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Author Topic: Long overdue pedal reviews... sorry guys!  (Read 5280 times)

Offline Poundcake

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Long overdue pedal reviews... sorry guys!
« on: March 01, 2007, 09:07:52 AM »
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...
« Last Edit: March 01, 2007, 09:35:56 AM by Poundcake »
"The LORD will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the LORD." Isaiah 38:20

Offline extreme16199

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Re: Long overdue pedal reviews... sorry guys!
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2007, 10:18:50 AM »
very interesting reviews...

some questions come to mind:
1.  what are your settings on the choralflange to get that chimey, transparent TC Electronics SCF chorus sound a la EJ?  my idealized chorus sound is the EJ type chorus and the TC Elec SCF gets that sound with minimal tweaking.  it seems the choralflange needs a lot more dicking around, so to speak.
2.  does the distortion pro clean up well with the guitar volume knob?
3.  did you mean to say that the soulbender's fuzz is very close to a fuzz face's?  isn't there supposed to be an obvious distinction between the two?  also, does the soulbender clean up well with the guitar volume knob?

thanks in advance for the info!

cheers.

Offline Poundcake

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Re: Long overdue pedal reviews... sorry guys!
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2007, 11:01:53 AM »
very interesting reviews...

some questions come to mind:
1.  what are your settings on the choralflange to get that chimey, transparent TC Electronics SCF chorus sound a la EJ?  my idealized chorus sound is the EJ type chorus and the TC Elec SCF gets that sound with minimal tweaking.  it seems the choralflange needs a lot more dicking around, so to speak.
2.  does the distortion pro clean up well with the guitar volume knob?
3.  did you mean to say that the soulbender's fuzz is very close to a fuzz face's?  isn't there supposed to be an obvious distinction between the two?  also, does the soulbender clean up well with the guitar volume knob?

thanks in advance for the info!

cheers.


1. the Choralflange is also easy to tweak. for the Choralflange to get an EJ-like chimey chorus sound, just make sure that the Depth knob isn't set at a very high value. as with the SCF, i also didn't set the Rate knob at a high value because it'd sound like a rotary speaker if i did so.

2. yes, the Distortion Pro cleans up with the volume knob very well. it's actually one of the strong points of the pedal. thanks for pointing that one out!

3. yes there should be a distinction. take note that i mentioned that the Soul-Bender sounds authentic, meaning that it really sounds vintage even when compared with a true vintage fuzz but i never mentioned that they sounded alike :) i have yet to try a vintage Vox ToneBender but it fared well against an Analogman Sunface and a Fuzz Face, in my opinion. it has above average volume roll off capability. it could be better though.. fuzz pedal kasi e.

i hope i've addressed your questions well enough :)
"The LORD will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the LORD." Isaiah 38:20


Offline Poundcake

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Re: Long overdue pedal reviews... sorry guys!
« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2007, 10:02:31 AM »
you certainly did.  thanks!

P.S.  how was the sunface you tried?

ganda nung Sunface dude! very crisp, edgy tone. i tried the Sunface with a Suhr Classic loaded with V60LP pickups, which gives a vintage vibe to the guitar. it's an entirely different animal but again, it sounds great so i guess that works. i only got to try the NKT 275 version though.. rondalla rockstar can give a better assessment of the Sunface as i think he uses two versions of it :) calling Patrick, calling Patrick...
"The LORD will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the LORD." Isaiah 38:20


Offline extreme16199

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Re: Long overdue pedal reviews... sorry guys!
« Reply #5 on: March 03, 2007, 11:46:07 AM »
you certainly did.  thanks!

P.S.  how was the sunface you tried?

ganda nung Sunface dude! very crisp, edgy tone. i tried the Sunface with a Suhr Classic loaded with V60LP pickups, which gives a vintage vibe to the guitar. it's an entirely different animal but again, it sounds great so i guess that works. i only got to try the NKT 275 version though.. rondalla rockstar can give a better assessment of the Sunface as i think he uses two versions of it :) calling Patrick, calling Patrick...

heard great things about the suhr!  hope i can try one in the future.

the analogman sunface/sundial/sunlion pedals really pique my interest, especially considering i'm into fuzzface-type fuzzes.  the last time i asked patrick, he had just acquired the sunlion.  been away a while and didn't know he had 2 versions now.  i agree...paging patrick!

Offline Poundcake

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Re: Long overdue pedal reviews... sorry guys!
« Reply #6 on: March 03, 2007, 01:33:41 PM »
you certainly did.  thanks!

P.S.  how was the sunface you tried?

ganda nung Sunface dude! very crisp, edgy tone. i tried the Sunface with a Suhr Classic loaded with V60LP pickups, which gives a vintage vibe to the guitar. it's an entirely different animal but again, it sounds great so i guess that works. i only got to try the NKT 275 version though.. rondalla rockstar can give a better assessment of the Sunface as i think he uses two versions of it :) calling Patrick, calling Patrick...

heard great things about the suhr!  hope i can try one in the future.

the analogman sunface/sundial/sunlion pedals really pique my interest, especially considering i'm into fuzzface-type fuzzes.  the last time i asked patrick, he had just acquired the sunlion.  been away a while and didn't know he had 2 versions now.  i agree...paging patrick!

baka nga Sunlion yun.. chheck out his pedalboard in the pedalboard thread :) also try the Bixonic Expandora. it has a fuzz mode and it has some wild sounds too :)
"The LORD will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the LORD." Isaiah 38:20

Offline Phil

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Re: Long overdue pedal reviews... sorry guys!
« Reply #7 on: March 03, 2007, 01:40:07 PM »
...I don't know if I'm just ignorant or just plain stupid.... I have this thing with original stuff. If Fender invented the strat and tele...then I would get a Fender strat or tele....I'm sure those copies are really nice and all like G&L, Suhr, Andersons, and so on. BTW...I think I tried those Analogman sunface pedals Patrick has...I was screwing around with his pedalboard using my strat and was plugged in to his Victoria. Well....anything would sound nice plugged  into a Victoria until his fuse crapped out...... what perfect timing.

..its those funny looking thingy at the far right ?  boy....Pat should get a sponsorship from analogman....its not even funny anymore.

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Offline stratman1

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Re: Long overdue pedal reviews... sorry guys!
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2007, 04:58:16 PM »
Although I'm not a fuzz lover (the pedal kind) I liked Patrick's geranium equipped sunface. More natural sounding, to me. I noticed that the silly-cone equipped one has a bit more edge to it.

BTW, I'm a FUZZ lover... the beaver kind, bwahaha!!!!

Offline markflo

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Re: Long overdue pedal reviews... sorry guys!
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2007, 05:22:06 PM »
Although I'm not a fuzz lover (the pedal kind) I liked Patrick's geranium equipped sunface. More natural sounding, to me. I noticed that the silly-cone equipped one has a bit more edge to it.

BTW, I'm a FUZZ lover... the beaver kind, bwahaha!!!!

i just like a little fuzz....but not a BIG MUFF! that's so 80's...hahaha
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. - Abraham Lincoln

Offline abyssinianson

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Re: Long overdue pedal reviews... sorry guys!
« Reply #10 on: March 03, 2007, 07:08:09 PM »
Although I'm not a fuzz lover (the pedal kind) I liked Patrick's geranium equipped sunface. More natural sounding, to me. I noticed that the silly-cone equipped one has a bit more edge to it.

BTW, I'm a FUZZ lover... the beaver kind, bwahaha!!!!

i just like a little fuzz....but not a BIG MUFF! that's so 80's...hahaha


ewwwwww......vintage porno afficionado ikaw? Hahahaha....kelangan mo ng Craftsman hedge trimmer yung mga babae meng!
ako si mimordz. 友だちからよろしくです!

Chito

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Re: Long overdue pedal reviews... sorry guys!
« Reply #11 on: March 03, 2007, 08:36:36 PM »
I like it shaved and clean.  :evil: :evil:

Great reviews Poundcake!

Offline rondalla rockstar

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Re: Long overdue pedal reviews... sorry guys!
« Reply #12 on: March 04, 2007, 12:09:13 AM »
Hello Fuzz Fans!

Soulbender is based on the later MKIII Tone Bender, which added a tone control and is said to have a different sound than the previous MKII. I sold my prized D*A*M Professional MKII because I preferred the greater variety of sounds from my Fuzz Face clones (AM Sun Faces).

NKT275 version - I requested the high-gain version, which doesn'tgo sparkly clean like the regular NKT version (like on the Sunlion I used to own) when you roll off the guitar's volume knob.  It is fat and juicy.  Smooth tone, very woman-like.

BC108 version, the later version of this circuit used silicon transistors (versus the temperature-sensitive germanium) for a searing, biting sound with long sustain.  Very Band of Gypsys  :mrgreen:.  This one is almost as menacing as the MKII.

Both offer excellent shades of grit/dirt/fuzz and can actualy replace OD-style pedals in my rig.  The MKII had 3 transistors versus the 2 in the fuzz face circuits. Naturally, it had a more intense, thick tone with endless sustain. I'll own one again someday.  Just a slightly different flavor, that's all.




Offline Poundcake

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Re: Long overdue pedal reviews... sorry guys!
« Reply #13 on: March 04, 2007, 09:47:56 AM »
Hello Fuzz Fans!

Soulbender is based on the later MKIII Tone Bender, which added a tone control and is said to have a different sound than the previous MKII. I sold my prized D*A*M Professional MKII because I preferred the greater variety of sounds from my Fuzz Face clones (AM Sun Faces).

NKT275 version - I requested the high-gain version, which doesn'tgo sparkly clean like the regular NKT version (like on the Sunlion I used to own) when you roll off the guitar's volume knob.  It is fat and juicy.  Smooth tone, very woman-like.

BC108 version, the later version of this circuit used silicon transistors (versus the temperature-sensitive germanium) for a searing, biting sound with long sustain.  Very Band of Gypsys  :mrgreen:.  This one is almost as menacing as the MKII.

Both offer excellent shades of grit/dirt/fuzz and can actualy replace OD-style pedals in my rig.  The MKII had 3 transistors versus the 2 in the fuzz face circuits. Naturally, it had a more intense, thick tone with endless sustain. I'll own one again someday.  Just a slightly different flavor, that's all.


that's Mr. Fuzzmaster for ya!

i'll post more reviews when i have time :)
"The LORD will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the LORD." Isaiah 38:20