hey guys, a lot of you asked me to review some of the pedals i'm currently using. i'm sorry for the delay! here are my reviews:
1. Fulltone Distortion Pro
Price: $179.95
The Fulltone Distortion Pro is a versatile pedal that can cover a wide array of drive tones. It specializes in recreating the mid-to-high gain tones that most guitarists are craving for. The controls are as follows: Volume for the output level, Distortion to add dirt to the signal, Resonance (to add more low-end frequency response), Voicing (to alter the overall character of the distorted signal), Highs (to add brightness to the output signal) and Saturation (to simulate a cranked amp's saturation when pushed to the limit). The Distortion Pro can be dialed in to provide anything from a light, bright semi-clean tone to a thick, aggressive, distorted sonic craze. From my experience, I can hear true blue 80s rock voicings at my favorite settings because I prefer tones from that era but it can also be tweaked to sound modern (Audioslave, etc.) or even more vintage (think Queen, the Scorpions, etc.). The Distortion Pro is one of the "tubiest" sounding solid-state distortion pedals I've ever tried. This pedal is LOUD. I usually keep my Volume knob at 9:00 or less and increasing it to near maximum would earn me a lot of irate neighbors. This pedal can be used on its own; no booster is required in order to get a great tone. The housing is compact; the battery compartment is held by an hand-removable set screw, making switching batteries on the fly a cinch. The switching is sturdy and it is true-bypass so it won't be a problem for tone freaks. Overall, it's a great all-around dirt pedal that can easily replace the usual three to four dirt pedals on the a typical pedalboard due to its versatility and capacity to provide killer tone.
Fulltone Choralflange
Price: $266.00
The Fulltone Choralflange offers a wide variety of chorus and flanging modulations even for the most scrupulous musician. It can be set from subtle chorus tones to deep, wide and wavy tones. The control knobs are: Mix (to balance the dry-to-wet mixing of the signals in mono output mode), Delay Time (serves different purposes in Chorus and Flanger mode), Depth (to adjust intensity), Rate (modulation tempo, LED flashes to indicate the tempo set at the knob), a toggle switch to switch between Chorus and Flanger modes and an external trimmer to adjust the output volume. The Delay Time knob makes this pedal very interesting as it adds another dimension to the chorus/flanged tone. For example, dialing in the Delay Time knob at a high setting at chorus mode generally gives something like a detuned effect. The Choralflange can nail Eric Johnson's chimey chorus tone and his flanged tone at "High Landrons" and that is nothing short of great. This is triple-tied with the TC Electronic Stereo Chorus Flanger and the Diamond Halo Chorus as the best chorus pedal I have tried so far .
Fulltone Soul-Bender
Price: $152.00
The Fulltone Soul-Bender is based on the Vox ToneBender, a vintage fuzz-type pedal used by the founding fathers of psychedelic blues rock. I'll just do a short review as it is a pretty much straightforward pedal. The Germanium transitors used in the Soul-Bender require it to be powered by either a 9V battery or a positive-tip 9VDC power source. The old-school tones of Clapton and Hendrix can be easily copped using this. For some strange reason, the Tone knob of the Soul-Bender is reversed. moving it clockwise will accentuate the bass frequencies and moving it counterclickwise will give you more highs. After doing an A/B comparison between the Soul-Bender and a vintage Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face (with an NOS NKT 275 transistor) with MarkFlo the moderator, it can be heard that the Soul-Bender has an authentic vintage vibe and tone. The Soul-Bender is may be just a fuzz pedal, but it's more than worth the money for its purpose.
more reviews to come...