Overall Rating: It's a great match for anystyle of music involving the gain knob on a guitar amp where you want to vary your distortion, but not totally change sounds. I'm only 22. I wasnt a child prodigy I started playing bass at 15. Switched primar...
Overall Rating: It's a great match for anystyle of music involving the gain knob on a guitar amp where you want to vary your distortion, but not totally change sounds. I'm only 22. I wasnt a child prodigy I started playing bass at 15. Switched primarily to guitar at around 17 or 18. Had a thousand ****** solid state amps, the Nomad is my first tube amp. The strat I did all the work to myself, I wouldnt trade either of them for anything, and this pedal is a little cherry on top of my simple, beautiful sounding rig. It will be like you have twice as many channels. If it were stolen I would like another, the only thing is that I might look into the MI Audio Boost n Buff because when that one is off, It is a high impedance buffer, which would be very useful. But I used decent cable and not too many boxes so I dont suffer from too much tone suck. I love all the things about it, size and features. I only wish it was a buffer when off. Perhaps I could mod it. It definitely helps me make music, would be hard for such a simple boost to get in the way of anyone.
Sound Quality: Well, my setup is a Mexican fat strat (phat cat p90 in bridge and duncan tele rhythm pickup in the middle, no neck pickup) into the meat into a pitchblack into a mesa nomad 45 with a BBE Two Timer in the loop.
My channel 1 is your basic clean sound. Supaclean. The booster makes this channel much louder an can definately make the preamp tubes start to break up. The fat switch brings up the lows a tad and gives you a fuller sound. I am pretty sure this switch does not cut the highs at all because when it is engaged I can still hear all my pick and fret noises, she dont muddy up! Good good good.
Over on channel two I've got it set for a very basic, warm crunchy distortion. Think Mark IV rhythm. Like a Marshall, but fuller. The booster on this channel, since its already pretty saturated, doesn't make it louder, just more gainy. It still retains some very nice clarity. Now if the channel gain is set very far above half (which is plenty plenty for most anyone, cept metal heads) and the boost is on and set high and the fat switch is on, its maybe a bit muddy. Very big muff like, breathy bursts of sound when you put little pauses in there. A little too much to palm mute clearly though, but hey, turn the meat back to clean and you're in business. Brings out harmonics too, obviously.
Movin on to channel three. If ouy know about mesa nomads then you knwo 3 is supposed to be the recto like, super high gain channel. I don't use it like that. I keep the gain at 3 o clock with the treble and the presence up high, and when used with the tele rhythm pickup on my strat, this is when all those ts 808 clones are trying to do. SRV would bust out his tasseled leather trucker's wallet and make me an offer were he to hear it. Clean when you play light, super overdrive when you play hard. Beautiful. The meat is the bes on this channel, makes me think itd be great infron of a tube screamer too. Keeps your guitar sound tru and just boosts the hell out of it for some serious blues leads. Or heavier chords or whatever. Fat switch is also great over here though not quite as needed because of the tele pickups already bassy sound.
Noise? Well, I use true single coils so it makes the hum louder, but thats no be expected, I'm not a noiise floor freak. I just hit my tuner in between songs to mute. But with buckers its not so bad. This is no brainer stuff.
It sounds great and plays well with others. It only doesnt get a 10 because there are some who would probably want more volume from a booster, but for 9V, this thing kills.
Reliability/Durability: Toadworks are a super great company. None of their stuff is off shore, all of it is hand made an custom designed. Fells very solid. Thick metal case, solid feeling, slow turning pot and the swithc and stomp switch feel solid as well. Knob is plastic but unless you drop it onto concrete from reasonably high up directly onto the knob, it should be fine forever. If te knob did break, its one of those split post pots where you take a straight edge screwdriver and split it apart more and stick a new knob on there and youre good to go.
Gets a 9 for plastic knob.
Ease of Use: It has one knob (volume) One switch (clean-fat) Three Jacks (in, out and power, 9v negative tip, boss type) Easy as pie.
Customer Support: Well, I have this Meat bacause back in 02 or something I bought a Mr/Squishy, I quit needing it and eventually decided I wanted one of the updated versions. So I mailed toadworks and their creator and cheaf dude, Ryan Dunn, emailed me back within a day and told me to send it in. Now since it had been so long and it was not underwarranty and I couldnt prove i bought it, I had to pay the repair fee $45 bucks but he said that would get me a new pedla under full warranty. When I sent him the squishy I enclosed a note asking for a meat instead. Within another week I had my tracking number and then one more week and I had my meat, and a toadworks T shirt. I doubt anyone here has broken their bbe comp or dyna comp, then mailed BBE or Dunlop and gotten a response from the president of the company then had them send you a boosta grande or a micro amp with a free t shirt. Anyone? TEN.
Purchased From: Toadworks
Price: $45.00 USD
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