thedreadpirateknoberts's Reviews

Versatile Boost

Great overall boost. Tone quality is top notch and features are great. I find that all knobs and switches are usable. Volume knob (big one) controls the color of the LED based on how high the level is. Body and Tone are great for applying some EQ. Gain adds some texture to the boost and the type switch on the right side really helps control how you boost. I use the treble boost style a lot with hum buckers to get some more vintage tone and I use the amp boost setting for most other boosts.

Good fuzz for price

Good fuzz overall for the price. Not a lot of features. Be careful with using this with a buffer. If you use it post buffer, it's very acidic and trebly. If you use it prebuffer, it's much more full sounding. Stacks well with OD's for a high gain tone.

Mini Mighty Comp

Whenever a friend starts looking to get into compression, I recommend this. It's so good. Price is amazing, the size is wonderful, the options aren't over complicated and it just works with a very low noise floor. A lot of people get into compressors and start out with a cheaper dyna comp and get a lot of hiss. That's a big turn off. This doesn't do that at all. Highly recommend it.

Great Delay but priced too high

Very good pedal. Sounds amazing and has some really unique features. The analog JFET is a great gain/tone control. I used this pedal for quite a while and was very pleased with the majority of it's features. However, I found it to be a little underwhelming for the price point. It does so many things so very well, but just doesn't justify the price point or the footprint size. If you obsess over tape delays, I can't recommend this enough. If you need more versatility, this may not be the best pick for you. There are distinct tonal difference and modulation difference between the tape types but it's not an overwhelming distinction.

Great Tremolo

Fantastic sounding tremolo. Best analog tremolo I've played, sound quality wise. Has some "advanced" options that have become the norm. Wave shape has a random function which is fun. The ramping on this is a nice unique feature. User can use the ramp speed to determine how fast the tempo changes when tapped in. Can be a great musical feature, albeit not used all that often.

Behemoth Power

Fantastic power supply. No noise at all. I use literally ever outlet, even though that's frowned upon, and have zero noise issues. I also use the additional AC out with a power supply to power a power hungry pedal. Never hear the fan on this and it never gets hot. Very pleased.

Pure Compressor

Fantastic overall compressor. The sound floor is so low that it never interferes. Fantastic tone sculpting tool. Run mine at the very start of my board. Light is extremely helpful, changing colors to tell you how much compression is engaged. The dry blend is a must for any compressor, in my opinion. The Attack and Release are not as powerful as the rest of the knobs but still, very helpful. Pedal is a little longer than a normal stomp box so take that into account if working with tight spaces.

Great overall, display can be hard to read at sharper angles

Overall, really good pedal. Build quality is great and it is certainly a unique design. The display is really good for normal use. I have some minor issues seeing it if I'm using it on a desk and viewing at a sharper angle. That's not an issue with a Polytune.

Old Reliable

Polytunes have been my favorite tuner for a while. I've used a few others and they were all fine, but having the quick poly function is great. I use mine in an always on, buffered bypass mode. I also daisy chain some lower pedals off of it. Great utility pedal.

Top Quality For The Masses

Summary: An absolute monster of a reverb. Will take you to places you've never played. I've played it for nearly 3 months and it has changed everything for me.
Tone(s): There are numerous tones on this standard size stomp box. Wet (a signature Neunaber tone), Hall, Plate, Spring, Shimmer (a), Shimmer (b), Reverb + Echo (delay), and Reverb + Detune (chorus like). All of these are top quality tones. I originally fell in love with Neunaber when a friend loaned me the Wet Stereo V2 and a Strymon Blue Sky. I played the Strymon for about a half hour and then I plugged in the Wet and played it for the rest of the weekend. I certainly think Strymon is top quality but Neunaber is really something special… something unlike anything else I’ve ever played.
The Wet gives a tone that's simply hard to explain. It's comparable to a hall but more ethereal. For home use and for my minor/darker stylistic playing, the Wet takes me to another world of stories in my mind. I expand the depth to a physically impossible length and keep the level at about 2 o’clock. From here, you can add shape to the room/structure with the modulation and I keep the tone dark, about 10 o’clock. It’s is an ominous pad of dark matter that fills your room while your guitar continues to morph the soundscape.
The Hall is what the standard norm of hall is but just so realistic it is transporting. I use this more in live environments as it is more natural. Take the tone knob up to ¾’s and you really get a special psuedo-shimmer compliment without being as overwhelming as most shimmers.
Plate is where I take the high gain. If you play high gain, this is the reverb for you. It’s very thickening of what you play versus diluting. I’ve used many reverbs that really thin out my tone when high gain is pushed through it. This Plate does a great job of allowing the high gain and additional harmonics ring throughout while adding a spatial expanse.
Spring is not a type I used much before as they just sounded too digital on other pedals to me. However, Neunaber has made it a prominent tone for me. I’ll move into single coil territory with a tiny bit of dirt while I add a spring reverb on it to create a very vintage tone.
Shimmers are fun and being that I play in a worship band, I can put this to use at times by filling the room with a pad. A is more orchestral and epic and B is breathier and more heavenly. I’ve no preference between the two as they are quite different when playing with a full band. You’ll find that the song will lend itself to one or the other fairly quickly. Echo is a blending type delay. You can control how much delay you want in your signal or how much reverb. It’s more of an either or while blending between the two. To be honest, the delay was frustrating at first because it sounded better than my other delay pedals. What a good problem to have though. Detune is a very 80’s chorus-y vibe. Fortunately for me, I’m fine with that. A lot of people don’t care much for chorus but this is subtler than most. It is really more of the wet signal that is altered and your dry stays more intact than most chorus pedals which, to me, makes it more useful.

Control: There’s a lot to go over here but I’ll keep it simple and focus on the more advanced features. Volume (how loud the wet signal is), Depth (how long the wet signal lasts), Type (which of the above reverbs to use), and Tone or Echo Time (Brightness or darkness of the wet signal or delay time of the echo setting).
That’s four of the five knobs. The 5th knob is a variable knob that changes its purpose depending on the reverb type you use.
Wet and Hall – Modulate (not like typical warble modulation but more of how “bumpy” or “rocky” the shape of the space creating the reverb is) Plate – Pre Delay Spring – Low Cut Shimmer (a) and (b) – Shim level. Controls how many “voices” are mimicking your guitar playing.
+Echo and +Detune – Reverb Level. Controls how much of your wet signal is reverb or delay/detune.
Other misc features are: Stereo in and out, Kill Dry Switch (externally accessible), Trails Switch (externally accessible). The Kill Dry is much more helpful than I anticipated. While it does have more practical uses for how you wire up your rig, I use it mainly to shape my reverb tone. The fact that this is external is brilliant. There are no favorite switches or taps and this will never plug into your PC for updates like their Expanse series.
Final Words: If you’re in the market, do yourself a major favor and give this a whirl before making your decision. I’d recommend this for any guitar player looking to add a high quality reverb. This, or some variation of it, will be on my board for a long time to come.

Overdrive to Compliment

Summary: A great overdrive that can compliment many rigs and amps. It also stands up on it's own well as a primary overdrive.

Tone: The word "transparent" is getting a lot of hype lately. I love the sound of my guitar and I don't want to put and OD in place that just masks that so I get it. However, I'm not an expert to argue the validity of "transparency" so I'll skip that. The fact is, this pedal sounds like my guitar running my amp into breakup and not like a pedal. I noticed the 'Transparency' the most when I upgraded from a PRS SE Custom 24 to a PRS S2 Standard 24. This pedal took a huge leap in tone quality versus others OD/Distortions as my new guitar sounded much better.

Gain: Gain can really go up on this little guy and it can be very fun. I know a lot of guys use it as a clean boost and I do as well at times but I mainly keep the gain around 11. The pedal itself is very responsive so you can clean up the tone based on your picking power. There is also a 3 way gain clipping switch which allows you to dial in the right type of gain you have set. I've found this to make some major differences in the overall tone I'm going for.

Treble / Bass: The two knobs are actually cut knobs. Thus, as you move the knob clockwise, you are decreasing that tonal property. IE: If I turn the the bass knob clockwise, it decreases the amount of bass coming through. Same thing for the treble. Paul C states that it reduces clipping. I'm no electrical engineer but I can attest to that the changes in the EQ are very smooth and make all the difference in the tone you're going for.

Needless to say, I'm a huge fan of the Timmy.

Gain Machine

Two modes: Crunch and Overdriven

Crunch is the lighter of the two. I play this on a lower gain (6 to noon) with the mid's punched and get some great tones out of it. It's very responsive with much less compression than that of the "overdriven" setting. I use it when playing softer items that need a good solo or lead.

Overdriven is a high gain monster. I'll play this at 3 o'clock and higher on the gain. There is a lot of high gain out there with other pedals but the feedback and tones of most leave much to be desired. This pedal is the exception providing very good high gain tones to either scoop out the mids or push them to the max. The gain differs in that it offers a very natural gain tone versus others that provide a more digital gain feeling.

Boost: There is an independent boost circuit that will cut the mix as needing for solo's or prominent riffs. It also works independently without the distortion side so you get somewhat of a 2 in 1 pedal.

Highly recommend for those looking for a high gain pedal with some character.

Great Low Watt Amp

This is a great little amp. Tone quality is very good and very clean. I can get a good overdrive tone out of it too. Volume levels can get surprisingly high. I use this as a "bedroom" amp primarily. It is perfect for a study or office. I have also used it in live settings mic'd through a full PA and I've been very pleased with the tone quality.

For reference, I tend to run very clean amps with a lot of head room and I use nearly all of my gain controls through pedals versus using amp gain. While this amp has a great gain feature, it doesn't have a foot switch for easy toggling. That makes it difficult to be dependent on it. However, the gain is very impressive given the size.

All things considered, this is easily the best low watt amp I've ever used. Would highly recommend it.

Excellent, Well Rounded Guitar

I've been using this for approximately 5 months or so. I have it in the McCarty Tobacco Burst coloring.

Body: The body is excellent. The wood grain texture is very nice and coloring is very clear. No grain filler gives the body a slight porous feel. The coating they use is extremely thin and my top concern is scratching it given the minimal protection. However, I have had no issues so far. The neck feels different than the body as it has either a different or thicker coating. Probably to prevent it from wear from hand oils. It is smooth but still feels quite different to other necks I've played.

Tone: Great warm tones, especially on the neck pick up. Sustain is quite present in this guitar, I assume due to the all mahogany build type. Using the bridge pickup, you can get quite a bit of snap and twang in the treble range. There's quite a contrast between the two pickups. Unit has coil tap present and I've never used such a feature very much prior to this guitar. The functionality is excellent and the tone change is quite evident. You also don't lose much volume even though you're essentially playing single coil. There is a slight drop off but not like others I've played. Most coil taps I have played have a deadened humbucker sound versus having a single coil sound. That's not the case with this. I use it quite often in my clean tones.

Overall: The guitar plays like it costs twice as much. I'd take it over anything else I've played in this price range and over numerous guitars that I've played in the >$2,000 range. It's not as fancy as other Paul Reed Smith's but pictures do not do it justice. It is quite attractive, especially to those guitar players seeking a less decorative PRS.