Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Grunge - the re-review

I've done a review on this pedal before, but not a thorough one. 
'Grunge' is actually a subgenre of alternative rock, somewhat related to that of hardcore punk and heavy metal. So, by naming a pedal 'Grunge', one can tell what type of distortion it is. (It can be considered a metal distortion.)

General
"Loud" is volume level and "Grunge" represents the gain. For metal distortions, I would prefer it to have the mid tonal control as well. However, as you can see, there is only low and high knobs; implying that the mid frequency is fixed. It has a dual-output. The Amp output is for connecting directly to an amp (of course) while the Mixer output is useful when you wish to do recording. 

This pedal has a sturdy built. The housing of the pedal is fully metal. It also has a relic-style design. For those who prefer relic finish, Grunge might be an eye candy to you.

Sound
It is tested through my 'Vendetta' (my Fernandes). This pedal is just very loud despite level clocked at 9 o'clock position, same goes to my 10W practice amp. In fact, I got 2 complaints from 2 different neighbours while testing this out. 
It is also very distorted. The grunge knob doesn't seem to do much of a difference. Grunge is also too distorted. Even with your grunge at its lowest, the distortion is still there. So if anyone is trying to reduce the gain and use it as some mild distortion, you might want to give up that idea.
However, I still like this pedal. Why? It has a very unique tone. Very crunchy and gritty tone which, in my opinion, gives you an boosted effect on palm-muting. Those who like to have a coarse and crunchy lead tone, it would do a perfect job. I, for one, prefer a much smooth distortion which my Metal End King gives with the amp simulator on. I would rather use Grunge for playing rhythm rather than lead. However, it's all a matter of preferences. 
Hooray to sustain lovers, this pedal gives you a good one. Those who know how to utilise feedbacks will also find it useful.


Overall

-A good friend for anyone seeking for a fierce distortion
-Sturdy-built
-Dual output: Ideal for recording
-Crunchy tone (unique tone). Those wanting to be unique may consider this
-Good sustain


-Very loud and the gain can't be lowered.
-Lack mid frequency controls. 

4 comments:

subversion.sg said...

i used to own the DOD version which looks like this: http://files.effectsdatabase.com/gear/pics/dod_fx69_002.jpg

Loki said...

Is it a mere coincidence or one of them actually imitate the other? =D

subversion.sg said...

DOD is a division of Digitech. before they come under the Digitech brand name, all the effects were under the DOD label. i used to own a few pedals as i'm not into BOSS. back then, BOSS & DOD were ready competitors. i still have both versions of the Death Metal pedal: http://theguitaraddict.blogspot.com/2008/03/death-metal-pedals.html

Loki said...

Thx for the info sub. =). i shall use this as my blog post today if you don't mind. xD haha