November 2009 \ Features \ Effects \ Stomping Grounds: 25 Pedals Reviewed

Stomping Grounds: 25 Pedals Reviewed

by Wagner, Barr, Ouimette, Guzman, Rardin, Burgess

25 pedal reviews to put some womp in your stomp: Fuchs, Whirlwind, Maxon, Barber, T-Rex, Kasha, Rockbox, Granville, Pigtronix, Strymon, EH, Empress, ModTone, Barber, Red Witch, MXR, Pedalworx, Mountainking and Mad Professor
Premier Guitar November 2009
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Once a year, Christmas comes a little early at Premier Guitar. That’s what it feels like when our offices are flooded with a heaping pile of pedals in anticipation of our yearly Pedal Roundup. Of course, this year was no different. As we continue to grow our audience, so does every pedal manufacturer’s interest to be included in our yearly pedal extravaganza.

Unfortunately, we can’t possibly include every single pedal we receive. If we did, you’d be holding a Premier Guitar issue three to four times its normal size, with a back brace around your mid-section to help support its weight! We have, however, managed to pick out what we think is a very nice selection of pedals that should please the wide-ranging and ever-changing gear pallet of our diversified readership. You’ll find everything from killer reverb pedals to new phasers and delays to overdrive/distortion stomps to compressors, and much, much more.

We’ve also assembled an industrious bunch of gear junkies (initials are at the end of each review) to pore through these pedals and offer up quality reviews that should definitely help you make an informed decision the next time you hit the web or local music store in search of that next gotta-have-it pedal for your board. There’s something for everyone, and we feel privileged that you’ve chosen us to help you make your next pedal purchase decision. Enjoy!

MODULATION
Fuchs Plush Good Verbrations
Whirlwind Orange Box Phaser
Maxon VJR9 Vintage Jet Riser Flanger
OVERDRIVE
Barber Electronics Half Gainer
T-Rex DGTM
Kasha KA-OOP-A 4-Channel Overdrive
Rockbox Boiling Point
Granville Copper Drive
COMPRESSOR
Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone
Strymon OB.1
Whirlwind Red Box Compressor
DELAY
Maxon AD999 Pro Analog Delay
Electro-Harmonix Memory Boy
Empress Superdelay
ModTone MT-AD Vintage Analog Delay
ENVELOPE FILTER
ModTone Funk Filter Enveloper
Electro-Harmonix Riddle: QBalls
DISTORTION
Barber Electronics Dirty Bomb
Red Witch Famulus
MXR Fullbore Metal
Pedalworx 5 O'Clock Charlie
FUZZ
Mountainking Electronics The Megalith
Pedalworx Hellbilly
WAH
Pedalworx Cool Machine Wah
Mad Professor Snow White Autowah

We also reviewed 10 additional pedals exclusively on the web, here's a guide to those review in our Stomp On: 10 More Pedal Reviews article.
Page One
Boss FRV-1 Fender Reverb
Guyatone Mcm5 Micro Chorus
Granville Procrastinator
Page 2
Way Huge Angry Troll
Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive
Whirlwind Gold Box
Granville Spiney Norman
Page 3
Aguilar Octamizer
Guyatone Svm5 Slow Volume
Seppuku Octave Drone

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Comments

 (7 comments) display by
UsernameComment
todd
on 11/15/2009 		this is a digital delay
Bill
on 11/15/2009 		the audio samples for the funk filter dont show at all what it sounds like..the effect wasnt even adjusted to get it to work for 2 of the examples and the one that did have a setting you could here made it sound awful..i tried them all and bought this one..your audio review has something to be desired..if i would have looked(or listened) at your review first,i wouldnt even considered looking at this pedal...
B_Mac
on 11/09/2009 		I don't mind the average being high. I don't need to know about the gear that sucks, because I'm going to look primarily at the gear that is reviewed. If it's not ever reviewed, I'll assume it isn't in my consideration set for now. There are plenty of choices. If you test something that sucks, tell the manufacturer, have them fix it, then review it. Make the most of that power!
CA_Dan
on 11/05/2009 		First off - thank PG for doing more reviews and including sound clips so we can draw our own conclusions. I still think this is the best guitar rag out there.

Secondly, I agree with what Matt says. On a scale of 1 to 5, it seems like the average rating should be a 3.0, but it is a 4.5. PG reviews a broad spectrum of pedals, not just the best and certainly NONE of the worst - although it would be interesting. I guess bad reviews and advertising dollars don't mix.
Gearhund
on 10/27/2009 		I don't think they bother to print the results of the ones that suck. Saves ink, but skews the average.
Brad
on 10/23/2009 		I guess my only comment is that every time Guitar Player Mag. does a article on someone or something, its like Premier Guitar is a delay stompbox. Last month Guitar Player had its review of 39 pedals, the Stevie Vai articles.... what gives?? are both owned by the same company???? Now I will say the pedal reviews did not have the same ones reviewed, a few of the same companies, but different pedals. So not a total loss.
Matt
on 10/23/2009 		I'm a big fan of Premier Guitar, but when it comes to reviews, the average rating that they give out is just way too high. Almost every piece of gear gets a 4.0, 4.5, or 5.0. Sure, there are plenty of great pedals out there, but they aren't all great, even if one thinks subjectivity has an justifiably important role to play in the evaluations. For instance, I think a very small percentage of flanger fans would find the Maxon VJR9 to sound anywhere near as good as the Toadworks Barracuda or HBE Frost Bite. In fact, while I'm a big Maxon fan in general, I'd give the VJR -- which is, incidentally, insanely expensive -- a 3.0 AT BEST. It just doesn't sound very good. One get's the feelings that the high ratings and frequently gushing reviews serve to keep advertisers happy rather than inform readers.



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