Satch-uration (Episode 2)

Well, it took me quite a while to get a proper review on this red box of distortion. 

The reason I took so long to write about this is because I was looking for a bigger amp than my practice amps. After all, these practice amps can't bring out the full potential of Satchurator at all. I almost feel like reselling it until I tried it on a better amp, a full tube amp to be precise.

Summary

In my opinion, 10W and 15W practice amps deteriorates the tone of Satchurator. It makes the distortion sounds so dry and makes you feel like the tone lacks the 'colour'. When Satchurator is connected to a tube amp, it creates a very tube-like distortion. And you get nothing of what you would get from an practice amp. This is an epitome on how amp makes up most of your guitar tone and how important it is.

Controls

As many distortion pedals, Satchurator comes with 3 knobs namely, gain, tone and volume. Many said that Satchurator is a 'versatile' pedal. To be frank, the change in the gain as you tweak your gain knobs is minimal. Even if you roll off all your gain, you will still get a very distorted tone. So no matter how you adjust your gain, it doesn't make much of a difference. You may say it is not versatile but remember that it still has the 'More' switch to increase your gain. Now, that does increases your gain significantly and adds up more punch into your guitar tone. If anyone tells you that you can use Satchurator as a mild drive as well, I would disagree with him. Modtone Speedbox does that better. So I would say gain-wise, it is not that versatile.  

The Tone knob is rather responsive. Well, that's actually a good thing since it gives you a larger tonal range. So tone-wise, yes it is versatile.

Volume control doesn't just control the loudness. I feel that it does affect its tone as well. The higher your volume setting is, the more treble response it has. So whenever I make any changes to the volume, I would have to adjust the gain and the tone again. 

Sorry that I haven't been blogging. I've been busy packing all my stuff since I'm moving and nothing is really going according to plan. 

Satch-uration

I am not supposed to post anything but posting a picture is not going to cost me any harm, I guess.

Well, this box of red is with me now. I'll talk about it after my exams. See ya soon!

Selling BB Preamp + Wampler Triple Wreck

A friend of mine's selling his Xotic BB Preamp and Wampler Triple Wreck.

• Both in mint condition, with boxes. 
• The BB Preamp's going for $190 
• The Triple Wreck is going for $280

 However he's feeling kind this weekend and is offering a great deal of $430 if you buy them both! SMS 90775624 to deal

Da Death Metal

Here is the Digitech Death Metal Distortion, something I tried yesterday (because I was too bored). I did try it once last time but not thorough enough to write anything about it. 

As you can see, there is no Gain knob on it. This means you have no control over the intensity of the distortion. It is fixed. You may find it strange but personally, I find that this pedal can do without that gain control. Some of my friends would set the gain at a fixed position and never touching it after that. If you are one of them, maybe this might be for you. 

Instead of a gain, it has the mid knob there though. I think it is more useful that way. I've tried Digitech Grunge and at times, I was often annoyed by Grunge that it doesn't have a mid knob for me to smoothen the distortion. By having a 3-band EQ on a distortion pedal, it gives you a large spectrum of distortion tone. 

This pedal kinda sounds like my Metal End King. It doesn't not have a Amp simulator like Metal End but the distortion it gives is very much like Metal End. So if you are looking for alternatives of Boss MT-2 or find that Metal End King is too big, you may consider this. 

Price: S$107~110. If someone is selling at a price higher than that, don't fall for it. I once had someone trying to sell his Death Metal for $180. Yes.. such people exists.

Selling OD-20 (Updated - Price Lowered)

Price lowered. 

It may be named as OD-20 but this is not an overdrive-only unit. It is more of an overdrive/distortion. I would say it is like the Line 6 DM4 Distortion Modeler, giving a total of 22 stompbox models including popular overdrive like from Boss OD-1 to Tubescream and different distortions like Boss' very own MT-2 and DS-1. See the DST + there? I doubt it is Daylight Saving Time (that's what you get when you google it) but a simulation of MXR 104 Distortion +. Line 6 DM4 can store custom settings. Well, OD-20 comes with 4 user memory for you to store you settings as well. It's more compact compared to DM4. Click here for more info.

• Price: $160 $130
• Condition: Mint. It is about 2 years old.
• Deal at the seller's convenience
• Don't mind trading for anything interesting, pedals(boosts, ODs, phasers), bags(for acoustic/es335 style), with top up mainly on your side.
• SMS me at 90775624 to deal

Selling BOSS Drive Zone OD-20

This OD-20 is not mine. I'm just helping my friend post this here.

It may be named as OD-20 but this is not an overdrive-only unit. It is more of an overdrive/distortion. I would say it is like the Line 6 DM4 Distortion Modeler, giving a total of 22 stompbox models including popular overdrive like from Boss OD-1 to Tubescream and different distortions like Boss' very own MT-2 and DS-1. See the DST + there? I doubt it is Daylight Saving Time (that's what you get when you google it) but a simulation of MXR 104 Distortion +. Line 6 DM4 can store custom settings. Well, OD-20 comes with 4 user memory for you to store you settings as well. It's more compact compared to DM4. Click here for more info.

• Price: $160
• Condition: Mint. It is about 2 years old.
• Deal at the seller's convenience
• Don't mind trading for anything interesting, pedals(boosts, ODs, phasers), bags(for acoustic/es335 style), with top up mainly on your side.
• SMS me at 90775624 to deal

Combo

I am sure everybody is familiar with Jemini Distortion.

I remember seeing a guy trying the Jemini at SV. I won't comment on the tone since I did not try it personally.  It has cool LED lighting though. When you switch on the overdrive (left), there will be green LED around the knobs. For the distortion, it is red. 

If you are looking for a 'combo' pedal like this, this is not the only one. Wampler Brent Mason Hot Wired is also a 'combo'.

Do take note of the price difference though. Both are available at SV.

Mini Speedbox

I tried the Modtone Mini Distortion the other day when I went down to grab a few stuffs. My main purpose is to compare it with Speedbox.

To be frank, this mini distortion sounds almost like Speedbox. In fact, I think Distortion is the only one which is very similar to Speedbox, compare to all the other Mini and their pedals. However, if that is really the case, why would anyone want to get Speedbox already? There must be a difference, which I later found out. Speedbox has a large 'tone' range than its Mini and the same goes for its gain. Speedbox has more sustain than Mini Distortion as well.

Speedy~~

Well, those flames belongs to Modtone Speedbox.

General
Speedbox is not a high output distortion. In the Modtone family, such would be Extreme Metal. Like many other distortions, Speedbox comes with 3 knobs.
'Gain': the intensity of the distortion.
'Tone': controls how bright or dark the pedal will sound but it also affects the intensity of distortion.
'Level': controls the volume of the pedal.
Speedbox is rather bright sounding. Those who want a brighter DS-1 and do not wish to get a modded DS-1, perhaps you can consider Speedbox. It is also a true bypass while Boss pedals aren't.

Sound
When you turn down your tone knob and with your gain at 12 o'clock, you will get a very vintage sounding distortion, similar to that of a vintage tube amp. If you increase the gain, the sustains improve. But as you increase your gain, your tone should increase as well, or vice versa. Otherwise, you will end up getting some muddy tone.
As your tone knob increase, the distortion will get more coarse and brighter as well. When both Tone and Gain are maxed, that is when you will have a rather edgy distortion. At the same time, you get a lot of feedback as well.

NOTE: How it sounds also depends on your amp's setting and what guitar you are using.

Overall:
★★★★★


-True bypass
-Easy to use
-Brighter distortion compare to DS-1
-Relatively good sustain 


I seriously can't think of anything bad about it yet. Well, maybe the colour. It's green (and I hate green)

Modtone Mini in Singapore!

After 3 months of waiting, Modtone Mini is finally in SV Guitars!

I am glad that the manufacturers decided to make them true bypass, making them much similar to their big brothers. I wonder what is the difference between the mini OD and distortion compared to their Brother Dynodrive and Brother Speedbox. =/ 

NOTE: There is NO FUZZER available.

Speedbox VS Max Distortion

I am not feeling well since last Wednesday and supposed to be at home taking a rest. Instead, I went out to study and (of course) 'tour' City Hall. This is also the reason why my flu never recovers.

On Thursday, I went down to City Hall to get back my drumsticks. Of course, I will still end up in guitar shops. It would be strange if I don't. =/

Anyway, I tried two distortion pedals of the same tier.

Biyang Baby Boom Max Distortion (DS-10)

Modtone Speedbox Distortion

They are both true bypasses; there is no tonal loss through it when you are connecting it in series with other effects.

Speedbox isn't new to me at all. I've tried it quite a number of times. But Biyang DS-10 is. It has that extra toggle switch on it like any other Baby Boom pedals.

In my opinion, Speedbox is still a better distortion than DS-10. What I like about Speedbox is its bright sounding distortion, which DS-10 failed to give even in its 'Bright' mode. No matter how I tweak the knobs, it still doesn't satisfy me. At least for me, that is.

Danger! Watch out for Bears!!

New distortion and overdrive unit is in town!!

They are available at SV guitars or Standard Value. 

Buy, buying, bought! (continue)

Continuation.

The answer in the blank is this:

Biyang Metal End (King), Tonefancier Series.

I have only one thing to say about this. "It's awesome".
Judging from all the different modes and 4 tonal controls on the pedal, one could tell that Metal-End is extremely versatile.

Amp Simulator
In layman term, Amp simulator makes your Metal-end king sounds more like a real amp's distortion and less like a pedal. (it added life to your pedal). When I first tried it, I failed to notice its effect on the tone because I was playing at a very low amp volume. There are also some other people trying out guitars and I don't wish to disturb them. The amp simulator's effect is obvious especially at high amp volumes.

Modern, normal and classic modes
Modern mode is basically a high gain mode whereas the classic mode has a lower one. Normal is in between the two.

High cut
High cut allows the user to immediately reduce the 'High' tone (treble) with just a toggle switch instead of meddling with the tone controls. It saves time and trouble when you wish to reduce your highs.

Normal, Bright, Warm
The name describes it. No need me to say more.

Why is Metal-End King so cheap ($110) despite having so many functions?
1. The packaging is very simple and there are not any decorations/drawings on it and thus reducing the cost of producing it.
2. There is no manuals or any other papers, which we usually get whenever we buy electronic stuffs. Saves the cost of printing.
3. Remember it is manufactured in China. China has the lowest cost of productions, taxes and other charges. Moreover, most pedals are expensive because of the name of the brand it is printed on it.

It is also a true bypass; there will not be any loss of my desired tone, especially when it is connected along with various pedals. 

Benefits from buying this?
1. Versatility (It can go very fierce or even mild, depending on how you tweak the controls)
2. Cool-looking (Looks to me is a minority. I don't really care much about looks for guitars or pedals as long as they are functioning. But the metal casing indeed makes it pedal look cool)
3. A mirror xD (it is so shiny that I could use it as a mirror instead of my handphone to check if my hair is fine!!)

TS-7 goodness

I am quite happy with the performance of my TS-7.. which is probably 1.5 week old. The strange thing is... I hardly ever use it alone.. My main purpose of using TS-7 is to beef up the overdrive and distortion of another effect.

In fact, it does the job rather well, especially with my (anique) G2.1u which I am not intending to upgrade to the new G2.1Nu. I use the TS9 mode as a booster. Hot Mode is too noisy. I usually use it alone instead.

Crunchy, Grungy

Need a distortion pedal with large tonal spectrum than normal distortion pedal? Need more crunchy tone than a DS-1.

Digitech Grunge Distortion can fulfill all these needs.

Grunge has a special feature from other distortion pedal. Most distortion pedals, like BOSS DS-1 or ModTone Speedbox Distortion, only have one 'Tone' knob. However, Grunge is equipped with a Low and High instead which gives the user a larger tonal spectrum. It only requires the user's creativity to produce various tone from this Grunge. The DigiTech Website provides a few of its presets though. It is also provided in the manual booklet you get from buying this, too.

Grunge, when in comparison to DS-1, has more crunchy sound, the first impression I got from it when I first listen to it at its website. This would be a suitable pedal for anyone who seek for a distortion power of DS-1 but with more crunch and colour. I personally find DS-1 very raw but empty.

Grunge can be bought at Swee Lee, the sole DigiTech distributor. It costs around S$107. If you are looking for a cheaper deal and willing to wait for 2 weeks, you may also check on eBay. However, eBay has its own limitation; you can't see the pedal's condition beforehand.

Effect day!!!

I'm supposed to upload this post a few days ago, I just noticed that it wasn't uploaded.


Today, I would like to talk about 3 effect pedals. (2 Modtone and Boss)
A bit of intro
Modtone is rather special. Why? It is never advertised anywhere and its name is spread among the people through the players instead. This could be the reason why it is relatively cheap, as it does not incur any advertising cost.


Let's get to the story! 
All are tried on a Smash S1 3TSB and Sound Drive SG-100R SD Speakers
The three pedals I'm going to talk about are:

BOSS DS-1

DS-1 is , as most of us know, one of the very standard distortion pedal anyone would get. It has a very raw distortion and you can play metal with it. Good for chords. This rawness can be much a problem as well when playing a solo. The sound will get mashed up altogether. So, if you own a DS-1, modifying it will be a good idea.

ModTone Speedbox Distortion 

It was introduced to me by Andrew from Standard Value when I requested to try the BOSS DS-1. Speedbox is a distortion pedal by Modtone. It is a colourful distortion which will work very well when playing a solo. However, it also suffer a trade-off. The distort, IMO, is good for rocks but for metal? I don't think so. Its control knobs works the same way as DS-1. If you are looking for a more extreme type of distortion, Speedbox will not fit you but if you are looking for more distinctive notes, this is your pal.

Mod Tone Extreme Metal

The elder brother of Speedbox. More distortion and much more stronger. It has 4 equalizer knobs, just like BOSS Metal Zone. This pedal is a very versatile pedal. If you are looking for more crunchy tone, increasing the mid knob and a bit of mid scoop will do. By lowering its gain to half, lower the low and a moderate high, it can get some kinda simpler sound of a Speedbox.