zaza_3121's Reviews

Beautiful, but flawed

I no longer have this guitar, because I returned it.

What I liked: The finish was superb, really beautiful color. The neck was straight from the factory, no fret edges. The Roswell pickups - yes, those Fender designed pickups are actually made by Roswell - sounded great, especially the neck pickup.

Now, the flaws.... the fretboard was DRY. Dry as an old fence. Last five frets were rusty, needed to be polished. Some frets were causing very audible buzzing, because they're not levelled.

I really wanted to love this guitar, but it didn't feel comfortable to play due to everything I mentioned.

It was great until it broke off

One day it just snapped. Nowadays I'm using a similar winder made by Ortega which is much better, because the handle is screwed on.

Cheap and sounds very good

Apart of the experienced volume drop, I have no issues with this not-so-small phaser. It sounds like the vintage Small Stone, nothing more, nothing less. Once you replace the switch, it's a very nice addition to your pedalboard and it provides the classic psychedelic phaser sound (i.e. Breath by Pink Floyd).

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Avoid

Redesigned black box with swirly psychedelic font: not a good phaser at all. Very bright and the effect goes almost dry at some points of the sweep. You won't be able to get any of the famous sounds created by the vintage units - try to play anything by Tame Impala and you will clearly notice it sounds wrong due to that sweep.

Gamechanger

Very easy to apply on any guitar and works as it should. My straps finally don't fall off.

American made in Mexico

At first, let me tell you this is a killer guitar. The pickups, bridge and tremolo are made in America but the guitar was assembled in Mexico. The neck is very nice though glossy, no fret sprouts, fits into my hand really well. The rhythm circuit is different than on your usuall offset guitars and it's actually very handy when used together with fuzz pedals. The color is fabulous.

I don't like one thing and that's the small vintage frets. If you have never played a guitar with 7.25 radius and vintage frets, you have to learn how to play all over again, especially if you bend a lot. Otherwise, it's really easy to fret complex chords thanks to the vintage radius.

"..get to the chorus already!"

I had a CH-1 Super Chorus clone by Behringer (UC-200), but I after some time I decided to try a different chorus sound. I bought this little Mooer based on various reviews and they were definitely correct - this is a fantastic chorus, a clone of the legendary CE-2.

The enclosure is small yet sturdy, two small knobs for setting the level of chorus effect and depth, one large knob for rate. To be honest, the rate knob is quite sensitive and you could change it even by touching it slightly. This is the only thing that's somewhat "bad", but the rest is only positive things.

Sound is full, great for compressed slightly overdriven lead playing (think current James Dean Bradfield, Johnny Marr), blends well with the distortion. Also, this pedal is dead silent. UC-200 could get similar tones, but I felt that something was lacking. Ensemble King provides that "something" plus sounds great, functions well and is cheap. I definitely recommend.

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Versatile flanger

This is a very nice flanger with the top-mounted jacks to save some room. When you take time to learn what each knob does, it's very easy to get almost any kind of modulated sound. I understand it's a clone of BF-2, but I couldn't get the infamous Prince tone out of it. Neverthless, it works as it should and it's built very well.

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It's so good I have it twice on my board.

If DD-3 is a fantastic delay, DD-7 is quadruplesuperdupermegahyperultrastic and much more. Built to last, easy to use with some fantastic modes to choose. Tap tempo function with subdivisions works great, especially if you have two delays like I do.

Classic delay

Infamous DD-3 - great clean digital delay, very easy to use. Built to last. You can find your favourite delay tone very quick, no wonder it's been used by so many greats.

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Small pedal, big impression

This pedal makes me sound better. Subtle optical compression, EQ knob comes handy when the compressor is placed after your drive pedals to bring treble back. What it does is that it makes your overall tone fuller on any setting without squashing it, even if you can't really hear the compression in effect (settings from 7:00 to 11:00). Around 2:00 you are getting to that squishy territory, but words can't describe how pleasant it sounds opposed to a Dynacomp.

Personaly, I like to have it after my dirt pedals, so I can still use the advantages of rolling down the volume knob on the guitar but also have balanced volume level. I definitely recommend to anyone who would love to have a compressor, but didn't like the squishiness of a Dynacomp.

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Below average

I couldn't get any usable tone on this pedal unless I put a booster before it. It sucks more low frequencies than an MXR Dyna Comp.

Great BD-2 clone

I wasn't satisfied with a tube screamer, so I tried Cinders and this is definitely the overdriven sound I had in my head. Versatile for almost any genre and I'd trust the box to last some heavy stomping as well - it's heavy and sturdy.

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MXR Squishy Comp

I have a love/hate relationship with this compressor - it sucks the high frequencies from your tone, but it gives you that infamous squish that you've heard on all classic records. On clean, you sound like Chic. If you use it before your OD's, it pushes them a little bit more just like a boost and when you place it after OD's, it keeps overall volume just fine (but as mentioned before - it sucks some of your highs).

Build quality is great and I prefer it's switch more than on any EHX pedal.

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It's name doesn't lie - turbo distortion!

DS-1 was my first pedal, but I sold it. I ordered another one two years ago, but even with the dimed volume I couldn't get unity gain. DS-2 has so much volume and gain on tap, I find it very versatile on both modes. Mode 1 sounds very similar to DS-1 and DS-2 is THE sound of Dani California solo. Just try to play those notes around 13-15th fret ;) And it's BOSS, so it looks awesome and will survive a nuclear warfare.

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Great great great great...

Cool digital delay pedal - clean and pristine. Combined with the Muff you get that David Gilmour lead tone. The only issue is the blend signal has a natural volume drop (just like almost any other EHX delay pedal).

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Solid starter bass

I bought this just out of necessity for recording and practicing. There were some sharp fret ends I had to get rid of and the setup was bad, but when you set it up, it plays nicely and the sound ain't bad. Into the DI you get that jazzbass sound used on many funk songs and played through the bass amp it rocks. Some of the knobs are quite noisy due to the cheap electronics.

Pumpkin Pie

Being a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan, I love this pedal. When compared to the classic NYC reissue, this has more balls especially when you bypass the tone circuit. Build quality is solid as usually, though the sound is a one trick pony, you either love or hate Muffs. You have to play it into the clean channel, no amp gain or drive at all, unless you want the notes to choke.

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Fantastic clone

This is a really great chorus pedal. I bought it thanks to the infamous JHS video and once you dial the right settings (level not so high as you might think), it gives you that sparkly chorus 80's sound. Plastic enclosure is solid - what a surprise. The knobs are quite tight when you try to turn them, but that's a good thing. in my opinion.

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Average

If I was starting on a guitar and got this pedal, I’d be satisfied - It’s got a lot of gain, but that’s it, nothing else. Very noisy.