Boss Blues Driver VS Digitech Screamin' Blues

Earlier this year I was hanging out in guitar forums, go figure and I saw a thread about the Boss Blues Driver. There was some people discussing its merits and if they should buy one. A trusted source that reads schematics like children's books insisted that the Blues Drive and Digitech's Screamin' Blues overdrive was a direct copy of the BD-2. He even mentioned that some of the mods made famous by some, have been made mote by the addition of a Bass knob. This made Digitech's pedal look rather attractive. So, later, when I saw that MF had a Stupid Deal Of The Day where they sold the pedal for $30, I bought it. I do have a modded BD-2 so is the Screamin' Blues really its superior?

Boss BD-2 Blues Driver

The first time I ran across this pedal, I didn't like it. It seemed to make everything sound static-y. Running the tone past noon seemed to just make things thin. Running into a AC15, I couldn't get the two to jive. After chasing tone for a while, I came back around to the BD-2. I wanted to give it another go. Its application is legitimate. I do like it in some situations. I have a unit that is modded pretty heavily, mostly to increase the bass. Now the unit has a large, tight low-end. The pedal is a little bit of a sleeper, but usable.

The Digitech Screamin' Blues

Back to back these pedals sound very similar. When A/Bed The Digitech can match the stock BD-2 at every turn. With the more flexible tone section, the Screamin' Blues gets into other territories. It will get a little fatter sounds, and for the most part does a good just as adding bass without getting muddy. Is it the best sound Blues Drive pedal? No. It is flexible and usable. Unlike The BD-2, this pedal is usable out of the box. However, this pedal falls flat when you consider that it is difficult to mod and change if you wanted to. It also looks and feels cheaper. Digitech pedals don't hold up as well as Boss pedals do. Plus, they are a little wider, so make some room on your board.

Conclusion

Both of these pedals will give some nice tones. If you know how to tweak you tone, then I'm sure you'll find some setting that is pleasing. However, the best pedal just make you start changing your amp tone, but allow you to shape the pedals sound to compliment your amp. Stock, out of the box, I'd have to give the edge to the Digitech. However, I don't trust it. On the other hand, You can buy two for the price of one Blues Driver...

Ugly Truth About Mission Engineering Expression Pedal

A few months ago I picked up a Line6 M5 stomp box modeler. I have been openly critical about multi effects units here on this blog, but the M5 has impressed me. The entire M serious is impressive, but the M5 fits into your already established pedal board. I bought mine because I wanted a Slow Gear, Whammy, and Seek Wah. I didn't have a thousand dollars so I looked for a alternative. The M5 comes up all aces. There are a ton of bonuses. But this isn't a review of the M5, this is.

The main problem with this pedal is that there are so many things that are only unlocked when you add an expression pedal. This leads you on a journey in and of its self. Line6 offers an expression pedal. It is $50 and made of plastic. There are several places on the internet that document the unreliability of this pedal. I avoided this pedal and sought an alternative. The first expression pedal that I bought was a Boss FV-50. It was large and metal and an utter failure. It was on a list of compatible pedal that I found on Line6's support forum. I might have gotten my hands on a dud, so I returned. A little while later I was able to find a used Mission Engineering EP1-L6. For half the price of a new one and less than the Boss 'no go', I found my replacement.


It Works

So, Line6 typically doesn't function with most expression pedals. Basically, an expression pedal is just a pot wired between two jack. But there a tiny little fairies that have to bless each pedal that enables it to work with a particular type of pedal... or something like that. It actually has to do with the value of the pot and how it's wired up. It's simple, but also a little more complected than it seems. This pedal takes all the thinking out it. It even has the Line6 logo on it. It's a metal case with the right guts. So that seem pretty solid. What could be wrong with it?

It's Expensive

Like I previously said, It is a metal case, a pot and jacks. The parts make up $25 of cost, so that's about a 500% markup. True, Line6 probably makes their expression pedal for pennies, but for much less you can buy an actual Wah pedal that includes everything and an actual effect. I won't bash a business for making money, but when it comes to my dollars, I need a little more bang per buck. That's why I only bought this pedal when I found it used.

It's Roamy

The nice thing about Wah pedals is that they are spacious on the inside. Why is this a good thing? Well here is an idea. Imagine you are using you expression pedal to control a wah sound on your M5. How would you turn the effect on? By tapping the on/off button on the M5. But that's not how a wah works. You put the toe down and press, right? Why can't we do that with our expression pedal? The enclosure is already drilled for an input, output and switch. So wire in a looping circuit and you can engage your M5 when you stomp on it like a wah.

Conclusion

I can't really recommend buying this pedal outright. You could probably build one for way less... But this pedal works very well and is super solid. If you can can find it used, then it become much more reasonable. If you like to tinker, then you have a lot of options as for what to do with all that space. You can put a buffer or boost in there, or just a looper and status LED like I plan to...

Hands On Review Of The Electo Harmonix Crayon Overdrive

There has been a lot of talk about this little pedal. Most web-stores don't even have the Crayon on there sites yet. A local store selling through Reverb.com was able to hook me up with one. The main thing is that everyone wants to know what other pedal it sounds like. Well I've tried it out and I can now tell you. However, that would be blowing my load a little too soon. So here's what owning and using this particular pedal has shown me.

It's Pretty Good. 

A lot of people liked what they heard from the EHX video demos. The Soul Food was a huge hit, so when they debuted a new light/medium overdrive peoples ears perked up. The Four knobs are a departure from most of their small drive pedals. Giving us Bass and Treble to manipulate is a step up. The clipping is musical and satisfying. The Bass and Treble are responsive and flexible. The Gain take you from clean to filthy with a twist. There is plenty of meat on these bones too. Playing a Tele through a Vox AC15 you'd expect twangy and spanky, but with this pedal engaged you plenty of grunt to thicken up that Tele sound.

The Name Is A Little Silly, Considering...

This pedal is one of the best clean boosts with the gain dialed back. It really preserves the sound of your guitar when playing through it. It doesn't jack with your tone in a bad way. Tube screamers will always add that mid-hump, but this pedal, when set correctly, will give you your tone right back to you, only louder. But not much louder. Much of the volume remain hidden until you start to add gain. But that is the reason to buy an overdrive, right? Besides being named after a childish art utensil, "coloring you tone" is considered a no-no, so when the hype video said the pedal did just that, well, it was a little bit of a face-palm moment.

It Gets You Close To That Sound With Minimal Effort

If you look at my pedal board, you will see that I like stacking my gain pedals. I have a Soul Food almost always on and cranked up to push the next pedal (Tube Screamer/OCD/Super Badass). Some times I'll run the TS into the OCD to get really noisy. I like combining Overdrives with other pedals to simulate the effect of a overdriven amp while keeping to bedroom levels. Not to say that other pedals need  a another in front of it, but this pedal has gotten pushed-a-little-too-hard (in a good way) sound all by it's self. There are a lot of things that I like about the Soul Food in this pedal, but mixed with better EQ and great clipping section.

In Conclusion

If you are in the market for a single pedal to do must of the heavy lifting of your dirt section and don't want to full with stacking different pedals, then this might be right up your ally. What the Soul Food lacks in flexibility, The Crayon Does rather well, with the bonus of being transparent in the best way possible. This pedal is a little more than just the "pre" section of you gain section. It has the grunt to be your entire overdrive section. It does play well with other though. Especially if the other pedal is heavier. All in all this pedal is a great box. Even if it turns out to be heavily "inspired" by another pedal, this pedal is a great addition to an already pretty stellar list of pedals in EHX's line.

Ugly Truth About Counterfet Pedals

As anyone who appreciates a nice guitar pedal knows, there is a struggle between spending money on guitar stuff and other things that are less important, like food. So when you can, you try to find deals that make it possible to purchase more of the stuff you need, and maybe put gas in your car if their is a little left over. Recently I've patrolled the internet for a good deal. I found what seemed to be fair. What I traded for was a Surh Riot overdrive/distortion. This pedal is sold for about $200 which made it attractive. The general thought about this pedal is that it is well like. I was sold. So I made a trade of an unspecified amount, but one that I thought favored me. I was wrong...

It turned out to be a fake. There appears to be many of the fakes coming from mostly China. Here is some help information about keeping yourself safe from making the same mistake I did.

1. It's Hard To Tell The Fakes

It seems like this one would be a given. and it is. The people who set out to fool people with their pedals, try hard to imitate the original. I'm not saying that these are clones or copies that share a circuit, but pedals that function and look like the real thing, but are nothing but a sham. Sometimes it take a look on the inside to confirm the actual layout of the circuit or components used. If you suspect that your pedal might be a forgery, and if you aren't lucky enough to have access to a confirmed authentic pedal, Google is your friend. Most pedals have gut-shots on the internet. These are important to help you confirm your pedal. Forums are also handy to weed out your suspect pedal.

2. Pedals That You Think Could Be Fake Aren't

If you've ever tried to mod pedals, you know that even real pedal will have variances from time to time. Boss pedals are notorious about changes the circuits with-in the same models. Fulltone's OCD is on it's forth version. and nearly every other pedal that has been around long enough, have been changed to some extent. So what might look like funny business, might just mean that it is a difference version. It is important to know exactly what your are looking at before you call shanagins.

3. They Might Actually Be Decent Pedals

These pedals are based on, if not directly copying the original, so chances are that they sound like the originals too. The most surprising thing about my experience is that the pedal is good. I was surprised to learn that the pedal I've come to like was a fake. So the pedal that I thought I was getting a deal on, ends up being a decent pedal. If you look at it from a economist's perspective, the utility (how much something is worth to the actual user) is determined by how much the product it enjoyed. In theory, the copy could be enjoyed more. Especially when you consider that the copy is a fraction of the McCoy's price.

In Conclusion

These copies are a corrupt attempt to profit off the success of companies that have toiled for there success. It's an easy was to profit off of something they have not earned. The years dedicated to developing these circuits are often only worth it if the one responsible for that circuit can then turn that work into something profitably. If that product gets ripped off then it there is no incentive to design it in the first place. These imitators might claim to make something more affordable, but make no mistake. If they use the name of the notable original, then it is damaging, not only that particular maker, but the whole independent designer community.