Today I will be reviewing two pieces of gear I picked up in the past few years. Both have a few things in common, some good and some bad. First let's start with the bad...because this blog is about honestly and not false promotion. And I want to start by saying I absolute hate it when people bash things or people. I am a positive guy and always try to have positive encouraging things comes out of my mouth. So writing negative things about something people have put hard work into building doesn't feel good to me. I do this only to inform other players out there so they can know what they're getting into if they choose to pull the trigger on either of these. I also hope each company receives this feedback somehow and makes the appropriate improvements. But we as players deserve better workmanship bottom line.The Bad...
Both the Super Fuzz and the Marshall Class 5 were purchased at Guitar Center, which in itself is bad. Does anyone ever have a positive experience at this store? They are the worst of the worst. I've been on the verge of banning this place at least half a dozen times but failed to pull the trigger because they are close and have competitive prices. But I want to and have chosen to pay more at local shops just out of principle.But I'll save my Guitar Center rant for another day.
So getting back on track...both this pedal and amp were simply not built well.
The Marshall's control panel looks and feels really cheap. You can easily imagine breaking a knob off in your hand. The power light looks like a square lego a child in a sweatshop attached. There is also a well documented design flaw on the Class 5 which causes it to have a rattle. And it's not just a slight rattle. It's bad...you can't really ignore it. And contacting Marshall yields a multi piece replacement backing which does nothing to fix the problem. This amp rattles so much you don't want to use the thing. The problem sounds like it's coming from the chasis, which obviously a new back is not going to help. And you can't even just pull the back off and play it openback because the chasis is suspended midway. According to Marshall this issue one only on the 1st rendition of the amplifier and has been fixed on later releases. Read any forum, it's clearly still an issue. How this poor of quality came out of the UK I have no idea. Maybe they have begun building them out of Vietnam without telling us like Vox has with their ac15 and ac30s. Sad a company with the rich history of Marshall would put their name on such garbage. I recently ran into a guy who worked in the Marshall factory in England back in the day and he spoke of them personally signing the inside of every amp so you would know who built your amp that day. Sounds a lot like how Mesa Boogie up here in Northern California was and still is.
The Super Fuzz likewise has poorly put together internals. Now I do not beat on my pedals. But after only a year or so this stompbox started petering out. At first I thought it was just a dirty pot. But over time the volume would cut out when the volume or gain was touched. Now a knob has fallen off, with more I'm sure to follow, and the stomp button to activate the pedal works about 50% of the time. The other half of the time it cuts out altogether or you get a severe volume drop. This pedal also colors your tone way too much when bypassed. Some coloring is fine because it's a vintage design. But Cutting off all the highs is unacceptable. Now I could just have a lemon, but given how this thing has held up, I'm not sure I would buy another and I certain would not trust it out on tour without a couple backups. It's too bad...it's such a great sounding pedal.The Good!
Both the Marshall and the Super Fuzz SOUND AMAZING!
The Marshall Class 5 is the only amp I've owned that literally sounds great regardless of the guitar I'm running through it. And it is the only amp I currently own through which my 2002 Fender American Telecaster sounds good! It is a non master volume 5 watt mini bluesbreaker. That's the best way to describe this little tone machine. And it is really loud. I have gigged it unmiked at clubs running full out and it was enough. Run a strat though it at low volume and you have 70s Clapton tweed. Push it and you have Jimi or Stevie. With a decent Les Paul you have beano. I LOVE this amp! I just got an old National Town and Country which looks cool but sounds way too bassy and lacking in high end. And this guitar absolutely shines through the Class 5. The controls are very interactive and provide a wide range of sounds. Oh, and if you want AC/DC or Zep, it's right here too. Also, a solution to get rid of the rattle is to use the line out and run through a cab. I was using a 2x12 Vox cab with vintage 30s and the amp projected even better and sounded fuller. I am seriously considering doing a conversion to make this a head and just running it through a 1x12 Mesa Subway cab. Even with the annoying rattle and cheap looking controls, I would still buy this amp again because the tone is that good. I recently had a guy come up to me out at a blues jam saying my Class 5 sounded better than his bluesbreaker reissue. What else can be said?
The Super Fuzz also sounds great as well! It's a VERY usable fuzz pedal. You can get a 60s saturated psychodelic fuzz, or a chunky George Thorogood blues sound. The controls have a vary wide variance and are easy to dial in. Even the colored bypass tone sounds pretty darn good. This is more of a rock and roll vox tonebender fuzz than a thin 60 maestro fuzz. If you are ok with chancing the above issues of it breaking down, I totally recommend this pedal. And the many other Voodoo Lab pedals like their univibe clone and their sparkle drive are mind blowing. Great great great sounding effects...too bad they may not be built to last.
If anyone knows of amp builders that do combo to head conversions please let me know in the comments below. I'm serious about the Class 5 :)
http://www.marshallamps.com/
http://www.voodoolab.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment