Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Boss MT-2 Metal Zone

EFFECTS - DISTORTION

PRICE:$50 used.
KEY FEATURES: Knobs for level, high, low, mid, mid frequency, and distortion.
CUSTOMIZATION?N/A
SOUND SAMPLE: N/A
HIGHS: Good for high-gain tones, lots of useful controls
LOWS: Will sound very processed and muddy if used with most solid state amplifiers, takes lots of tinkering to find a "sweet spot"
SHORT TAKEA popular and useful pedal for metal, this sounds great in front of tube amplifiers.

Dunlop Crybaby Wah

EFFECTS - Wah

PRICE:$55, used.
KEY FEATURES: Standard wah pedal with no extra controls.
CUSTOMIZATION?N/A
SOUND SAMPLE: N/A
HIGHS: Simple, rugged design. Well-documented schematics and online support allow for many modifications.
LOWS: Sounds clippy and mechanical with distortion or overdrive, pots need to be cleaned often.
SHORT TAKEA decent wah in stock form. If you're not prepared to modify yours, consider the many competitors made by Vox, Morley, etc.

Boss GE-7 Graphic Equalizer

EFFECTS - EQUALIZER

PRICE:$50 used.
KEY FEATURES: 7-band graphic equalizer and master volume
CUSTOMIZATION?N/A
SOUND SAMPLE: N/A
HIGHS: Works exactly as you'd expect; great for tone shaping or volume boosts; sounds great in front of an amp or in the effects loop.
LOWS: None.
SHORT TAKEThe industry standard for graphic equalizer pedals, the GE-7 offers more bang for the buck than anything else!

Fender Fat Strat Texas Special (USA)

GUITARS - ELECTRIC

PRICE:$650, used.
KEY FEATURES: Seymour Duncan "Pearly Gates" humbucker in bridge position, Fender "Texas Special" single coils in middle and neck positions. One volume and two tone knobs.
CUSTOMIZATION?N/A
SOUND SAMPLE: N/A
HIGHS: Great for rock, hard rock, blues and even metal sounds.
LOWS: Fretboard radius is very low, most will have some trouble playing lead on this axe.
SHORT TAKEGreat tone but bad playability. Play this extensively before you buy!

DOD FX69 GRUNGE DISTORTION

EFFECTS - MULTI-EFFECTS

PRICE:$30, used.
KEY FEATURES: Knobs for volume, low, high and "grunge"
CUSTOMIZATION?N/A
SOUND SAMPLE: N/A
HIGHS: Can produce extremely distorted sounds
LOWS: Can only produce over-the-top distorted sounds, not much equalization control, player nuances will not shine through with this on.
SHORT TAKEA mostly useless pedal targeted at new players. AVOID!

DOD FX96 ANALOG DELAY

EFFECTS - DELAY

PRICE:$75, new.
KEY FEATURES: Knobs for effect volume, repeat, delay length and quality
CUSTOMIZATION?N/A
SOUND SAMPLE: N/A
HIGHS: Can produce that low-fi analog sound for less than any of its competitors
LOWS: Can't produce long delays; the quality of reproduced sound diminishes as delay length increases; unreliable
SHORT TAKEThere are many better alternatives, but this is a fairly economical delay pedal.

Marshall JCM800 2x12 Combo

AMPLIFIERS - ALL TUBE

PRICE:$350 used.
KEY FEATURES: Single channel; Bass, mid, treble and presence controls; single volume knob; Celestion greenback speakers
CUSTOMIZATION?N/A
SOUND SAMPLE: N/A
HIGHS: An unbeatable, timeless tone for rock, hard rock and metal.
LOWS: Not versatile; almost useless for jazz music; generally unreliable since most of these are over 20 years old
SHORT TAKEA one-trick-pony, but it's better at its one trick than almost any other amplifier.

Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12

AMPLIFIERS - ALL TUBE

PRICE:$450, used.
KEY FEATURES: Two channels with gain boost; 2x12 speaker layout; fender speakers; bass, mid, treble and presence controls; spring reverb; dual input
CUSTOMIZATION?N/A
SOUND SAMPLE: N/A
HIGHS: Produces high-quality clean and overdrive sounds, great response to playing dynamics, can produce almost any tone imaginable with the right effects.
LOWS: Lacks any on-board high gain sounds, doesn't handle low frequencies well, can't produce "pristine clean" tones at high volumes.
SHORT TAKEA professional-quality amp suitable for almost any style of music.