Interesting Topic and good / hostile responses
Being the original owner of this Hot Box, All the things Alex found out from this pedal is all with hands on experience of the pedal .
Cloning this pedal will not do justice and be an insult to Mark Sampson (former head honcho of MATCHLESS) if your not using the same parts quality and then blame and decide it's [gooey brown stuff] and "not sulit."
The observer / user has a big big part in the outcome of the review.
The sum of all parts is always the difference.
Isn't it obvious that the SOVtek tube , because of inferior quality made the HOT BOX sound [gooey brown stuff], hindi sulit. While installing a great tube brought out the full potential of the HOT BOX.
Matchless is such a respected amp maker, so much that people resurrected it from bankruptcy.
All the parts are truly hi quality, except for the tubes installed when they sell it. It's an option of the owner to install hi quality tubes in his gear.
This pedal is in the VOX tone territory. I used this with my Fender amps and dramatically changed my amp tone.
It's a great pedal, would want the latest version with a true bypass by either Matchless or Bad Cat. At 400.00 dollars, it's worth every cent.
You do get what you pay for this time around.