Monday, April 27, 2015

5 Excuses People Use Not To Learn an Instrument

It has been so long since I started learning the guitar that it takes a minute for me to remember what it was like. I was so awed by a youth minister at my church. I was too young to actually be in the youth, but I bothered him so much that he showed me three chords and let me practice on one of his guitars. Soon I bothered my parents enough to fix up an old guitar enough for me to mess around at home, and the rest they say is history. I made so much noise on that old, junk guitar that my folks decided that i needed a better instrument. I got my first real six-string when I was about 12 after about a year and a half of beating on an old box (at least that is what it sounded like) that looked somewhat like a guitar. Even though there wasn't much music but it was one of the best investment of time I've ever made. Still there are people who want to learn, but talk themselves out of it. There are several reason people use, but what I hear most often is...

I don't have enough time

Learning to play an instrument take a lot of time. People are intimidated by the commitment they have to make. After just a small amount of instruction, it can seem like so much time has to go into something like this that it would occupy your entire life. They aren't far off. There are people who have basically devoted their lives to playing an instrument. Oddly enough, they are either bums or millionaires. What I tell my students is that five minutes of quality practice everyday is better that half an hour once a week. For anyone willing to learn, but are afraid of not having the time, your don't need hours of practice a day. You need a small amount of time that you can focus on your instrument and do it everyday. It will amaze you how fast your progress.

It Is Too Hard

Many people get frustrated when learning anything new. It is always a challenge, but challenges are what make learning satisfying. Say that learning to play is hard or difficult is like saying the sky is blue. Everyone has to put in the time and effort. Some have an unfair amount of talent. Their time and effort are less. More often it takes many hours of practice and repetition. When a student tells me that something is too hard, I tell them  that something may take more effort, but everything can be mastered.

Too Old to Learn

Many people believe you can't teach an old dog new tricks. That might be true, but I've seen old people learn the guitar, so it is never too late to learn. I've personally taught a lady that was well into her retirement years that had taught herself a great deal even before seeking lessons. It is harder however for most adult to learn a new skill. Our schedules are full of things that rightly take priority over playing music. Its difficult to find the time needed to learn a skill that require all of you focus. Steady practice and a little discipline can go a long way to achieving your goal.

It is Too expensive

Learning music does come with a cost. If there is no one that can offer an instrument at little or no cost to you, then you are forced to acquire one on your own. The time and practice that you need can hardly be accomplished by borrowing a friends, or occasionally playing an instrument. lucky there are many retailers that offer affordable options. You can learn many instruments with less than a hundred dollar investment. Others, for instance the drum kit, can cost a few hundred to get started. I often try to aid students in search of affordable instruments by finding reasonable used instruments. This can allow someone to afford a quality instrument for considerably less.

Too confusing

To anyone who in unaccustomed to reading music, written music is terribly confusing. There are shapes and signs that don't mean anything to someone outside of music. I often explain that music is its own langue. In many ways, it is. It may only have seven letters, but what one can do with those is astounding. Understanding the very basics of this langue is steep task and mastering it can take a lifetime. No wonder there are those that are intimidated by the very sight of written music. Funny shapes on lines with symbols that seem arbitrary is a lot to process. Just like learning the langue that we speak from day to day, everyone has to start with the building blocks and slowly move forward. No one learned to read before learning the alphabet. The only way to learn music is by breaking it down to its most basic elements and building from there.

Music is a challenging and rewarding endeavor that many find to be fulfilling. There is a journey awaiting anyone who is willing to commit and learn a musical instrument. Music is present in nearly facet of our lives. From the stores where we shop, to our cars and our homes, music plays in the background. Music can open doors and lead you on adventure. To those that make music, it can be a life changing experience.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

5 Ugly Truths About Fenders Micro Effects Pedals



They are sigh inducing

From the colors to the, to the actually types of pedals that are served up, Fender has created the least inspiring line of effect since... their last line of effects. Way to go guys! But seriously, Fender has a terrible track record of effects. The last time that Fender had a dog in the effects game was in the dark ages when they put out the "Tone Bender", and that was only because they were one of the few putting stock in the stuff back then. It has been copied, but it is almost unanimously believed that the design has been improved on in every conceivable way. The first experience with a Fender pedal was with their tuner they put out year ago. I bought it because it was half the price of the Boss TU-2. It also worked half as well. I've stayed away for the most part since then. Everything from the design to the colors to the names of Fenders pedals have been lack luster for as long as I can remember. These pedals are no exception.

They are copies of copies

In the new line up we have a compressor, EQ, DI, and an A/B/Y pedal. The comp is in the same vein as many others from Donner/Mooer/Monoprice and the like. Whether or not they are the same on the inside is a little harder to ascertain. The EQ is seen in many other places. The Graphic sliders function in the same way as the Boss GE-7 or MXR's graphic EQ pedal. The closest resemblance is that to the Mooer pedal. They are just slightly different shades of blue. The DI and A/B/Y are tried and true designs in a compact little pedal. Fender is not fooling anyone here. These are, at best, clones and at worst they are exact copies of other pedals. I don't think that there is anything necessarily wrong with that. Depending on who owns what, Fender might not even be dipping into anyone else "bag of tricks". What it is, is a lazy way to push product out. Fender looks like they said, "This is popular, let's slap our name on it and sell it to Fender fans.", and called it a day.

They are Fender effects

If you have ever tried Fender effects, then you probably have been disappointed. To call them lack luster what be an understatement. In the last 10-15 years Fender has made attempts and failed to bring to market, anything that might be considered successful. Not to say that what they put out was blatantly bad. That accomplishment belongs to Behringer. But finder has found a way to miss the mark every time. Which make me assume that they are either hopelessly out of touch of the pedal/effects market, or they are so conservative that they can't explore and find a niche that is well suited for them. either way it leaves the consumer with a bad taste in our collective mouths.

They might have got everything right

Having said that, allow me to directly contradict myself. For the keen observer, you may have noticed that Fender's line-up of micro pedals is a little thin. For the longest time, I haven't been able to put my finger on what was missing. There is not a single overdrive, distortion or filter among them. At first I thought that they add more pedal to this line later. As of the writing of this post, they haven't. What they do have is a list of pedals that don't take a lot of scrutiny. Their comp and EQ are arguably designed by someone else, tested and liked. Their DI and A/B/Y boxes are so simple a monkey could design those. Not only that, but personally I don't like switching the tiny pedals on and off. They don't feel sturdy. They save space, but that is the only reason to have one of these pedals. So why not have your "Set-it and forget-it" pedals (ones that you don't switch on and off often) as space saving micro. This, my friends is the best move that I've seen Fender make regarding effects. That is...

They probably haven't

If they have screwed it all up. Lets face it. This is the company that could produce a $15 analog, needle style tuner that worked beautifully. (I wish I still had that thing) But fail in the highest order when it came to a $50 pedal that performed the same task. Fender has fumbled the ball in the clutch play before and it would not surprise me if they do it again. The easiest of tasks seem like the hardest to accomplish. I don't know why a huge company like Fender has so much trouble making simple things that people put together in their garage all the time. Not like they need to make anything other than the same guitars they have been making for that last three quarters of a century. All this coming from a Fender fanboy. If anyone from Fender is reading this: please, when it comes to making pedals do it right, or don't do it at all.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

5 Ugly Truths About The EHX Turnip Greens Reverb/OD Pedal

I was mindlessly scrolling through the list of effects on my favorite music gear website and came across a pedal from EHX that I wasn't familiar with. It was the Turnip Greens. I saw that it was described as Multi-effect so I checked it out. Turns out that this pedal is a combination between the Holy Grail Max and the Soul Food. On the surface this looks like a pretty good idea. The Soul Food is a pedal that replicates the exalted Klon, and the Holy Grail Max is an expanded version of one of the most respected reverbs. Put them together and what do you get? I'll give you a hint:

It's not "Bipity Bopity Boo".

1 Its Too Expensive

The cost of this pedal is roughly the cost of the two pedals that it combines. Which probably makes sense to most people, but when you stuff two pedal in one box there should be some price reduction. Like the package deal that it is, you should get a discount for buying in bulk. In case you were wondering, yes, I am cheap. But that is why I like EHX pedals in the first place. They make some decent pedals and they don't charge a great deal for them. You'd have to spend twice as much for the next best pedal. The make one of the best Tube Screamer clones (with improvments like: true bypass and bright LED) for just more than half the price. Their Klone is $60 which is crazy compared to the 300 and 400 dollar klones that are on the market. Are they worried that sales of the indivual pedal would suffer? Maybe. I can say that I'm a pretty big fan of the Soul Food and I'm looking for a reverb, and I don't think I'll pick it up.

2 Its Ugly

Yes, I'm picking on this pedal. But honestly, I don't want to put this on my board and have people see it. I don't mind stock graphics screen printed on top of my pedal. I don't mind the background color as it is the same color as the Soul Food, but the big green leaves are kind of obnoxious. Also, labeling each side the name of the pedal that it reprsents instead of the actual function is not as ugly as it is dumb. It makes the whole think seem like its trying to sell the individual pedals, but at the same time it makes you look silly for buy this one.

3. It Has A Stupid Name

I actually see were the name of this pedal comes from. Turnip greens are considered a type of soul food. So at best its a theme, but at worst it might point at some sensitive stereotypes. If you ignore the relationship between the two pedals (by the way, where does "holy grail" come in to all this) Turnip Greens and an odd name. Maybe it is because I grew up eating greens. If you named a bunch of pedals after food that would just be strange.

I'll just leave this here...


4. It Is less Convenient Than Having Two Pedals

I'll admit that this pedal has been thought through rather well. There is an effects loop that allow you to run what ever you want between the Soul Food and Holy Grail. That was my biggest complain when I first saw it. "What fools! I though. "How can you stick an overdrive and reverb together?!" and then I saw the send/return and it made a little more since. Then I noticed the toggle that reverses which effect is first, the Soul Food or Holy Grail. There is a buffer switch as well, but I don't think that is exclusive to this pedal. It all just feel like you are working around the pedal. 

5. It Offers No Advantage To Having The Individual Pedals

Lets add up everything that we know about this box: It combines two pedals that function just find by themselves, It cost as much as the other two combined, It tries hard to do everything that the two pedals do individually, There are no extra features that the other pedals don't have. You'll be embarrassed by the sight of it, when ever you talk about having "Turnip Greens" on your board, you'll have to explain that its a Soul Food and Holy Grail, and then explain that the Soul Food is a Klon Clone.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

5 Ugly Truths About Relic'ing Your Guitar



My relic'd SG


Lately I've been wanting a new guitar. I have a pitifully small budget, but I wanted something different. I trolled around for a pre-loved instrument on craigslist, but nothing quite hit the nail on the head. Mostly because nobody wanted to handover a guitar free of charge. I was reminded that I had some gear loaned out to someone that wanted to learn (and had lost all interest.) The gears where set in motion, and once again I was in possession of my Epiphone SG 310 (or something like that. I had picked it up. more or less, as a souvenir while traveling with my wife back when I had some disposable income. I never really fit in with my other guitar (all Telecasters) so it go sidelined a lot. Sitting down with one of my good friends and fellow gear-nut, we discussed relic'ing guitars. He has a Mexican Strat that he has reclic'd. As he described the process, I started to visualize going through the steps. It reminded me of when I went about refinishing my Telecaster back when I only had one. I then knew what I had to do. I was going to beat my SG until it and I had a mutual respect for one another. There are some things that I learned along the way that were somewhat surprising.


Photo by musiczoo.com




1. Your Guitar Will Never Be The Same

Let's start with the obvious. You are going to change your guitar in a way that will be very difficult to repair. In some cases, repairing a relic job would mean replacing so many parts that it would more new pieces than original. So you strip your guitar down to its bare parts and get ready to do the deed. When I began to distress my SG, I had no idea what it was going to look like. I stripped a Telecaster and repainted it. Over the years, the paint job I did wore in some spots. I wanted to replicate that effect on my SG. What I ended up with was something complete different. Many of the edges have "wear" marks and dings, but it was very difficult to cause that effect. Many of the bevels that are part of the SG shape have been rounded off in the "wearing" of the paint job. Even if I repainted the guitar it would still have a "distressed" shape. So think about that before you break out your "murder tools"

2. You Will Regret Almost Everything

I worked at a passionate rate. Every time I nicked, cut and ding my guitar I grew bolder. I wanted more of that effect. I wanted to go further. If one looked good then ten would be great. Only, as I work a noticed that this ding looked like that ding and those nicks look like someone did it on purpose (duh). I started thinking that I had made a huge mistake that I can't take back. Those marks don't look real. Why would there be dings like that over there! It was all falling apart just as fast as it had come together. So I put it down, went back inside, and had a good cry (a figurative cry). I came back with the mentality that it was the journey that matter, not so much the end result. I let my children bead on the body with a file. I stood on it. I laid it flat on a concrete floor and kicked it around. To Hell with the nitpicky. This is supposed to be fun!

3. It Will Always Look "Manufactured"

Indeed, the marks on my guitar may not fool the "expert" but like I explained above, it is something that I enjoyed. So lets talk about your guitar. No matter how well you think you did, it still going to look manufactured to the one person that matters, You. No matter how well you recreate those marks of instruments that have seen decades of heavy use you will know that your were caused by the tools in your garage. Each time you pick up your guitar, no matter how great you think it looks, you are living a lie. It may be an innocent little fib. Your instrument didn't really earn (or deserve) those marks of abuse. Many people will not even question how those got there, but you know that you did it. there is almost an aspect of exhibitionism. You know a dirty little secrete about your guitar and you parade that secrete in front of everyone just to see if anyone will call you on it.

4. You Won't Want To Stop

It is almost addictive when you wear through your finish and you see the wood underneath. You want more. You want more visible wood (that could be taken wrong). You want more battle scars. You rack you brain to think of where the wear should go. You think about wear the pick would scratch or wear the head would bump into something, or how missing the input jack might put a ding in the finish. You could add cigarette burns (man, visible wood and cigarette burn, this might put me on some sort of watch list) or yellow your finish. There is no limit. I guess you could keep going until your instrument is no longer playable. You could do some real damage if your not careful, but in all seriousness...

5. You Need To Stop

Why do we do this to our guitars. There is really no other group of musician that do the thing we do to there instruments. You don't see drummers spend time and energy into making their instrument look abused (it just happens naturally). Pianist take care in preserving their instruments, much like nearly every other musician. Symphonies take pride in the pristine way their instrument are cared for. Marching bands make their instrument shine before every performance. But a faction of guitarist think that they should degrade their instrument to the point (and past said point) of realism. There are guitar that make my heart sink when I see them. I know that someone has beaten it to the point that it looks like it was recovered from the wreckage of the Titanic. So please, if you are going to add "wear" to your guitar, know how far is too far.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Behringer UT-100 vs Boss TR-2 Tremolo Showdown

Years ago I picked up a Tremolo from Boss. A lot of my experience with effects start with getting a boss pedal and then finding something I like better. It would be fair to say that I've compared a lot of similar pedals to one another. Although my Boss TR-2 tremolo pedal has stayed around for a long time. Tremolo is such a simple effect that its easy to assume that most are relativity the same. The Boss TR-2 is considered by many the standard in tremolos. Many pedals have more features and functions. Some Uni-vibe clones are loaded with neat features, but the three knobs that come with the Boss are enough to get a wide range of sounds. Rate, Wave, and Depth are very descriptive. My Vox, with fantastic vibrato, doesn't even give you the wave shape to fiddle with. So I sat down with my work horse TR-2 and Behringer's most economical offering to decide if a pedal that is less than a quarter of the price could stand up to my current choice of Trems.







Boss TR-2












I picked up this pedal used for less than half the price of what it normally runs. Then I did a little messing around with it. I modded it with Mounte Allum's TR-2 mod to add a level knob. You also replace an opamp in this mod. There is a noticeable difference given the extra volume, but for this test I found unity gain as not to give an unfair advantage. I found some great sounds with little effort. It recreated the Vox vibrato and classic Tremolo with just the turn of a few knobs. It was very musical and flexible. You could dial in anything from soft, subtle vibe to spacey Tremolo. That's why I keep it around. No surprise I found it agreeable. These Behringer pedal are supposed to be Boss clones so I was excited to have a pedal that would be close to the same as one that I liked so much. Not to mention it cost a faction of the cost of new Boss TR-2







Behringer UT-100







Right off the bat the Behringer had a harder edge than the Boss. I dialed the Shape knob all the way down to the curvy wave. It helped, but I found myself wanting to turn past the point where it stopped. I tried to match the Boss's vibe, coming in and out like the chimey vibe of the Vox. No go. The UT-100 had a much sharper shaped wave no matter where it was set. I was able to get a usable routery cabinet sound, but for the most part I found it to sound a little harsh. The Behringer also produced some digital artifacts that were not musical. If you take the Wave knob all the way to the square wave, then you just get an abrupt on/off signal that more or less spits segments of tone at you. These setting is not enjoyable, but may be useful if looking to make you sound less like a guitar in general.







The Conclusion







The Boss TR-2 is hard to beat. The Behringer's price is just about the least amount of money you can pay for an effect. If you did buy the Behringer, then you'll wont to upgrade down the road. The sounds you can successfully pull off are limited. It's a little difficult for me to praise Boss as I often find there are better pedals in nearly every category, but it looks like the only thing that Behringer has done with this pedal is take a horible effect that you might find stuck in a budget multi-effect pedal and put it in a single pedal format. Literally, this pedal is just on the verge of unusable. It is nowhere close to the TR-2. Maybe the UT-300 is improved in some way. I couldn't imagine it being any worse.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

The Ugly Truth About The Electro Harmonix Nano Holy Grail

The Holy Grail is another pedal by Electro Harmonix that takes one of their classic pedals and puts it is a smaller box. It retails all of the original features of the old Holy Grail. It has Three settings: spring, hall, and flerb. The last one being the addition of flang to the reverb trails. The one knob is a simple interface like the one on an amp with reverb built in. It is simple and straight forward. The pedal in EHX's standard aluminum box with a simple decal. The pedal is true bypass with a solid click when thrown. All in all, this is a pretty pleasing pedal to look at.

The Sounds.

I've played many amps with analog reverb units. Fender, Vox, and even some boutique jobs. I am not exactly the biggest fan of reverb. I will often run my amps reverb pegged at zero. I get my "big" sounds from adding delay, but I've played enough to know what a decent sounding reverb sounds like. I can also tell you that a good spring unit is a pretty sweet thing to have available to you. The spring setting on this pedal is very usable. I could see having this on my board if I needed to fatten up a section of a song. The Hall setting is also a usable sound that creates a different "space". The Flerb is interesting. I think that there are applications for this effect, but as I am not huge user of this effect, I can think of any off the top of my head. The Holy Grail has been around for a long time, and might have even pioneered the use of modulation on reverb. Many other makers have copied this in there reverbs, so there is something to be said for that.

The Ugly Truth

This pedal is rather iconic. If you forced a guitar player to list reverb pedals, this would be one of the ones that he/she might mention. Its popularity is not contested, but that doesn't mean that it is the best choice. There are lots of solid options for under $100. The VHT Melo-Verb is a solid choice and comes with a separate tremolo channel. Not to mention, that the VHT has Dwell, Tone, and Mix to control the reverb sound. Digitech Probably has the most solid option for verb under $100. Then there is the standard Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb. It is more expencive than the EHX but offers many more sounds.

Conclusion

The pedal makes some really nice sounds. It is synonyms with reverb, but the price tag on this unit might be its down fall. Although it has nice features and interesting settings, it doesn't offer a great deal more than some other pedals that are close enough in price to consider. There are even options that cost less and do more. This pedal has some unique sounds that might make it special enough to warrant the purchase, but if all you are looking for is a solid reverb pedal, then make sure to check all your options before deciding.

Monday, April 13, 2015

The Ugly Truth About The MXR Prime Distortion

So, I've always been a little confused about MXR's line of effects. I never quite understood their line up. The Three knobs were all familiar, but how did you discern how the classic distortion was different from the Plus, or III. Recently I've found myself with the Prime Distortion and some time, so I got know just what makes this pedal "prime".

Whats Not To Like

When first looking at this pedal, it is impressive. It looks like it means business. It's a painted aluminum case with pinstriping. Metal everywhere and really solid feeling knobs. It has a super solid feel and weight to it, so when you plug it in you expect great things. From the get-go, this pedal sounds familiar. This pedal has a hard clip that make me think of the 80's. For playing the songs of a time when hair was big and men wore fishnets, this pedal is pretty prime. However, if that is not what you are going for then you might find it a little troublesome to bring it down into something a little more subtle.

There Are Some Things Not To Like

The pedal it's self is pretty nice, but the effect is a little too familiar. What I mean by that is that it sounds like another pedal. Basically, the pedal could be a stand in for a Boss DS-1. I know there are fans of the orange box, but I've tried just about every mod for this (the DS-1) pedal and never really found anything that made it a keeper. I don't know for a fact that it is a clone of the DS-1, but it sounds so close that its uncanny. True bypass is a great addition, but you are paying for that switch. The MXR pedal runs a little more than the Boss unit. And then there is the matter of the power supply jack being next to the input. This is extremely bothersome to me personally. There most those that don't mind much, but it causes problems when arranging pedals on my board.

The Conclusion

If you are looking for something like the DS-1, but like to keep everything true bypass, then this might be what you are looking for, given that you don't mind have your 9-volt jack in an inconvenient place.

Monday, April 6, 2015

The Ugly Truth About The Electro Harmonix Nano Clone

If you were like me, I've heard chorus in a ton of classic songs, but I had no idea what the sound was much less called. Those that use this effect will add it to make a subtle effect, others will add chorus to make a spacey, trippy type effect. I fall into the first category. I don't typically play big swells and soundscape type stuff, but it is something that mess with in a bedroom type setting. Delay, Chorus, and Vibe are some of my favorite thing to experiment with. So when I sat down with the Nano Clone I had some ideas of what it should sound like. What I ended up with was a little surprising.

One Knob Does It All

The first thing that you notice about this pedal is that it has a single knob. So if you want to control the depth, you are out of luck. However, the Nano Clone is a direct descendant of the Small Stone, which is legendary in it's own right. This translates into familiar, usable tones. This pedal is a great option for anyone getting into chorus and wants something simple and usable. When I started playing with this pedal, I felt like I needed more knobs to get anything desirable. Despite first impressions, There are many settings that are pleasing. However, the experienced player looking for particular tones might be disappointed with the lack of control.

There Is a Limit

Given my choice of playing, it is not a surprise that my favorite settings are on the lower end of the pedals settings. Everything that I could see using would be set before Noon. Up to that point, everything is pretty chill. When the knob get much past 12, the pedal develops a metallic sound that is somewhat unmusical. These setting might compliment certain styles of music, but they are diffidently outside my comfort zone.

The Result

In all honesty, this is a reboxing of a classic pedal. There has been changes to bring the massive Small Stone into today's compact pedal market. The original also had a strange power supply. Many of the quarks of the original have been brought into today's standards. EHX's standard Aluminum case, true bypass, and decals are present. What else is appealing is that it is less than $50 USD. So it might be the right solution for someone looking to get into chorus and doesn't want to invest a great deal of money. This pedal is not the best chorus I've ever played through, but it definitely brings a lot of good things considering the price.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

The Ugly Truth About MXR Super Badass Distortion


Recently I was able to sit down with a pedal that has had a lot of attention lately, The MXR Super Badass Distortion. The most notable feature that is present on this pedal is the Mid knob. Most pedals have a Tone knob. We are very familiar with a singular Tone knob, or even having  Low and High knobs, but having a three band Eq is surprising on a compact, sub-$100 pedal. This pedal has lots of knobs. This is great for those of us that love to tweak pedals. The controls are very amp-like. We have Level and Distortion that do exactly what you think they do. Then, you get your Low, Mid, and High knobs that do what they sound like they do as well. I am not the expert on MXR. I've played through most of their distortion boxes. I can't say that I'm super impressed with many of them. My local shop is a pretty big dealer of Dunlop (MXR's parent company) so when sitting down with my friendly, neighborhood, pedal-pusher he lined up a bunch of them and ran through them with me. I was unimpressed with most of the offering of the MXR line. This was rather underwhelming because I like the looks and features of most of the modern line. True Bypass and a rugged compact case are important to me. The Distortion+ was too fizzy and didn't offer enough range. It felt like I was playing around the pedal and not setting the pedal to how I wanted to play. The Classic distortion/ Distortion III was warmer and more usable than any of the other pedals. The one that stands above the rest is the Super BadAss Distortion

The Complete Spectrum of Distortion

If you believe what the manufacture description states about this pedal, then this distortion pedal does everything from clean boost to scooped metal tones. Let's start as the beginning, the clean boost is fair. This pedal probably cleans up better than nearly every other distortion I've played. Most pedals will just die when the distortion knob goes to zero. I guess in a pinch this pedal will work as a boost, but I don't think it will replace my GE-7 (modded to take care of the hiss that is associated with this pedal). Of course the most likely use of this pedal is going to include using gain. At 9 O'clock the pedal give nice soft clipping saturation. I'd describe this as, "Just beyond breakup". Straight up noon on the gain will give you large amounts of gain. This is about where the line is between rock and heavy rock. Past this point and you'll be flirting with metal tones. At 3 O'clock it's over saturated, heavy rock/metal. Scoop the mids and you'll find some lush nu-metal sounds that satisfy that niche. This is all pretty impressive, that this pedal can clean up all the way to "clean" boost. There is a down side to all that versatility. Cranking that gain will definitely give you more distortion, but it also comes with a little extra white noise. This is not much of a concern util after 9 O'clock, but pegging the gain is going to come with a cost. Also the pedal comes with a fair amount of compression. Many metal distortions will compress your signal, but as your increase the gain you start to notice that everything is getting squished. The whole range of gain on the pedal is accompanied by some compression, but it is the most noticeable at full tilt.

Does It Really Do Everything?

In a word: no. It is my opinion that no one pedal can do everything for you. Even if it peg every gain stage that you want to play at, you'd have to change your settings to get to more than one of them. Then there is matter of stacking pedals. You can push your pedals just like the front of your amp. If you were setting up a pedal board and had $100 to spend on your gain section, I'd recommend getting two of the lower cost options that cover that range instead of trying to get a single pedal that does "everything". The way your can combined and mix these pedals are going to be a lot more satisfying then trying to find one setting that works for anything. At the end of the day, one pedal can only make one sound at a time. $50 isn't a lot of cash to spend on a new pedal, but there are a lot of good options out there. Most of the Outlaw pedals are just under $50. Of course you can get the orange and yellow boxes from Boss, but if you like the MXR line then you might want things like True Bypass and such. You could get as many as 4 pedals for your $100 From Behringer. However, if you are typically a low gain player that needs to add flexibility to you board, but you don't want to buy a ton of new gear to make different sounds, or have little space to spare on you board, then the Super BadAss might be a great fit for you.