July 2009 \ Reviews \ Effects \ Vox Joe Satriani Signature Time Machine Delay, Satchurator, and Big Bad Wah Pedal Review

Vox Joe Satriani Signature Time Machine Delay, Satchurator, and Big Bad Wah Pedal Review

Oscar Jordan

We play with the Satchurator, Time Machine and Big Bad Wah, and bring them by a Satriani tribute artist for an expert's opinion in our review.
Premier Guitar July 2009
(4 of 4)

Thoughts From a Pro
I went one step beyond and enlisted the help of Joe Satriani tribute artist Gary Lenn. Gary is a Los Angeles-based guitarist who knows all of Satch’s tunes, tones and every little semi-quaver. His Joe Satriani tribute band, Surfing With An Alien, puts on one hell of a great show. If there’s anyone who knows Joe Satriani’s tonal palette inside and out, it’s this guy. We hooked up at Sound Studios in beautiful Van Nuys California and plugged all the pedals into his Peavey JSX half stack. Then we turned it up really loud. Here’s what he had to say:

Time Machine:
“It’s fricken' awesome! It’s soft but much fatter than the original Boss delay pedals Satch used to use, that I’m using now. He’s a genius the way he uses delay. This pedal is really nice. It makes all the clean stuff sound more beautiful and lush but it doesn’t override anything. The repeats fall gently away really nicely too. I like the vintage mode the best. It sounds warmer. It makes everything I do sound better. The functionality of this is truly awesome.”

Saturator:
“It’s really fat. I call it 'meat.' It’s really quiet too. It’s actually better than the Ultra channel on the JSX. It’s like putting chocolate pudding on a chocolate cake. Satch does 90% legato stuff and I have to be able to pull that off. The More button adds sustain while I’m playing those lines. I love this pedal. It makes me want to disregard the other two gain channels on the amp. I honestly think this pedal would make me a better player. It gives you so much more to work with.”

Big Bad Wah:
“It’s ten times better than what I’ve been using. It’s like night and day. It’s very pure and doesn’t add a lot of crap and noise. I like the sweep and it really contours and beefs things up. Wah Two adds a little crunch that sounds really cool, but it’s still clean and extremely versatile. I could use it by it self with a clean channel to add a little bit of dirt. The only downside to this is that I have to go to a store and buy it. I’m absolutely blown away.”

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Comments

 (4 comments) display by
UsernameComment
tdclns
on 03/25/2012 		Of some of the 'higher gain' distortion pedals I've had time to use over the past year or so, I found the Satchurator the best for my style of 'blues to metal' range. If the Fulltone GT-500 would have just a tad more gain to offer, I would've stayed with it, simply for the range of options alone. But I can simply dial the gain knob down & use the 'more' switch on the Satchurator if I want to turn it into an O.D./ Dist. twin pedal option. I also think that Lovepedal's 'Superlead' is great also; but it 's not a 'twin-stomper.' Vox's Satchurator is a damn good pedal.
TopBoost
on 07/02/2009 		"Just because I'm a Satch fan doesn’t mean I want to sound like him. Well maybe I do a little bit, but there’s already a Joe Satriani and I prefer to make up my own stuff."

"my Peavey JSX Joe Satriani signature head"

c",)
Joe Fan
on 07/01/2009 		The wah sounds great, but there are two design issues that I wish were addressed: 1. There are LEDs to indicate inductor status and wah mode 1/2, but no ON/OFF LED. It would make sense to include that given the plethora of other lights on this wah; 2. The true-bypass on this wah makes a very loud "pop" when engaged. I know this can be symptomatic of true-bypass in general, but it is very pronounced on this unit. This pedal is otherwise quite stellar.
Sofa King
on 07/01/2009 		Nice reviews Oscar. You paint a great picture with your words!



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