The following is a guest post by A. Bovara. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Board without Labels

I’ll start off with my first impression of the Pedal Labels once I took them out of the envelope.  I don’t know what they are made of, but is sure isn’t just another paper label with a different type of adhesive.  It’s some sort of plastic or vinyl label.  They are easy to get off the backing paper and feel sturdy.

While I was applying the stickers to some of my pedals, it occurred to me that the single knob labels fit perfectly on top of the Electro-Harmonix knobs. Don’t put the stickers on the actual knob.  Doing this makes it just as difficult to find your setting as not having the label in the first place.  Not that I actually did that…just sayin’.

Board with Labels

It is also imperative to use the right sort of marking tool. Different and bold colors make your settings easy to see. Black, blue, and green look very similar, especially in poor lighting.  I find the best combination of colors, for multiple settings on each label, to be black and red.  They stand out, are easy to see from an arms distance away, and easy to differentiate quickly in the dark. I found that after two different settings per label the markings start to get crowded.  I then started using two labels to spread the settings out in more space.  This keeps the markings clear and easy to read, especially when some markings are very near other markings

The Good

The labels are easy to remove from the pedals once they are applied.  This is particularly important if you are like me and can’t put a sticker on straight with fewer than two attempts.

I’ve seen some questions about how to consider stacked knobs when using these labels.  It’s really quite simple, use a long line and a short line.   It looks like a clock.  However, the label circles do get crowded quickly when using long lines and short lines for stacked knobs.  You could also use a single knob label above or below the main label to indicate a stacked knob setup.

After having the labels on my pedals for seven days, I pulled them all up to see if they affected the pedals in any way.  I have a hand painted pedal, a bunch of standard metal case pedals, and a plastic pedal.  None of the finishes, factory decals, or paint were peeled or damaged in any way.  I was actually very impressed that not even the hand painted pedal, panted with cheap paint markers, had any damage to the finish.  I also put a label on a guitar just to see if the label would damage guitar finish.  It wasn’t.  Even though this is not the original intent, these labels appear to be perfectly safe for common guitar finishes.  So, if you are the type that has a bunch of onboard settings or switches, these could be used to indicate you axe’s control settings as well.



While I was taking all the labels off of my pedals, I put them back on the original backing sheet.  Once I had them all off, naturally, I wanted them back on.  When I put the labels back on the pedals, they held just as strongly as if I didn’t move them from place to place at all.  This gave me the idea that you could have a “library” of labels and settings for the same pedal used in different circumstances.  If I’m doing a college party this weekend, I could put my party labels on.  If I am playing a wedding the weekend after, I could take the party labels off and put my wedding gig labels on instead.  These pedal setting labels have the potential to be much more versatile than initial assumptions make them out to be.

As far as the label assortment goes, I was pretty happy with it.  I hemmed and hawed a little on how to set up the labels on my octave pedal.  I would have had to punch a hole in a three knob label to get around the switch. but then where would I put the switch label?  I figured it out without too much brainpower application, and it works out fine.  The real magic in the label selection is the single knob label sticker and how many you get.  You can augment any other label with a single knob sticker.  Or, if you don’t need each knob to have a label, just use the single labels for the knobs you want.  It is also easy enough to combine multiple labels if your pedal has five or six knobs that need settings marked.

I wanted to test the durability of the labels, so I put one on an effect on/off switch and a few on one of my wah pedals.  After a week of playing on them for at least two hours a day, there was hardly any damage to the switch label and no damage to the wah labels.  You can see in the above Echo Park picture that I put two of the labels on the tap tempo/on-off selector and they look just fine. I wasn’t satisfied with that, so I took some steel wool to the labels on the wah pedal.  I gave each of the labels a vigorous 30 second steel wool scrubbing and they are still perfectly functional.

The Bad
I would like to see seven to ten slider stickers for recording different pedal EQ settings.  That’s all I can really thing of that would be a negative.

Overall.
The pedal labels fill a need that some players have.  If all you are running is a simple overdrive pedal and a tuner, these are not really going to be worth your time.  However, If you are a frequent tone tinkerer and knob twiddler, these labels can be really useful tools for recording your favorite or most used settings.

I am definitely  going to keep the labels on my pedals, they are to useful not to.  I generally remember all my settings, but sometimes I have to mess around with a knob a little too long to get it right where it needs to be, especially on my flanger and Metal Muff EQ section. I am even considering getting a few more sheets of the labels to start the settings library I mentioned before.

Admin Note:
Pedal Labels can be purchased at PedalLabels.com

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• amptweaker tight rock review

The following is a guest review by Donny Silva. If you are interested in writing a guest review, please contact me!

My Name is Donny Silva. I play bass in a band called Defy Tolerance. We are a rock band out of Phoenix, AZ. I play Spector basses and Gallien Krueger amps/cabs.

www.defytolerance.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Defy-Tolerance/102358636468140
www.facebook.com/roskotheworshiprocker

Coming from being a guitarist I wanted to use effects. I really wanted to “grunge” up my tone. I soon bought the MXR M80 bass DI+. Here are the features from their website:

- Distortion channel with gain, volume, and blend controls
- Color button
- 3-band EQ
- Phantom power
- 1/4″ and XLR outs
- Parallel output jack

I will keep this simple. The EQ is great. Even though it is only Bass, Mid, Treble, you can get a lot of tone out of this pedal. There is a separate volume control for each channel and a “color” button. This “color” button enables a preset scoop. I think it has a traditional Ampeg tone to it, real middy.

The EQ transfers to the distortion channel when engaged. This is possibly the only downfall of this pedal. The distortion channel has a gate and a blend knob. The gate is nice, you can set the trigger point with a trigger knob. The gain is a little harsh on this pedal. It is very gritty. But what makes it very versatile is the blend knob. This will blend in the distorted signal with the clean signal. I drive the gain at about 2 o’clock and have my blend knob at 7 o’clock. I get a very clear grit to my tone.

There also is a Phantom/Ground button. This is a great feature if you have phantom power from a mixing board.

As a bass player you it is nice to be able to send a direct signal to the front of house engineers. With this pedal you can send the FOH guys your tone and also send the signal to your amp. There is a third “parallel output” . I imagine this is most useful to send to a tuner.

I am loving this pedal, It can really liven up a cheap practice amp or give a great live tone for any performance. I highly recommend it.

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• MXR TEN BAND
• amptweaker tight rock
• seymour duncan programmable footswitch schematic
• programmable footswitch diy
• Pork Barrel Chorus pedal project
• overdrive pedal with bass mid treble
• mxr stereo chorus pedalboard
• mxr m80 diy
• mxr m80 blend gain o\clock
• mxr m-80 sale

The following is a guest review by Kevin Ian. If you are interested in writing a guest review, please contact me!

Hello!

I was contacted by Todd of Grumpy Toad FX recently and he asked if I wanted to try a new build he has been working on. It is a build of The Shoctave, a mix of a Fuzzy Overdrive and Octave down circuit. Todd is the first to say that while it is NOT an original design of his, he does now offer it to people who are interested in the pedal.

Plugging into this pedal, I noticed a few things:

The dirt section of this pedal is peculiar. If it’s a fuzz, it’s a very tame-almost overdrive in character-fuzz. However, if it’s an overdrive, then it’s very fizzy in character. Think Blues Driver with Big Muff tendencies. I really like the sound and it got along with my P90′s perfectly. This pedal might be a bit too dark for humbuckers.

The Gain section brings the dirt from a slightly dirty boost to full on raging fuzz. It stacks decently with other pedals, though I would recommend this pedal first in your chain as with most fuzz. I found the middle gain the most useful, as it was touch-sensitive with enough dirt to make chords interesting and single-note lines sing.

The Mix section is where you can blend between the dirt, the octave down, and any combination in between. Where most pedals with octave down capabilities don’t track well, this one does. It’s not a practical effect for chords, but it works well with single-note runs and some power-chord applications. That being said, those who love a splatty sound will enjoy the gain dimed with some octave mixed in.

I have included a video that shows the range of the pedal. This is a pedal I recommend for people who want to experiment with their sound and have not entered the realm of octave down effects.

Todd at Grumpy Toad is a stand-up guy and his work is always well-done and professional. Even if this pedal is not to your liking, he has other things in his arsenal that will appeal to your tone needs. I own four of his pedals that have taken permanent residence on my board!

You can find Grumpy Toad here

Kevin Ian is a multi-instrumentalist who is more known for his work in The
Common Men. You can find their latest album “Let it Burn” via iTunes,
Amazon, CD Baby and Bandcamp. For more information, please visit
http://www.thecommonmen.tk or http://www.facebook.com/thecommonmen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHWAejfYrwM

–
The Common Men. Nor-Cal Post-Punk Vanguards
New Album “Let it Burn” Out NOW! http://thecommonmen.bandcamp.com

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• shoctave schematic
• sx hawk ultra
• grumpy toad Shoctave
• grumpy toad custom fx
• sx hawk ultra review
• dwarftcraft the internet review
• dwarfcraft pedal decals
• why does my gibson explorer sound splatty
• toad fx
• what pickups for sx hawk ultra

The following is a guest review by Bart Raeke. If you are interested in guest posting or submitting a guest review, please contact me!

A few months ago one of my oldest friends posted a YouTube video on Facebook, a demo of the Amptweaker TightMetal pedal.  Mark Kloeppel of the band Misery Index, who had a major hand in the design phase, did the demo, and as I listened and watched, I was blown away.  So was my friend, who got his hands on one almost as soon as they were made available to the public.  I got a chance to play through it for a bit, and even in the brief time I had, the promise shown in the demo was fulfilled, and then some.

My very first impression is that, at its core, the TightMetal is what Boss was reaching for with the MT-2 Metal Zone.  Plenty of gain, with the ability to tweak the mid frequencies.  Now, this doesn’t have the sweepable mid pots, but along with the standard Tone control is a mid switch.  Standard and Thrash for that unmistakable scooped tone that still retains some punch so it doesn’t get lost in the mix.  Also along for the ride is an onboard gate with a switch, aptly called Chomp.  A quick decay and fast, percussive, stop filled riffing is now tight as a drum.

Speaking of tight, the Tight control is definitely something to be happy about.  Already a part of their TightDrive and TightBoost pedals, an individual pot for controlling your amps attack response through the pedal is amazingly simple in theory and wonderfully useful in practice.  As I played, my friend played with the Tight control, and the amount of response and tonal variety alone floored me.

Finally throw in an onboard FX loop, and the MSRP of $180 seems like chump change for what you’ve got.

Official description of the Amptweaker Tight Metal Distortion:

The new TightMetal™ distortion pedal takes the TightDrive™ and TightBoost™ overdrive platform to the next level by providing over-the-top metal and hardcore crunch tones with adjustable tightness thanks to the Tight control.  This issue came up early on when discussing various ideas with Mark Kloeppel, guitarist from the deathgrind band Misery Index.  Like many other metal players, Mark was looking for a particular guitar tone, one with a lot of harmonics but with the ability to stop the notes really fast to work with their music.  As on the original TightDrive, the Tight control varies the low end from smooth and thick to tight and aggressive so you get the attack that works with your guitar and picking style.

In the same way high gain tube amps are designed by cascading extra tube stages, the TightMetal was created by adding additional stages in front of a carefully modified TightDrive.  The resulting thicker and much heavier distortion is tweaked by a simple built-in output EQ curve, and can further be adjusted by the output Tone control, so it’s easy to get a stack sound even through a small combo amp’s clean channel.

Here is video featuring Mark Kloeppel of Misery Index demonstrating the Tight Metal Distortion. Video submitted by RockalotRecords

Here are the pedal used in the demo:
Korg Pitchblack Tuner
Amptweaker Tight Metal Distortion
Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor
Boss LS-2 Line Selector
Boss DD-3 Digital Delay

About Bart Raeke:
I’ve been playing guitar for 18 years, and I became a pretty big gear/effect nut about 10 years ago after not understanding why I could never get close to replicating the sound in my head.  I’ve worked in the event production field for almost 15 years, including quite a bit of sound reinforcement for any number of applications.  A lot of my musician friends will come to me for gear advice or gear questions.  Even when they know I probably won’t know immediately, they know if I don’t know I’ll want to know and track down the answer.  I’ve played in various bands and projects over the years, but have been quiet for about 6 years, although I’m searching.

The Amptweaker Tight Metal Distortion is available $180 (includes FREE shipping within the United States). You can purchase the Amptweaker Tight Metal Distortion directly from Amptweaker’s site.

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• amptweaker tight metal
• amptweaker tight metal review
• tight metal pedal review
• amptweaker tightmetal review
• Amptweaker TightMetal
• tightmetal
• Tight Metal review
• metal tone pedal
• marshall guvnor opinion
• amptweaker tight metal reviews

Mike Fetting contacted me yesterday to see if I would be interested in re-posting a review he wrote up on the Dwarfcraft Devices Internet Overdrive.  Heck ya! So below is his guest post/review on the pedal. Mike has a great blog called EffectsWire, and it’s definitely worth checking out. If you’re interested in guest posting, please contact me.

Ah I’ve already had a few questions on the Internet so I figured this one would be the best one to review! The  Internet is a growling overdrive that has wonderful, gritty low gain tones and gets all warm and fuzzy when the gains cranked up! For a more in-depth review read on past the break, sound-clips included!

Hardware

The Internet demands a second take on first sight. Let’s face it, the graphics are awesome! The finish seems to be a vinyl finish and I have had no problems with peeling or anything.
This pedal has two knobs: RAMS and Bandwitch. RAMS is the gain control which has an extremely large range and all of it is usable (unless you dislike a little fuzz). The Bandwitch controls the volume of the pedal, pretty simple stuff. This box also features a boost footswitch along with the bypass one. With the boost engaged this thing has a lot of gain on tap, a lot. This pedal takes nine volts, standard Boss style plug, fairly standard stuff.

Bandwittch and RAMS knobs

Pron (boost) and Gewgle footswitches

How it sounds

Turning on the overdrive for the first time you can definitely hear that it is no TS9 clone. It’s has a thick growl to it, even provides some nice grit on low gain settings. The voicing has more of an emphasis on lower mids and some bass, it’s very warm sounding. Don’t get me wrong though, this thing can still get razor sharp depending on your settings. On lower gain settings this thing provides a nice gritty boost to your tone. At medium gain settings you get a nice, warm, throaty drive sound. Once the gain gets past 75% you get into fuzz territory and even more so when the boost is engaged. My favorite tones are using it as a nice mild distortion for playing rock or playing it like a tight fuzz pedal for more metal style riffage. You’ll hear both down below in the sound clips section.

Now I wrote a bit about how this pedal performs by itself but it also is a very interesting boost. It does add some color to the tone so if you’re looking for transparent, this is not what you’re looking for. So far I’ve tried it with my Fuzz War and Noise Invaders and it provides very cool results. With the Fuzz War, it tightens it up a bit without losing all the openness and fuzziness. It also provides a nice boost to the mids as well and just makes it sound more full. With the Noise Invaders it provides similar results.

Input jack and 9v plug

Final Say

For $150 this isn’t too expensive of an overdrive, it provides some very cool tones and also is a unique boost. If you are looking for an overdrive that has some unique flavor, look no further. If I could only use one dirt pedal from current set-up it’d be this one, it has great low gain tones and has a great fuzz tone as well. One thing I would like that this pedal lacks is a tone knob on it, it has a darker voicing and I would like a way to switch between this and other fuzz pedals and keep the same voicing, it’s pretty minor but I think a tone knob would be nice. All in all a great value at $150 new, if you want an overdrive with some added Dwarfcraft flavor, this is it.

Gotta love those graphics!

Sound Clips

Internet OD low gain by Mike Fetting

Internet OD Boosted Drive by Mike Fetting

Internet OD Warm Lead by Mike Fetting

Internet OD High Gain Drop D Fuzz by Mike Fetting

There are of course many more tones to be had from this pedal but I just picked out a few of my favorite using my Standard Rig.
Hope you enjoyed, if anyone else has one of these out there, feel free to chime in and tell us what you think!

—————

If you’re interested in picking up the Dwarfcraft Devices Internet Overdrive, it is available at Amazon.con for $150.00 via Prymaxe Vintage.

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• dwarfcraft internet
• Dwarfcraft Internet Overdrive
• Dwarfcraft Devices Internet Overdrive
• dwarfcraft the internet
• dwarfcraft internet overdrive review
• dwarfcraft internet review
• Internet overdrive
• bon iver effect pedal board
• Elite Gudz dwarfcraft
• mike fetting guitar blog

The following is a guest post by Kevin Ian Common. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Hello Kind Readers!

The pedal I am reviewing today is The Pork Barrel Chorus by Grumpy Toad FX in Sacramento. Grumpy Toad is a small pedal company that specializes in built clones of your favorite vintage pedals. Todd –the builder– also slightly modifies pedals according to his customers’ wishes and has a great reputation for producing quality work.

I recently met him and put in an order for a custom boost pedal (which I will review when it arrives), but I had the pleasure of playing through one of his latest builds, a pedal he dubs the “Pork Barrel Chorus.”

The first thing I notice upon playing through it is the tremendous warmth and bass response. This is not your average chorus pedal, which tends to thin out your sound. This packs some serious bottom. I took it for a test run on my Peavey Classic 30, Vox, and my bassist’s GK rig, and the pedal stood up to all three tests.

The range of the rate knob goes from subtle to lush to seasick. I found myself more in favor of the subtle and lush sounds, which have yet to be rivaled by any chorus pedal I’ve played since. The depth can go from almost non-existent to extreme as well, giving you a vast array of tones at your disposal.

Todd also added in some switches to the pedal. The first one is a Depth switch. It changes the range of the Depth knob. The second –and my favorite of the switches– is a Vibrato/Trem switch that takes the dry signal out, leaving you with a vibrating tremolo sound. However, it wouldn’t be wise to call it a vibrato or tremolo because it’s still a chorus effect, so the effected signal is still detuned! This was a really unique addition to the chorus and one that was surprisingly musical and useful.

Grumpy Toad FX can be found here:
http://s422.photobucket.com/albums/pp301/Toadlc/Grumpy%20Toad%20FX%20Pedals/

Here is a modest video with me going through a bunch of settings on the Pork Barrel Chorus.

Go through what he has done and talk to him about what you are looking for. I found him to be friendly, and helpful!

- Kevin Ian

Kevin Ian is a multi-instrumentalist and Internet Radio DJ. His current project, The Common Men can be found at www.thecommonmen.tk

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• grumpy toad custom effects
• pork barrel pedal
• toad works chorus
• porkbarell
• pork barrel pedal
• pork barrel pedal noisy
• pork barrel diy
• pork barrel chorus project
• pork barrel chorus problems
• pork barrel chorus pedal

The following is a guest post on the Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Plus by Brandan Isaacs. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Alright, there isn’t much to talk about for this pedal, because, lets face it, we know what reverb pedals do. However, there are a few things worth noting.

First off is what you can see. There are four settings: Spring, Hall, Room, and Flerb. Now, it stumps me, because it would make sense for the hall setting to be after room, because that is the order for how much reverb you can get, from smallest to largest, but whatever, no big deal. There are two knobs (from left to right), blend and amount.

The blend knob changes how your raw sound blends in with the reverb. The more blend you add, the more your sound gets put into the reverb sound. So, for instance, if you put it all the way to the right, it sounds like you’re listening to your guitar from the back of the hall (at least, in the hall setting). Turn back the knob, and you find yourself listening to the perfect blend of guitar tone and reverb. The amount is how much reverb is being put on your sound. Now, the first three settings for the reverb are what you would expect. However, the flerb setting is very different. It is still a reverb, however, it adds a flange to it, and makes it very space like, and I could see being useful for ambient sounds.

You’re probably wondering how the sound is on the reverb. Well, it’s a very warm, lush reverb, and if you close your eyes, you will feel like you are in a hall with the hall setting, and the room and spring settings are nothing to shake a stick at. They will also blow your mind as well. It doesn’t sound processed at all, in my opinion, and is some of the best reverb I’ve heard (at least, a reverb that comes in pedal form).

Overall, I’d recommend this pedal to anyone that’s looking for a reverb pedal to expand their sound. Like I said at the beginning, there’s not much to talk about, but what there is, it’s worth noting.

Brandan Isaacs has been playing guitar for 2 years and is a college student that is majoring in music and jazz guitar.

The Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Plus is available for $144.75 at Amazon.com

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• holy grail plus review
• electro harmonix holy grail plus review
• ehx holy grail plus review
• holy grail plus reverb review
• electro harmonix holy grail plus
• holy grail plus reviews
• electro-harmonix holy grail plus review
• holy grail plus
• holy grail plus reverb reviews
• electro harmonix holiest grail

The following is a guest review of the Devi Ever Shoegazer by Jack Broughan. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

The first time I used this pedal I came quite close to vomiting on myself. Not because of any negative qualities of the pedal itself but rather because of the previous night’s festivities and that I had set the Volume knob at about half way. Needless to say this pedal is quite loud.

The pedal itself is handmade in Portland Oregon and boasts two pedals in its housing; the Torns Peaker and the Soda Meiser. Sitting squarely in the sonic territory of Big Black, My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Marry Chain and coupled with a very high output this pedal is not for the sensitive soul. The pedal features independent volume and tone knobs for each fuzz circuit. This allows for plenty of interaction between the two circuits. The Torn’s Peaker circuit at its tamest sounds like the chainsaw tone of Steve Albini. With the tone knob at quarter past the pedal begins to sound much thicker, akin to an EHX Big Muff. The Soda Meiser circuit provides and octave fuzz effect. Both circuits can be stacked together by toggling the bypass and aptly titled “more fuzz” switches. This creates a wall of squirming popping fuzz of monstrous proportions. If you love Fuzz then this pedal is for you.

The Devi Ever Shoegazer includes:
- true bypass
- mxr sized enclosure
- boutique quality components
- incredibly low mA draw
- silicon transistor based
- enclosure size : 4.7″ x 3.7″ x 1.18″
- 9 volt, 2.1 mm, negative tip power jack
- 9 volt battery snap inside (unscrew the back plate)

Here’s a Demo by Devi.

by Jack Broughan

You can pick up the Devi Ever Shoegazer for $197.50 at Musician’s Friend.

Remember, if you like reading about these pedals and seeing videos reviews from others, please subscribe to the RSS feed and get notified via email when there are new postings!

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• Devi ever shoegazer
• devi ever shoegazer review
• devi ever shoe gazer
• devi ever shoegazer pedal
• devi ever soda meiser review
• devi shoegazer
• devi ever shoegazer sale
• devi ever shoegazer reviews
• devi ever shoe gazer review
• shoegazer devi ever

The following is a guest post review of the MXR M-103 Blue Box by George DesRoches @TeeAreBee. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

So, after looking for months for a good, cheep octave fuzz, I finally caved into the almost unanimous suggestion of my peers: Get the blue box. So, after spending 80 dollars and waiting a week, the nondescript brown packaging containing my new proclaimed god of octave fuzzes appeared on my doorstep. Inside it, the box for the pedal was just as nondescript as the shipping package, and the only indication I had as to whether or not it was the pedal I ordered was the sticker they placed on the side of the black/blue box labeled “MXR”.

Inside, there was my pedal: the MXR Blue Box. It’s chasis was about as basic as the rest of the packaging: like it’s name suggests, the whole thing was blue. In a basic font, it had it’s name written just below the footswitch, the MXR logo just above it in the center of the pedal, the input and output jacks on opposite sides of the pedal, and 2 knobs labeled “Output” and “Blend”. Inside the box were rubber stoppers to put on the knobs to keep them from turning accidentally when the stompbox was, well, stomped, a brochure of other MXR, CAE, and Dunlop products and a registration form, though there was no form of instructions manual. Granted, the 2 knobs are pretty self explainatory, but the there are several details which a manual could have come in handy for, like if something goes wrong, or where the hell the battery comparment is (which I reveal below), or what the knobs did exactly. Unless you were willing to go online and watch the youtube video demoing the pedal, you had to basically wing it to get a desired sound, finding out what everything did by trial and error.

So, on to specifics: The MXR blue box is an octave fuzz taken one step further: instead of just one octave below, it yields a note 2 octaves down from the note played mixed in with the fuzz signal; The company takes pride in the fact that it was the effect used in the solo of “Fool In The Rain” by Led Zeppelin. Now, the knobs are relatively self explainatory: Output knob controls the overall volume of the effect, and the Blend knob controls the mixture of the main fuzz effect and the double octave (12 oclock is an even mix, clockwise is more fuzz/less octave, and counterclockwise is less fuzz/more octave). There is a stomp switch, and a bright red LED which alerts you when the pedal is on, and the pedal can be powered by either a 9V battery (the compartment for which is accessed by unscrewing the back of the pedal, and is not worth the time or the effort) or 9v adapter.

So, how did it sound? Well, I tried it out with 5 guitars: A strat replica with single coils (SSS configuration) and a rosewood fretboard, a strat with a humbucker in the bridge and a maple fretboard, a strat with 2 humbuckers (HSH) and a rosewood fretboard, a Gibson explorer (covered humbuckers), and a les paul (uncovered humbuckers). One thing people tend to overlook is that pickups arent everything: scale length is just as important a factor in the overall tone, as is fretboard wood. Strat bodies have longer scale lengths than most Gibson models, giving their tone more of a bite, while the shorter Gibson SGs, Explorers, and les pauls have darker tones. That is why many 80s hair metal guitarists used guitars styled like strats with humbuckers put in, because it gave them a more biting distortion. Fretboard wood is also and important factor: the darker the wood, the darker the tone. Rosewood fretboards make the tone darker, which maple fretboards make the tone brighter and snappier. Also, from experience covered pickups have fatter tones than their uncovered bretheren, though that may just be me. Still, I have tried this pedal out not only in conjunction with 5 different pickup, wood, length and tuning combinations, but I also used it in conjunction with 4 amps, and several different pedals.

Out of the 5 guitars, I liked the single coil strat replica the best (named Lilith: an SX HAWK QMD RDS). humbuckers, no matter what scale length or wood, made it far too muddy to my taste, though the darker the tone, the more muddy and disgusting the tone became. Fuzz seems to have been made for single coils, from experience, as it tends to be just a bit much with anything else.

Now, personally I found myself constantly going towards the Output knob to turn it up. The effect, no matter what always seems too soft. Also, I was profoundly dissapointed in the octave. it was very strong (so I had to turn it to mainly fuzz), and rarely stayed the 2 octaves down, spending most of the time jumping around, no matter how long or short the note was or what blend/output it was set at. What I was impressed about was that the octave maintained a synth like sound, which made my guitar sound badass! With wah, this pedal sounds pretty kick ass, especially with single coils, giving you a classic Jimi Hendrix tone. With delay, the signal seems a bit muddied, as with most modulation effects (chorus, flanger, phaser, rotary), and I dont recommend using any extra distortion or overdrive. I think a nice addition to the Blue Box would be a tone knob, to help fine tune that fuzzy sound.

Is it a cool effect? Yeah, I guess. It’s not something I would use regularly, but for a snazzy little synth sounds or for a kick ass riff, it’s perfect to switch it up a bit. And it’s not that expencive at all. Not something I would recommend for everybody’s pedal board, but for those who like to experiment with exotic tones and new sounds, this pedal might be right for you.

For an idea of how it sounds, check out the MXR demo, or the Gearmanndude demo:

Here is the video by Gearmanndude:

Guitars used:
SX Hawk QMD RDS (Stratocaster replica)(“Lillith”)
Pickup config: SSS stock
Rosewood freboard
21 frets
rating with pedal: 4/5
Tunings used: Standard, D Standard, Drop D, Open G

Fender TexMex Stratocaster (Modded) (“Heather”)
Pickup config: HSS (neck – stock, middle – Seymour Duncan Hotrails, bridge -
DiMarzio Evolution 1)
Maple Fretboard
21 Frets
Rating with pedal 3/5
Tunings Used: Standard, Drop D

Fender Stratocaster (Modded) (“Supah-strat”)
Pickup config: HSH (neck – Seymour Duncan ’59, middle – stock, bridge -
Seymour Duncan Custom)
Rosewood Fretboard
21 Frets
Rating With Pedal: 3/5
Tunings Used: Standard, Drop D

Gibson Les Paul
Pickup Config: HH stock uncovered
Rosewood fretboard
22 frets
Rating With pedal 2.5/5
tunings used: standard, Open G, Open C

Gibson Explorer
Pickup Config: HH stock covered
Rosewood Fretboard
22 frets
Rating With Pedal: 1/5
Tunings used: Standard, D standard, Drop D

All guitars used Ernie Ball Hybrid strings
All guitars were tested using a Raven RG200, a Line Six Spider III 15 watt, a Crate Blue Voodoo head into a Peavey Cab, and a vintage Univox solid state

Check out my band at www.myspace.com/teearebee

You can pick up the MXR M-103 Blue Box for $69.99 at Musician’s Friend.

Remember, if you like reading about these pedals and seeing videos reviews from others, please subscribe to the RSS feed and get notified via email when there are new postings!

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• mxr blue box review
• MXR M-103
• mxr m103 blue box review
• mxr m-103 blue box review
• effectsbay blue box
• mxr m103 review
• mxr bluebox manual
• Mxr blue box who played
• MXR M-103 Blue Box Fuzz / Octave Pedal
• mxr m 103 schematic

The following is a guest review of the Morpheus DropTune Octave Guitar Effects Pedal by Mark Grundhoefer (@markgrundhoefer). If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Recently I acquired the Morpheus DropTune pedal and was eager to put it to the test. It’s extremely easy to use and no instructions are necessary. In fact, nothing was in the box other than the pedal and the power supply. Some basic directions are printed on the outside of the box. The tracking of the Morpheus is extremely fast and accurate. As you move down the 7 half steps, I found it to be a little chorusy around the 5th, 6th, and 7th half steps on clean, but when I engaged the overdrive or fuzz on my board, it really growled in those low registers. The first 4 half steps are very clean and precise and were only enhanced more by my gain pedals. It’s not perfect, and sometimes not as natural sounding as you might hope, but it does track extremely well. The octave down, however, is digital and totally unusable. The octaver feature is cool as an effect but still very digital. One feature that would be nice is if you could blend the dry signal for all the steps to create a harmonizer but that’s just wishful thinking.

As far as the uses for the Morpheus go, I am a guitar teacher and I bought the pedal to use in my studio so that I don’t have to detune for many of the songs that my students bring in. A ton of popular artists play half a step down or more and it’s great to have a pedal like this and not have to retune my guitar for each lesson. I think someone in a cover band would get a lot of use out of it as well. When you get on stage with a full band the sometimes digital aspects won’t really be noticed. I’m a bit of a tone freak and wasn’t planning on using this for anything other than teaching. I think most guitarists will find it useful and fun but may not add it to their professional rig. Overall I give it an A-

Mark Grundhoefer is a teacher at the Dave Janssen School of Music in Simi Valley www.davejanssen.com If you are interested in lessons check out the website. Mark also plays guitar for Everything’s On Fire, Los Angeles’ premiere rock band www.everythingsonfire.com (coming soon). Twitter: @markgrundhoefer and @EOFmusic

You can pick up the Morpheus DropTune Octave Guitar Effects Pedal for $199.99 at Musician’s Friend.

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• morpheus droptune review
• morpheus droptune
• morpheus detune
• Morpheus DropTune Octave
• morpheus detuner
• droptune review
• morpheus drop tune pedal review
• morpheus drop tune review
• guitar pedal review octave
• morpheus droptune diy