NPD (3X), Xotic SL, MXR Sugar Drive - Updated Board

[mwalluk]

XOTIC SL

Highly recommend this pedal. Very British sounding. I can almost nail my amp's tone (Mesa Stiletto) with this pedal. The tone and drive knobs are very responding and allow you to dial in different tones. The SL is close/same realm as the Catalinbread Dirty Lil Secret and Fulltone OCD. Having fewer controls than the two aforementioned, I feel that the SL+ is slightly more versatile and stands apart in the mix better.

Uses: It has the capability to be a stand alone drive or a great 2nd option (lead or alternate gain stage). I run all my pedals thru the joyo into the front of the amp. Banks 2-3 are SL with various combinations of efx pedals. The SL sounds great with delays (better than my amp, I don't like the delays in the loop with this amp).

Price, Quality, Build, Versatility and Size (I own a metro 24 which is why the SL has a place on it and the OCD/DLS do not) make this a viable option.

MXR Sugar Drive

Picked this up yesterday. So far I'm really glad I did. I've been searching for a true lower gain option. This pedal is what the EHX Soul Food wanted to be. Very transparent, organic and responsive. Price is reasonable. Being that it's new, probably won't be able to find much on used market. I'm not going say it sounds like a mythical creature or sniff some corks, but this pedal is very usable and has a lot of uses. Granted limited supply (pedal is selling out) and higher price point, I would recommend checking this one out prior to looking at EHX Soul Food, Boss Blues, Tube Screamer, etc.

USES: This works really well as a clean boost or a standalone secondary gain channel (it can go from an edge of break up sound to AC/DC crunch).

Quality, Build, Versatility and Size for the win.

TC Polytune Mini Noir

Does what a Polytune (favorite tuners on the market) is supposed to do in a compact size.

Neunaber

As you can tell I'm a huge fan of this company. Great products, great customer service, great community aspect, USA made, rackmount tone in a pedal. I know they don't get as much talk on the boards as other companies (Eventide, Strymon, etc) but they're right up there with em. If anyone's looking into them, hit me up (PM) and I'll give ya an unbiased (as much as I Can) review of what pedal you're interested in.

 

[stratguy23]

Re: NPD (3X), Xotic SL, MXR Sugar Drive - Updated Board

That looks like a cool, well thought out setup. What amp are you running this board into, and is the amp set clean?

How do you have the SL's dip switches set up? I had one briefly, and could only get usable sounds out of it with Super Bass type of settings. Otherwise, I generally found it too bright.

Also, you may want to keep food away from your gear!

 

[mwalluk]

Re: NPD (3X), Xotic SL, MXR Sugar Drive - Updated Board

That looks like a cool, well thought out setup. What amp are you running this board into, and is the amp set clean?

How do you have the SL's dip switches set up? I had one briefly, and could only get usable sounds out of it with Super Bass type of settings. Otherwise, I generally found it too bright.

Also, you may want to keep food away from your gear!

ROFL, I just realized I had my kids kitchen toys in the photo.

To be honest, I bought the SL used, loved the tone of it, so never felt the urge to mess with the switches inside.

I'm playing out of a Mesa Stiletto Ace. I have the JOYO PXL as such Bank 1 (A thru D) is all clean settings (various efx/mod pedals), with amp's dirty channel as by pass. This allows me to go from clean to dirty setting with one button push. Bank 2 is SL, SD, SL + SD, SL+SD+Delay. Bank 3 is SL with various ex pedal presets. Bank 4 is SD with various efx presets. All presets played over clean channel with amp od as bypass.

 

[stratguy23]

Re: NPD (3X), Xotic SL, MXR Sugar Drive - Updated Board

I can get switching between various combinations of effects with the switcher.

But I'm curious why you want/need the SL Drive, as the Stiletto is a ferocious amp and more than covers the ground that the pedal does. It doesn't seem like you're gain staging the SL Drive with the Stiletto. Or maybe you're going for a 3 channel type of setup?

 

[mwalluk]

Re: NPD (3X), Xotic SL, MXR Sugar Drive - Updated Board

I can get switching between various combinations of effects with the switcher.

But I'm curious why you want/need the SL Drive, as the Stiletto is a ferocious amp and more than covers the ground that the pedal does. It doesn't seem like you're gain staging the SL Drive with the Stiletto. Or maybe you're going for a 3 channel type of setup?

Its more of the latter and convenience factor. I try to have different tones for different songs and in a live setting its not realistic. For example, one of the songs i use SL for chorus bc its tighter and im playing alternate chording, but for the verse its more driving chugging so i use my amp. The sl is also better with delays than my amps od.

So in short i use it as a variation 3rd gain stage or an alternate gain stage.

Sl isnt good with gain stacking with stiletto, itstoo much. I gain stack with the sugar drive tho.

 

[Paully]

Re: NPD (3X), Xotic SL, MXR Sugar Drive - Updated Board

HNPD