Ugly Truth: Vintage TS-9 Tube Screamer

Some time ago I was going through the bargain bin at the local music store and found a Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer. I already had a TS-9DX and wasn't all that impressed by it, but I figured that I would compare the two and see if there were any major advantages with one or the other. On a lark I traded bit of gear for a $0 transaction. One home I played the two Tube Screamers side by side. The TS-9 did seem to have a little more high-end on tap, but the two were very close. Weeks past and I wanted a project, so I decided to do some mods to the TS-9. The bottom plate was covered in Velcro covering the bottom. I peeled the Velcro off to access the screws and the bottom label came off. Usually I don't care about such things, but I stopped and peeled the label away from the Velcro. To my surprise it was not a contemporary label. To the internet I went to find out when this pedal was made. It could be vintage. So using the label, battery door, and some of the actually PCB components, I was able to determine that this pedal was made in 1983. It was one of the earliest TS-9s ever made. I was holding a $200-300 pedal. I was excited by the find, and I also decided that I would mod it, obviously. The picture isn't always pretty though.

Pedals Don't Get Better With Time

There is a big to-do about vintage pedals, but the reason that vintage pedal are popular isn't really based on fact. We owe most of our desire to vintage effects to two things: discontinued effects (the real reason) and vintage instruments. For as long as I can remember, people have said that violins better with age. The oldest and finest violin was Stradivarius. Fast forward a few hundred years and people still clamor over Pre-CBS Fenders. So people apply a subjective thought about violins to modern instruments and that spills over into other gear. There are some reason that some people go up in value. The Boss Slow gear is a pedal that has gone out of production and are hard to come by. They can be seen as high as $500. But people who care still rave about replacing passive components with vintage counterparts, spending time and money to replace something with objectively no difference. The truth is that many of components worsen over time. Metal rusts, Pots get scratchy, years of exposure cause degradation.

Much Of The Difference Is In Our Heads

I did a shootout with several Tube Screamer and Tube Screamer like pedals. After A/B-ing each combination with each pedal in its own loop, I was only able to discern slight differences between the pedals. They ranged from a $40 Bad Monkey to EHX's East River Drive to my vintage TS-9. I'm not saying that I could replace one for another and there be no difference, but the difference there was made little impact to the overall sound. No one casually listening would be able to tell the difference from the cheapest to the most expensive. Just knowing which pedal I was playing probably accounted for most the difference that I "heard".

The Coolest Thing About Owning A Vintage Pedal Is Owning A Vintage Pedal

The only time that people know that my TS-9 is vintage is when I tell them, and every I do, I feel like that guy. There is nearly no reason to own vintage gear than to brag about it. I wouldn't have picked up this pedal if the seller actually knew it was vintage. I do run a TS pedal on my board, but it's not the vintage one. I run an East River Drive because it sounds good and it has True Bypass and a brighter LED (and the pots aren't scratchy(and yes, I've tried contact cleaner)). I've considered sell a number of times. It would be nearly all profit, but I've decided that having a somewhat rare pedal around isn't a bad thing. Its more like a neat collectible than a pedal that I use. On the one hand, it's a good working pedal that deserves to be used, on the other hand, it is a semi-rare and valuable piece of gear.

Conclusion

The thing I like most about the pedal is the story that I get to tell of how I acquired it. I also like to see people reaction to the value of the pedal. Yes, I brag a little bit, but mostly I just think it's cool.

Ugly Truth Review: Boss RV-6 Reverb

I was able to sit down recently with the new reverb pedal from Boss. I was quite excited because the demo the made this pedal look like a pedal with more than just a subtle effect. Reverb is something that not all player enjoy. I never used reverb much for a long time, because I saw it as something that made everything sound mushy. I played a lot of punk/rock/metal tunes that didn't quite jive with jangly reverb, but now my style of playing has changed (or at least I play more types of music). So I've found my self using the reverb on my amp, and then I used the reverb on my Line6 M5. So My attention was peaked when I saw all the features of the RV-6.

It's A Reverb Pedal

Yes, it's true, this pedal is exactly what it says it is. The Shimmer and Dynamic settings are new and very enjoyable. I found myself spending the most time with these two new settings. This is probably due to the fact that I, and most other people, are familiar with the other types of reverb. But with is neat is that these effects are more of a "special" effect than an emulation of what amps already do. This pedal does reverb just as well as its older sibling, the RV-5, but has more to offer. The stereo operation is still intact, and the sound quality is just as good or better than before. There really is no setting that is "to far" that you can't make some musical noise out of it, unlike the EHX Holy Grail (not saying that 'to far' is always 'to far'). If you like a good reverb, this pedal is probably the best and most flexible I've played in a long time.

It's More Than A Reverb

I've talked about the new feature of this pedal, and there are several, but the most exciting to me was the fact that you can set the pedal for 100% wet signal. I've become a little more versed in the world of ambient noise and like the idea of a pedal that makes just that. These features, as well as the expression pedal input, suggest that this pedal can do more than just make reverb. In fact, much of my time with the pedal was making strange noises with it. I've mentioned the Holy Grail reverb earlier. That pedal is great when set at reasonable levels. Once you start to crank it, however, thing take a turn for the unmusical. This is not true for the RV-6. Run this pedal full bore and you still get usable, if not a bit "over the top" reverberations. The Expression capabilities are a fun thought. Being able to swell reverb is something that seems applicable in certain situations. No longer is a reverb relegated to subtle "after-note" effects, but can actually made a big difference in the tone and vibe of your playing.

Conclusion

I like this pedal. It may be the most excited I've ever been about reverb. Everything sound great and the controls are dead simple. It's really easy to dial in a tone you're looking for. If you are in the market for a reverb, then you should check this one out. If you like to make weird noises and you want a pedal to help with that, then you should check this pedal out. Other pedal that create just a fraction of this pedals range sell for what you'd pay for this unit or more. Do your self a favor and take a good look at the RV-6 from Boss. It's a reverb that gives you a lot more than "reverb".

The Ugly Truth: Ventura Guitars

The first time I ran across one these guitars, I may have told this story before, was when a student of mine brought one in. I had never heard of them and was curious, as I am with all new guitars. So I picked it up and played a little bit to get the feel of it. I was surprised with how well it sounded. It looked like a decent student guitar and it sounds better than most student guitar I've seen. When I asked about were they found it, I was told they had bought it in a local shop. The only reason they had bought that guitar was because it was the cheapest 3/4 guitar in the store. I was so impressed that I went online to find out more. What I found out was surprising.

They Don't Sell Online

In a day and age when everything is available on the internet, we don't know what to do when you literally can't buy something online. Obviously, this does not apply to used Ventura instruments. No dealer is allowed to post Ventura guitars online, or mention there prices. This is because Ventura wants to protect the local music store. Local music stores are slowing going the way of the buffalo. I try to support my local music stores as much as I can. However, I am cheap and often deal peer-to-peer when buying a lot of gear. I like to find used gear and save some money, but sticks, strings, picks, capos, and the occasional pedal will be bough in a local music store. So when I learned that Ventura supported the same guys that let me play with their fun, new guitar stuffs, I felt good about that.

No One Knows About Them

Ventura might be the biggest secret it the music industry. Thirty something years ago, Ventura was a small but respected brand of guitars. If you go to Ebay and type in "Ventura", you will most likely see the vintage instruments that are associated with the brand. I won't speak to the particulars (because I don't actually know them) but in the last few years the brand has been revived. Manufacturing in China, at least for the most part, they make a wide range of instrument. Everything from student guitars to Acoustics made for solid wood and Fishman pickup systems. I actually own a Les Paul copy that I wrote a review about, here. Long story short, it's pretty freakin' amazing.

In Conclusion

Besides no one ever hearing of these guitars, Ventura is a great company that put out fantastic guitars. They are budget friendly and excellent quality. Today we find more and more brands going in the opposite direction. Fender guitars used to offer a decent guitar for an affordable price, but now even the Squire line is raising to the upper limits of "affordable". Ventura not only keeps small, local stores in mind, but they allow people access to quality instrument at nearly any price point. If you are looking for great deal on a quality instrument, find a Ventura dealer and try them for your self. If the name on the headstock makes no difference to you, then you will appreciate these instruments.

The Ugly Truth: Vox Pathfinder 10

I took a trip to my local music store, as I do, and tried the wears. I also like to give the used gear a good look, because that tends to be interesting and affordable than the new stuff that fills the walls. So I grabbed a Jay Turser strat copy and when to test it out through an amp. I'm aware of the good-amp/bad-guitar paradox. A cheap guitar through a good amp will sound good, but a good guitar through a cheap amp will sounds "cheap". So I matched my budget guitar with a budget amp to see what a "typical" rig would sound like. I picked a Vox Pathfinder 10 (Union Jack themed) to run through.

It's just so dang pretty...

Notice this is not "The Ugly Truth about a Jay Turser Strat". The guitar was bulky and uncomfortable to play. (which is actually pretty though to be for a strat, one of the most comfortable and body conforming guitars on the market.)

The Looks

The Pathfinder 10 is about the size of a large lunch box and not much heavier. It doesn't impress anyone with its size. I've played several small "lunch box" amps: Yamaha, Pignose, ZT. Not to mention the small "practice" amps that most all major brand produce (think beginner package amp). This one is among the prettiest. The Union Jack in particular has caught my eye. The ivory tolex appeals to me evidently, since I also enjoy the look of my Palomino 15. The grill cloth is really fun too. The amp just looks like a British amp should, just a bit smaller. There is absolutely nothing ugly here, I just wanted to talk about how much I enjoy the looks of this amp. For an amp that is going to be hanging out in office or on top of a desk, this is rather important.

The Sounds

The worst thing about this amps is the small, boxy sound that they all intrinsically have. That is, except this one. Yes, it has a single 6.5" speaker, but you would never would have guessed. I played this amp for a considerable time, and after the shock of how nice this amp actually sounds, I tried to make that little 6.5 inch speaker get mushy on the low-end. I was able to do it, but not until getting rather abusive with it. The Vox "bull dog" speaker gets a lot of respect from me. I have another Vox combo with those speakers and they are just top-notch. The amp has two channels, Clean and Drive. The way they have put this amp together is super smart. You can play squeaky clean all the way to super saturated and when the gain in pegged on the clean channel, just roll it all the way back and switch to the drive and pick up where you left off. Its a simple concept and this amp has nailed it. The Treble and Bass knobs are extremely flexible.

The Size

Ok, so the looks and the sounds are pretty great for an amp that you can take as a carry-on. What is actually ugly about this amp is that it's nearly the biggest in the "under $100, micro-sized, multi-channel" category. It should be the best. What isn't flattering about this amp is the limitations. The optimum listening area, that all amps have, is small. There is little in the way of features. I'd like a speaker out (which is asking a lot from a 10 watt amp) for "amp stacking", and a foot switch out to change amp channels. Those two options would make this amp a steal even at the $90 they want for the dressed up Union Jack edition.

The Conclusion

I am impressed by this amp. It punches way above the $80 price tag of the plain-clothed version. If you like the sound of a chime-y, British amp and have need of a small desktop/bedroom amp, this is it. I haven't played anything else that rivals its value and sound. No build-in effects, no frills, just solid, straight-forward tone at a decent value. This amp is an Absolute win! (I just so happen to own one)

The Ugly Truth About The EHX Key9

It feel like every time we turn around, Electro Harmonix drops a new pedal on us. I have no complaints about that. I love to look at new gear. Today I became aware of the newest their line of effect that make you guitar sound like keyboards. It is called the Key9 and after I ran around my house in excitement, I sat down to find out what I could about it. So... here's what I got:

It Has Its Obvious Advantages

Yes, those of us that get excited about making weird noises with our guitars rejoice when a new, weird pedal comes out. Making a guitar sound like a piano is great. Being able to translate guitar notes into a piano sounds makes a lot of sense. If you don't have a piano player, or you need a piano for that one bit in that one song, then you can easily emulate that sound with your guitar. Just like the B/C9 pedals, EHX has a nack for creating convincing filters for making you guitar sound like different things.

It Has A Wide Range

It looks like there is a lot of different sounds in this box (dynamo, wurli, suitcase, wallets, eighty eight, tri-calculous, yeti, oregon, 9786 drums) Not just different voices of pianos, but Vibe, Steel Drums, and Melodic Percussion abound. This pedal takes the idea behind the B9 and C9 pedals and gets a little crazier with it. I would love to make Rhodes sounds with this thing. I like the the other two pedal they've put out, but I haven't bought them. There are a couple reasons.

They Don't Replace The Keyboard Player

There has been comments that go along the lines of, "The Organ player better not be late" or "The organ player better watch out". Sure, these pedal sound good, and they extremely easy to use, but it's not going to replace another musician. The most obvious reason being that you can have either guitar or organ/keys. (Yes I know that you can have a stereo rig where only one side is an "organ". But you are still limited to playing one part. (and BTW, not all guitar parts sound good through the B9/C9/Key9)

They Are Pricey

I'm cheap, I know that. But I get to spend about $200 a year on pedals. The other two of these pedals go for just north of that figure. So, am I going to spend a years budget on a single effect that I'm going to use once a set (maybe) or am I going to but a couple cheaper ones... All I'm saying is that it's hard to drop that much on a neat, but limited, pedal. The real question here is, "Why haven't EHX released a pedal that is editable." In stead of giving us a few preset voices, give us the option of editing our own sounds with a choice of custom presets. The internals can't be that different on the pedals. I can't see too many people running three of these pedals on their boards.

Conclusion

Out of the pedals in the series, this is the one that have gotten my attention the most. Roland have been turning guitars into pianos for a while now, but now we have it in-line in stead of running a weird midi pickup and with a record of good sounding voices. I really like this idea. I hope that they pull off these sounds as well as they've done with the organ voices. If they do, then they just might get my money... some day when I can stop being cheap...

A Hands-On Review Of The Line6 M5 Stompbox Modeler

I Wrote, not to long ago, a glowing review about the M5 Stompbox Modeler. Looking into the M5 made me realize that It would fill a lot of hole in my pedalboard. So, I got one. I like the pedal, but getting to know the pedal has taken some time. Here is what I learned:

It Does Most of What It Claims To Do.

Unlike many effect that promises the moon and deliver less than that, The M5 is pretty solid. It make the sounds that we've come to expect from Line6. The Delays are all useful and flexible. The filters are fun and creative. The reverbs sound good, and the mods are ones that I can see my self using. I wanted something that made weird sounds and I got that, plus a ton of other things.

It Doesn't Try To Do Everything

Yes it is a multi-effect processor, but it doesn't try to do everything. The best thing is that it doesn't try to emulate an amp or cab. This is good, because I am of the opinion that they just can't recreate good amp tone in a digital processor. It knows that It's a part of a larger thing and it plays its part. That's an important distinction for something like this to make.

It's Not Perfect

There are work-a-rounds, but the effect selecting process is a little contrived. You have to double-tap the switches, select the preset, and then double-tap again. Not a big deal but it does not lend its self to live play. Between songs is doable, but switching within a song is practically out of the question. The work-a-round being that it has midi capabilities.

In Conclusion

I like it. It has a home on my pedal board. It will have a home there until I can find something that does everything that it does and better. I would go as far as to say I'd trade in my pedals for the M9 or M13 boards, but this make a great addition to what I have.

Ugly Truth About Polara Reverb by DigiTech

I may or may not have told you before, but I'm not a great fan/user of reverb. I usually use a little bit of reverb, but just. I like to hear my guitar loud and clear, and too much reverb can make things mushy. So, when spending time at my local music store, my helpful pedal pusher set me up with two pedals. One was the Obscrua Altered Delay, and the Polara Reverb. I was looking for weird but useful sounds. He was sure that this combo would fit the bill. The Obscrua is reviewed here, now we are going to look at the Polara Reverb.

It's a Reverb

Generally considered a good thing, reverb is a very useful effect that many guitarist use in a "always on" type manor. I use a little bit of verb all the time. I own serval amps that all have analog reverb, so for me a pedal unit should create something special. I spend a considerable amount of time with this pedal. What I found was a really good reverb. That was about it. This pedal look psychedelic in the best way. It feels super solid and everything is really smooth. Besides a little bit of pedalboard candy, this pedal offers little more than the average reverb pedal.

There Are Better Options

In September Boss will release a updated version of their Digital Reverb. This update adds a lot of functionality and a few new features, which is more than I can say the the Polara. Digitech want to break into the boutique market, but there is one problem: they're Digitech. They have produced pedals on a mass scale for years. Just because you release a fancy looking pedal and charge a premium price for it doesn't mean it's boutique, and it doesn't mean that people will be willing to buy it.

Conclusion

If you have $150 to spend on a reverb and you have to maintain a certain atheistic on your pedalboard that doesn't include Boss pedals, buy you also want more functions than basic boutique stuff, then you might be the prime candidate for a Polara Reverb. I've seen tons of Demos and have had a lot of hands on time with this pedal and still looking forward to the Boss RV-6. If this pedal has an Expression input and 100% wet setting, then the looks would put it over the top, but considering that this will be topped next month, I'm waiting.

The Ugly Truth About The Obscura Altered Delay From DigiTech

The Obscura Altered Delay from Digitech is without a doubt one of the nicest-looking, solid-feeling, vibe-inducing effect that I've seen, possibly ever. Digitech has done a good job of capturing the buitque look and feel with their recent releases. The Obscura Delay is diffently a standout unit, and players are drawn to the looks as well as the promis of some exciting and expressive new features. 

Digitech has this to say about there lastest offering:

The Obscura Altered Delay from DigiTech allows you to turn your delays upside down and inside out. The Obscura’s four delay types can be darkened, degraded and distorted on the fly with the stacked Tone and Degrade controls. Combine these controls with the Obscura’s Repeat/Hold feature and lose yourself in long, trippy, gurgling repeats or backwards-manipulated sonic mayhem. In addition to its Tone and Degrade controls, the Obscura features independent Level, Delay Mode and stacked Time and Repeats controls. Complimenting those versatile controls, the Obscura offers four excellent-sounding Analog, Tape, Lo-Fi, and Reverse types, Tap Tempo mode with Beat Divisions, Stereo Inputs/Outputs, a Delay Tails On/Off Switch and True Bypass circuitry. With its compact size and vacuum-style footswitch, the Obscura furthers DigiTech’s evolution in pedal design. We’ve put years of experience into every detail of its mechanical and sonic blueprint. The Obscura uses a 9V DC power supply to easily integrate into your existing pedalboard.

Like the pedal its self, that's the pretty picture. But we're here to discuss the ugly truth. Let's talk about what this pedal really does and get to the bottom of this pretty, little, dressed-up box.

It's A Delay

It is easy to forget that this pedal is a pretty basic effect. One that most guitarist, like myself, have on their board already. It does everything that a standard Boss DD-"whatever" does. It has "LEVEL", "RATE" and "REPEATS", but that is literally half of what this pedal does. It have 4 modes just like Digitech says. What makes this pedal "different" is the Tone/Degrade knob. So Tone isn't all that new, but the Degrade feature is... neat. We all know what happens when we set a DigiDelay to "TAPE". The repeats get darker as they continue. Basically this pedal takes that idea and runs with it. When I sat down to play with this pedal, I was expecting weird sounds, trippy effects, and chaotic noise. What I got was a delay with flexible tone degradation on the repeats. There are some cool warpy noises that you can create if you adjust the "TIME" knob while the repeats are going, but that's a feature of most delays... 

It Shoots Its Self In The Foot

Why do guitarist love analog and tape delays? Because those effects become subtle and fill in the background to give a soft pallet of noise to make are sound fuller. This pedal is a great example of that effect. It does that perfectly. You are almost defied to find a setting that does not create a noisey "scene" to endlessly riff over. BUT the subtle differences between settings (that aren't standard delay 'TIME, LEVEL and REPEATS') made it hard to distinguish if you are using TAPE, LO-FI, are ANALOG. They are become soft, washy background noise. 

In Conclusion

When I picked up this pedal (besides being blown away by the mere fact that Digitech produced it) I was expecting something radical out of it. The image on the front made me think that this pedal could produce a "death-rattle" effect. After cranking knobs and playing to its strengths, I could hardy tell that this pedal was anything but a delay. In that regard, it is a fine delay. It is reasonably fun to play with the DEGRADE knob and it is almost look one of those 'Look and Find' puzzle to spot the differences in the MODE settings. The reverse doesn't really fit in with the whole "degrade" angle, but it too is fun to play with. If you are into ambient noise you might be interested in this pedal for the fact that it extremely flexible in the ways of degrading delay trails. If you are looking for a good work horse delay, you may want to look into a DD-7 for the some money. The build of this pedal is super-solid and the graphic is very cool (way cooler than a Boss box). It's just not the crazy-sound-inducing pedal that it's hyped to be. 

5 Ugly Truths About Being A Guitar Player

Have I done this before? I haven't? Ok. This I guess it's time that I write it.

5. Choices. 

Ok, This doesn't seem like a ugly truth, but when you are starting out choosing your first guitar is a major decision. It doesn't seem like that big of deal, but when you start to look back after a few years of playing, you realize that your first guitar, and what you chose to do with it, influenced what and how you play now. I began playing chords on a (hand-me-down) classical style guitar that was strung with steel strings. I hated it. So my first guitar that I got to choose was a Strat copy. I was just so happy that it was that old guitar. I've favored electric guitar for must of my playing, but for years I primarily played chords and was intimidated by lead riffs.

4. Everyone Plays Guitar

Obviously, not everyone plays guitar. However, in the group I play in, we have three guitarist. As you can imagine, the mid-range can get a little muddled. Not only does this multi-layered sound make everyone find there "place" in the sound, but it can easily cover up those accents that you've developed, turning your playing into background noise. That's only if you are in a group to begin with. Try breaking into an band by saying "I play guitar". They probably have a guitarist (or two) and the drummer and bass player also play guitar and sometimes the singer will play guitar on some songs. In fact, that's how I learned to play drums. My buddy asked if I wanted to join his band. I told him that I played guitar. His exact words were, "Great, you can play drums!"

3. Ego!

This one is more straight forward. Guitarist can be big-headed ego-freaks that love hearing themselves. I definitely fall into this trap. Most of us come by it pretty honestly. We want to be able to hear what we sound like when we play. What ends up happening is after hours of hearing ourselves in our bedrooms by our selves, we want to hear the tone that is in our heads. Many times this is near impossible to reasonably replicate live. I've been in situations were bands have a constant battle over the sound. You have guitar-one and guitar-two playing. Guitar-one want to hear himself better so he turns up. Now guitar-two can't hear as well and he turns up. This continues until everything explodes. I read an interesting post about how we perceive tone and that much of opinion of our sound in the result of the volume. The intensity of the sound makes us perceive the sound as "bigger" or "fuller" when actually it's just louder.

2. Gear

If you are a guitarist and you disagree with this point you may suffer from GAS, gear acquisition syndrome. As most of my audience can attest, music gear can become something of a obsession. I write 500 words on it three times a week and can continue forever, probably. I honestly love finding out about new gear and experiencing what that gear does. Only a fraction of what I write about actually ends up in my rig. Sometimes products under-deliver. There are all sorts of debates about what you should and shouldn't use, but at the end of the day, it is all up to you. What guitar/amp/pedals(if any) you use depends on the sound you want. It's that sound in your head that keep you going back to the store and online to find that next piece of gear to help you achieve it.

1. It Never Ends

That's right. There is no end in sight. This is not as much as a problem for guitarist as it is for everyone else. We are always adding gear, playing loud, practicing. When we aren't we are talking/reading/blogging about it. The people around us that don't understand our disorder. It's almost cult-ish. When two guitar players get together, they can talk about without end about what it is that they like or think about music or gear. I've been know to bend an ear or two when I don't have a fellow player to talk to. My wife is a patient listener most times, but even she can hit the eject-button. The ugly fact is that the condition is chronic.

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The Ugly Truth About The Line5 M5 Stombox Modeler

If you've red my other posts that mention Multi-effect processors, then you know that I am not a fan of them. I like true-bypass and clicky-clacky switches. However, I understand that true-bypass is not always the best thing and soft switches can work just as well, but that's why they are called, preferences. So when looking for pedals that create certain effects, I stumbled upon the Line6 M5. I was previously aware of the "M" series, but I admit that the M5 has never been on my radar. The larger units, for me, have stole the show. The M9 and M13 are large "all in one" type processors that we are used to seeing, but the M5 is something different. It doesn't want to be your "everything in one box" product. What the M5 has done is taken many of the effects from there other successful pedals and put them in a little box that could find its way onto a pedalboard. That is exactly what has peeked my interest. Even though this pedal has some nice features, there are some ugly fact that we need to remember.

It's still digital

Yes, this is just like all the other little processors that we scorn. It is going to take your signal and have it's little binary way with it. There is a way around this. A bypass box will maintain your analog tone. that is until your run it into a delay, reverb, chorus or other pedal that use those ones and zeros.

It's a processor

That means that there is a learning curve. Must likely before you start making awesome noises, you are going to need to read the manual. Failing that, you are going to need to spend hours with this thing to get the most out of it. Sure, there are going to be presets that are "usable", but in order to make it bow it you will, you will have to learn the inner workings. Menu screens and editing and things that I couldn't tell you about will have to be done to change and edit the effects. Using more than one effect for a particular set? You're going to have to set that up in advance.

Digital Distortion

Those two words don't belong together. I actually owned the Line6 Distortion modeler. It was absolutely terrible. Nothing sounded natural. I thought it would help nail some tones that my Fender Twin I was using at the time wouldn't produce on its own. I tried a every setting, but it wasn't adding up. There is a reason everyone talks about the DL-4 and FM-4 but the other two (the blue and gold ones) get left out of the conversation. They ether don't offer anything unique, or in the case of the distortions, they don't hold a candle to what they are modeling.

It's Huge

Yes, the pedal is not giant, but there are tonnes of effects in it. A few of my favorites are: Seekwah, Auto Swell, and pitch-shift. That's well and good, but tonnes of options make shuffling though of those other things a little of a pain. It's almost like have a million dollars, but its all in singles, or something you aren't likely to use (like yin). But on that rare occasion that I need a chorus, phasor, flange or crazy mod, it's there. There is also the bulk of the thing. It is the smallest in the line, but it will still dwarf most single pedals. Think original EHX Muff to get an idea of the size of this thing.

In conclusion

I want a Electro Harmonix Pitchfork, DOD 201 Phasor, Boss RV-6, Boss Slow Gear, and Seek Wah. Those pedals alone would cost close to a grand. Will this pedal do everything that those other pedal will? Absolutely not. Will it add a lot of flexibility to the sounds that a already made and make sounds close to those that I've listed. Kinda. There have been a few pedals that have made me excited recently. This is not one of them. But it is a little bit of all of them.

The Ugly Truth: DOD Gunslinger MosFET Distortion

A few days ago DigiTech posted on there website that the DOD Gunslinger is available for sale. I was unaware that this pedal was even in the making. I can think twitter to bringing it to my attention. Checking YouTube gave me an idea of what it sounds like. I am a bit of a MosFET fan. I really dig my EHX Glove MosFET OD. Throw in High and Low controls along with 9v/18v switching and you have a lot of features in a nice little box. DOD always put their pedals in a nice sturdy box with attractive designs. They now throw in LEDs for no extra charge. (although DOD now charge $99 for remakes of pedals that used to sell at about half that) I have to admit that I am excited about this pedal, but everything isn't so great.

It's Another MosFET Drive

When I hear MosFET I think of Fulltone's Fulldrive2. I've never really enjoyed using that particular pedal, but I really like my MosFET Glove. Just like "Tube Overdrives" the market is getting a little crowded with pedal makers putting out their MosFET pedals. This one tries to separate its self with some neat features and it seems more saturated than other pedals of the same type. I don't know that anything I've seen about this pedal makes me think that it is anything unique.

 It's DOD

I don't want to put any particular brand on blast, but Harman/DigiTech/DOD (mostly DigiTech) has let me down more than other pedals. (Boss is number 2 if you were wondering and my board is about 40% Boss). So DigiTech is DOD and they are remaking these classic pedals which is fine. I think I like these DOD pedals more than anything that Digitech has put out in the recent past. I've never use the originals, but the remakes that I've played have been solid. They just have that stigma about them. If I bought this pedal, I'd be looking for it to fail somehow.

It's Overpriced

Like I mentioned before, the reissue of the classic DOD pedals have come with a decent price hike. I'm not saying that they have to be dirt cheap, but pedal that are as simple of the DOD 250 is a little hard to justify at $99. I will say that Musician's Friend has put them on their SDOTD for half price, and that seems like a great deal. EHX put out there dirt pedals for a little more than $50. Being as cheap as I am, it was like Christmas. I have to wonder how many units they are selling. Out side the reissues of classic pedals, is the DOD brand even relevant any more?

In Conclusion

This pedal is worth a look. It may or may not be worth the full price tag. I think if you can catch this pedal on sell, then the flexible EQ and great sounds (that I've only heard via Youtube) are worth you adding it to your line up if you are looking for a MosFET Drive and the EHX Glove didn't float your boat.

**With a little reading I've found that this pedal might be a reincarnation of an old DOD pedal of olde. The FX100 Integrated Tube was basicaly a ModFET distortion with the same type of tone controls. Like the other Reissues, they are 100% faithful. Still, very interesting strategy DOD (Harman... or whatever) have adopted.

UGT News!

This month at Ugly Guitar Truth, we've seen some milestones come and go. Viewership is sky-rocketing. We nearly tripled viewership over last month. and we continue to set records. The previous post marked the 100th published post on the site. We are in the triple digits! There have been long stretches of no activity, but if you have kept up lately you've notice that post are regularly coming on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Some exceptions here and there, but three posts a week is the schedule. There are more reviews and topical discussion coming, so stay tuned!

As always, thanks for reading.