, then I found myself in an instance where I had 8+ pedals and was starting to get noise. I was also intrigued by the idea of using higher/lower voltage and figured... what they hey. It is almost 2017, the world is about to go up in flames, why not spend 150 bucks on a glorified power brick?

Yes, it cut down on noise. Yes being able to use my booster and compressor at 18v is awesome, especially the boost pedal. And yes, being able to dial down the voltage to my compressor is like giving it a whole extra knob.

So why not five stars? Because the wires they ship with it are perilously short. I like to keep a fairly compact and concise board and found I was practically pulling some of the sockets out with even the longest wires on my further reaching pedals. If they had a 4.5 star rating I would have given it that.

Awesome Practice Amp.

Hard to beat as a practice amp if you want to keep the neighbors happy. A lot of flexibility and real easy to dial in, I especially like using it on my 7-string because it keeps the low end from getting muddy like my larger tube amp.

Tubes for Days.

I'm fairly certain that Blackstar's business practice is world domination as it pertains to guitar amps. I've played on Fender tube amps (Blues Jr) and even the Mesa Boogie Mk V, and all I can say is that this thing brings a little tear to the corner of my eye each end every time my neighbors bang on their ceiling to let me know that I'm being too damn loud.

This was, of course, after I replaced the trash stock speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30. The stock speaker holds this amp back and is a shame, but that is how they keep their price so enticing for what you get.

It's a Real Good Tuner.

It is a tuner... you can tune your guitar with it. You can strum the strings and see how out of tune your strings are and then tune each string individually just like you would with a normal tuner. Honestly it just comes down to the awesome LEDs. Super easy to read.

Not Your Mother's Telecaster.

This isn't a Telecaster. This is a modernized masterpiece. The only thing "Telecaster" about this guitar is the shape of the body and the head stock, everything else has been updated to utilize the best of the best to bring form and function together. The double humbuckers come with coil tapping if you want to get that classic single-coil sound, but make no mistake... this unassuming, artisanal looking instrument can throw down with the best of them.

What I'd like to clarify on is the misconception that the face of the guitar is multiple woods, when it is in fact one solid, clear coated piece (albeit, a veneer) of Malaysian Blackwood. What this means is that every guitar in this series is completely unique in appearance.

Old School Fuzz, Full Moon Howl.

This is basically the Big Muff Pi with anger issues. It has all of the same tonal options but the differences all come down to that little 'Tone Wicker' switch. Once it is engaged this thing absolutely howls. This is my go to when I need the dirtiest of dirty sounds.

Excellent Looper, Steep Learning Curve.

If you're looking for a basic Loop Station, look no further. This little pedal is an absolute work horse and won't let you down. The only thing holding it back is probably what you could probably already guess. It is just one pedal. It takes a while to get used to the 'single' and 'double' stomping you need to do to start and end recordings, but fortunately it is ultra responsive and built like a truck. Keep it at the very end of your effect loop and it'll grab everything you throw at it.

The Legend, Modernized.

The Ibanez Tube Screamer is probably one of the most legendary and iconic pedals of all time, you don't need to read a review about it in so much as you need to throw your money at your local gear shop and take one of these home with you. The Mini is a great option for crowded pedal boards and it doesn't seem to suffer from its weight loss. You're sacrificing the use of a 9-Volt battery and need to keep it plugged in, but on powered boards that isn't an issue. I use this pedal to enhance pretty much all of my other pedals when I need that extra dirt and bite. So good. Butter on a Pop-Tart good.

Look for the Sequel.

Nothing to see here. Get the Hall of Fame 2. I've owned both. Get the upgrade.

Need to Go Above 11?

This little pedal is great when you just need... more. It doesn't really alter tone in so much as it just makes everything louder, bigger, and richer sounding. Perfect for when you need to just give your tone a nice push. I don't consider it a necessity in my pedal chain, but it is better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

EDIT: Okay so I recently changed the rating of this pedal from 4 to 5 stars because I recently acquired a power supply that allows me to run it at 18 volts. It is like night and day. There is so much head room now I have dialed it in to a point where I consider it an 'always on' pedal. Necessity achieved. Never leaving my board.

Amazing Compressor in a Small Package.

For the size and price you'll be hard pressed to find a better sounding compressor.