the_flea56

the_flea56's Reviews

16 reviews Back to the_flea56's Equipboard

the_flea56

Good, Heaviness Overrated

First, you have to remember that most of the people complaining about the weight on these things bought them in their prime decades ago, and now can no longer lift them in their retirement years. No shade to them, they've simply moved on to a market for smaller, lighter amps. Mine is perfectly moveable with one person, especially if you throw in some casters or find a cheap moving dolly. I swapped the two Fender-manufactured speakers for Celestions, a Neo V-Type and a Creamback, which lowered the weight somewhat. Any large piece of gear with only one handle is bound to be awkward to move, and side handles would have been somewhat helpful. Nonetheless, not unusable.

As for the sound, everyone knows it's great. It also handles my EVH 5150 distortion really well. The one thing to note is that a mild high-pass pedal might be useful as the built-in EQ of the amp has a frequency boost below 100Hz, which is very rumbly and may not be desirable.

Preferred Settings + Usage:

Normal channel with a reverb pedal is a lot quieter than the reverb tank.

the_flea56

Pretty similar to the original

For context, I have both a Tone Master Twin and a '65 tube reissue. Yes, they sound different. There's different speakers in them, and my tube twin is a few decades old and God knows what kind of tubes it has or how old they are. However, the sound of the tone master is just as good as the tube amp, just slightly different. It's also much quieter when not playing, especially when reverb comes into play.

The tone master cabinet feels a little thin and light, I wouldn't go flinging it around. But if you take care of it, there's no reason it shouldn't last as long as you do.

Preferred Settings + Usage:

Sounds great with an MXR EVH distortion pedal into the normal channel with the noise gate at max. Also sounds good when paired with the real tube amp, as the slightly different EQ curves complement each other nicely, especially with the aforementioned EVH pedal.

the_flea56

A little tricky to dial in but great once it's set up

Extremely versatile pedal that completely changes its sound depending on the settings. I recommend keeping the gain around 11 o'clock or below for distortion and only going above that if you want sputtery fuzz. It's a little strange that the filter knob turns the opposite way as a tone knob but whatever, you get used to it.

the_flea56

Solid but limited

Sounds fine, but only with the one sound. If you want versatility get something with more knobs

the_flea56

Great

Could use more gain but the inherent tone is great. I pair it with some extra distortion for an old school thrash sound

the_flea56

Good for pedals if you know what you're doing

Don't expect this thing to hold up well against a Marshall full stack or anything, but it really isn't as bad as people say it is. Sure, the overdrive channel sounds horrible by itself, but it's usable if stacked with a pedal and with the treble cut down. The clean channel will make a horrible little distorted sound if you hit the input too hard; this isn't an issue with distortion pedals running, but you'll need lower output pickups if you're going straight in to prevent that crackle.

It can get loud, too- I rarely crank the volume above 2-3 at home and it's still a comfortable 75-80db, which is the recommended upper limit to avoid hearing loss. You could do small gigs with this if you wanted to.

the_flea56

Solid amp as long as software support continues

This amp is very light, very versatile and sounds great. The app is fairly intuitive and connects well to the amp- as long as they continue supporting this software, it'll be a great tool for trying new setups, effects, pedals, etc. You can get a fair bit of low end from this amp, too. Not enough for a full gig, but enough for small rehearsals or PA'd up venues.

The best part for me is the number of inputs and outputs all over this thing. You can hook it up to basically anything!

Preferred Settings + Usage:

I like the British Watts preset the most, coupled with a blues driver for some added grit.

the_flea56

Good, but needs a bit of maintenance first

When I first got mine the frets buzzed like crazy. Once I got it set up properly, it played great. The pickups are very versatile and the neck feels great. The pau ferro that people always complain about is fine: a bit rough to the touch, but you're never touching the fretboard while playing bass so it doesn't really matter.

the_flea56

Great for bass and guitar

Great pedal. Not very big on the gain sound itself but a very nice clean boost with tons of volume available. The one flaw with Boss pedals is that the little rubber piece around the screw for the foot switch tears almost immediately, but this has basically no effect on playability.

Preferred Settings + Usage:

For guitar, I use this as a solo boost- it adds some nice compression and volume. For bass it actually does basically the same thing- nice extra bit of grit and focus.

the_flea56

Alright

Sounds fine as an extra gain stage into other drive pedals but not great by itself. The gain also becomes too noisy and mushy in the second half of the dial. If you're buying your first distortion pedal I'd recommend a RAT instead.

the_flea56

Pretty good...

I just wish it had more upper range. The brightest position doesn't sound that different from the bypassed mode with humbuckers, especially on high notes

the_flea56

Feel great

Not much to say, they're awesome. Just make sure to buy in bulk as the tips wear out really fast, as they always do with Tortex picks.

the_flea56

Sounds very grainy

First, a disclaimer that I have no idea how to use this thing. Second, it needs a compressor to not sound really bad. The tracking works fine if you play slowly but completely fails at higher speeds. The sound is grainy- not in a distorted way, but as though it were created by a low fidelity Gameboy Advance chip, or passed through a radio first. You need to really want this pedal before buying it.

the_flea56

Really good for what it does

Works great for a ton of applications! You can switch between two loops or use it as a 3 way splitter. Much more durable than those ABY cables!

Preferred Settings + Usage:

I use several pedals each for my clean and dirty sounds, and this pedal is a great way to switch between them quickly mid song.

the_flea56

Sounds fine but needs feet

Not much to say about the sound, it's the Great classical sound plus extra features like the tap tempo. I especially like how the tap tempo button is very easy to hit compared to the bypass switch despite looking the same from the outside- together design there. The LEDs are super bright, which is a little annoying at home but I imagine would be great at an outdoor gig!

My biggest problem is that the battery compartment on the center of the bottom potrudes a little. This would be fine if there were feet in the corners something the pedal. However, there aren't any- it just slides around when you step on it. It really needs the rubber underneath like its Boss counterparts.

Preferred Settings + Usage:

I'm currently using this with the Regen at 2 o'clock, delay at 8-9 and high speed in order to produce a reverb like effect, as I don't have a dedicated pedal for that yet.

the_flea56

Great build, electronics could be better

Neck profile is amazing, very comfortable all the way up and down. Bridge humbucker sounds great except for a bit of feedback, neck pickup is adequate though something inside rattles when playing unplugged. Looks gorgeous!