edsmith
New member
Sound clips will be soon to follow. For now I will just post a few reviews of some pedals that a lot of people have talked about but no one has reviewed thoroughly yet. These are extremely good pedals. If you are in the market for great tone, you might just want to read this.
DNA Analogic Gain Fxxker
Good - Offers a ton of quality gain that does not muddy up your sound. The tone is very crisp and crunchy or smooth and harmonically rich depending on your preference. There is good compression and a slight drop in low end. I really like the way this pedal sounds for playing melodic phrases Satriani style because of the way harmonics jump out. Palm muting is very nice, but slightly inclined towards an overdriven crunch tone rather than a ripping distortion tone. Then again that perspective might be subjective.
Bad - Hard to find and rather expensive. One of these will cost you upwards of 2 1/2 new, or about two bills for used in good condition. It likes to be mid scooped, but the tone is there if you spend some time finding the sweet spots.
Krank Distortus Maximus
Good - Really sounds like a Krank amp! The gain is top quality. It is very clear and rich with thick tone. It treble, middle, and bass knobs so you can really dial it in. Interestingly, however, it is a metal pedal with a twist. It sounds best with the gain all the way, but if you dial the gain between 10:00 and 1:00 you can get some very good classic rock and 80's rock sounds.
Bad - Nothing really bad to say about it except that it's not a high gain pedal like people expect. There is a considerable amount of distortion, but it falls short of muddy, buzzy, nu-metal crunch like you would find in a POD. Picked runs and bends sound extremely good, but fast and fluid legatto will suffer a little bit because the sound isn't compressed and super gainy. Nothing a good compressor can't fix.
Maxon SD9
Good - Great sounding pedal with real tube texture. I started out hating this pedal, but something made me keep it. I first started liking it by using it on the crunch channel of my amp, but I really came to love the sound on the clean channel. It has a real nice crunch to it, and you can dial in some tube screamer type tones too. Nothing sounds like it with the gain cranked all the way up though. I love the crunch tones and full sounding chords. The pedal is very articulate and responds very well to dynamics. It really is top notch.
Bad - You might hate this pedal at first :naughty: The sound is either too compressed and bassy or too mid scooped. It takes some time to dial in, but probably the most useable tone is with the tone knob at 9:00. An interesting thing I discovered is that it works supremely well with the OD9. The mid spike of the OD9 brings out the mids that the SD9 is missing. Using the two pedals together is so rich and heavenly.
All three pedals have one thing in common. You have to give them a couple of weeks to dial in the tones. Do not buy one of these pedals and decide you do not like it in a day or two. Just wait, use them, record with them, and keep trying to dial them in. It is impossible not to make them sound great. In common also is how tubey they sound. They all have a very natural tube like tone that sounds great with tube amps. I have not tried any of them on an SS amp, and probably never will.
Out of the three, the Krank pedal was probably the biggest suprise. I was back and forth with that one for a while but the sound just kept nagging at my brain until I craved playing it. Now I think it's going to be part of my signature tone.
The Maxon SD9 is an interesting pedal and sounds great right out of the box, but I have opted for the Analogman mod. With the modded midrange, this pedal cannot be out classed.
If you are thinking about purchasing any one of these pedals, go ahead and buy it. I really think you cannot make a mistake. Just know what they are for and have realistic expectations of what they can do and you will love them. A lot of people become disappointed with pedals because they expect them to do something they weren't meant to do. I think they are professional class pedals, so you can't buy them like a Boss Metal Zone or Marshall Guvnor and think you are going to find it.
DNA Analogic Gain Fxxker
Good - Offers a ton of quality gain that does not muddy up your sound. The tone is very crisp and crunchy or smooth and harmonically rich depending on your preference. There is good compression and a slight drop in low end. I really like the way this pedal sounds for playing melodic phrases Satriani style because of the way harmonics jump out. Palm muting is very nice, but slightly inclined towards an overdriven crunch tone rather than a ripping distortion tone. Then again that perspective might be subjective.
Bad - Hard to find and rather expensive. One of these will cost you upwards of 2 1/2 new, or about two bills for used in good condition. It likes to be mid scooped, but the tone is there if you spend some time finding the sweet spots.
Krank Distortus Maximus
Good - Really sounds like a Krank amp! The gain is top quality. It is very clear and rich with thick tone. It treble, middle, and bass knobs so you can really dial it in. Interestingly, however, it is a metal pedal with a twist. It sounds best with the gain all the way, but if you dial the gain between 10:00 and 1:00 you can get some very good classic rock and 80's rock sounds.
Bad - Nothing really bad to say about it except that it's not a high gain pedal like people expect. There is a considerable amount of distortion, but it falls short of muddy, buzzy, nu-metal crunch like you would find in a POD. Picked runs and bends sound extremely good, but fast and fluid legatto will suffer a little bit because the sound isn't compressed and super gainy. Nothing a good compressor can't fix.
Maxon SD9
Good - Great sounding pedal with real tube texture. I started out hating this pedal, but something made me keep it. I first started liking it by using it on the crunch channel of my amp, but I really came to love the sound on the clean channel. It has a real nice crunch to it, and you can dial in some tube screamer type tones too. Nothing sounds like it with the gain cranked all the way up though. I love the crunch tones and full sounding chords. The pedal is very articulate and responds very well to dynamics. It really is top notch.
Bad - You might hate this pedal at first :naughty: The sound is either too compressed and bassy or too mid scooped. It takes some time to dial in, but probably the most useable tone is with the tone knob at 9:00. An interesting thing I discovered is that it works supremely well with the OD9. The mid spike of the OD9 brings out the mids that the SD9 is missing. Using the two pedals together is so rich and heavenly.
All three pedals have one thing in common. You have to give them a couple of weeks to dial in the tones. Do not buy one of these pedals and decide you do not like it in a day or two. Just wait, use them, record with them, and keep trying to dial them in. It is impossible not to make them sound great. In common also is how tubey they sound. They all have a very natural tube like tone that sounds great with tube amps. I have not tried any of them on an SS amp, and probably never will.
Out of the three, the Krank pedal was probably the biggest suprise. I was back and forth with that one for a while but the sound just kept nagging at my brain until I craved playing it. Now I think it's going to be part of my signature tone.
The Maxon SD9 is an interesting pedal and sounds great right out of the box, but I have opted for the Analogman mod. With the modded midrange, this pedal cannot be out classed.
If you are thinking about purchasing any one of these pedals, go ahead and buy it. I really think you cannot make a mistake. Just know what they are for and have realistic expectations of what they can do and you will love them. A lot of people become disappointed with pedals because they expect them to do something they weren't meant to do. I think they are professional class pedals, so you can't buy them like a Boss Metal Zone or Marshall Guvnor and think you are going to find it.
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