Sushi Box FX - Grand Slampegg

[HoorayForAnonyms]

1 hour ago, Quatschmacher said:

I also had issues with the standard version with ear-splitting oscillation and certain gain settings on the pedal/my bass’s passive tone control. No such problems on the Grand version. 

I recall reading this. I think running it behind a buffer rectified the issue. 
 

Good to know the Grand doesn’t have the same issue. 

[Quatschmacher]

3 minutes ago, HoorayForAnonyms said:

I recall reading this. I think running it behind a buffer rectified the issue. 
 

Good to know the Grand doesn’t have the same issue. 

Yes, a buffer in front cleared it up. 

[Paddy777]

12 hours ago, Quatschmacher said:

Oops, couldn’t wait!

I actually wanted to buy the Fliptop as I’ve been after one for ages, but decided that I’ll wait and get one of these instead! 

[Quatschmacher]

3 hours ago, Paddy777 said:

I actually wanted to buy the Fliptop as I’ve been after one for ages, but decided that I’ll wait and get one of these instead! 

Fliptop is great but the GS has proper tube goodness. 

[Quatschmacher]

For anyone who was thinking of getting one of these, here’s the customs charges:

 

£68.38 VAT

£6.70 Customs Duty

£8 handling fee

 

£83.09 total (guessing there is some rounding otherwise HMRC is skimming an extra 1p).

 

Obviously amounts vary according to exchange rates on the day of import.

 

Pedal itself was £353.79 after exchange rates were added. 
 

Grand total of

£436.88

 

Ouch! That’s more than the price of a used Ampeg PF-20T!

[Paddy777]

Thanks for that! @Quatschmacher Yeh I’ve been wondering whether to order one, at that price I can spend an extra £100 and buy a REDDI from a guy local to me, or even run something like the Fliptop into a Small Trees, then I could swap the preamp out for diff flavours etc - it’s whether or not the Grand Slampegg is that good compared to the other offerings

[Quatschmacher]

8 minutes ago, Paddy777 said:

Thanks for that! @Quatschmacher Yeh I’ve been wondering whether to order one, at that price I can spend an extra £100 and buy a REDDI from a guy local to me, or even run something like the Fliptop into a Small Trees, then I could swap the preamp out for diff flavours etc - it’s whether or not the Grand Slampegg is that good compared to the other offerings

For me, Grand Slampegg made me sell my Fliptop (and I really liked that). (Kind of wished I’d hung on to it a bit longer just to test it into the Cabzone as the power amp sim makes an impact, but I think the GS will make me forget that.)

 

No more preamp purchases for me!

[JohnR]

I love mine. I take the point about the cost being equal to a second hand PF-20T but you can't put that on a pedalboard.

[Quatschmacher]

45 minutes ago, JohnR said:

I love mine. I take the point about the cost being equal to a second hand PF-20T but you can't put that on a pedalboard.

That’s very true. It’s also a different sound from the PF as that uses 12AX7 tubes.

 

I’m sure I’ll forget about the cost once I start playing it as I know how good it sounds now. 

[Quatschmacher]

WTF, Royal Mail?
 

I paid the charge, said it would be delivered Thursday, then later gets held again. Looks like I’m going to have to go there tomorrow. 

 

Edited February 18 by Quatschmacher

[Kev]

i wouldn't worry about that until at least tomorrow evening, you get odd duplicate stuff on tracking all the time.

[Quatschmacher]

11 minutes ago, Kev said:

i wouldn't worry about that until at least tomorrow evening, you get odd duplicate stuff on tracking all the time.

I’ve had duplicates on some parts of the journey before but never after paying the fee. It’s more problematic that it showed as “paid - will be delivered according to your instructions” in the info above the timeline after I paid, but then reverted back to “pending - Sorry, there's a Customs charge due for this item so we're holding it…” later. If I’m up early enough, I’ll head to the sorting office before work. 

Edited February 18 by Quatschmacher

[Paddy777]

I have found Parcelforce stuff often resets overnight - I have had some odd stuff come up on tracking before at night then it changes by the following morning/morning of delivery. I’d be down there too tbf - no point waiting about to be disappointed Thursday 

[Kev]

13 minutes ago, Quatschmacher said:

I’ve had duplicates on some parts of the journey before but never after paying the fee. It’s more problematic that it showed as “paid - will be delivered according to your instructions” in the info above the timeline after I paid, but then reverted back to “pending - Sorry, there's a Customs charge due for this item so we're holding it…” later. If I’m up early enough, I’ll head to the sorting office before work. 

It's just how close the times are, what time did you pay it, at the time it says?  Check it tomorrow morning, you'll probably find it has updated.

Edited February 19 by Kev

[Quatschmacher]

2 minutes ago, Kev said:

It's just how close the times are, what time did you pay it, at the time it says?  Check it tomorrow morning, you'll probably find it has updated.

Time stamps are correct. I paid and it immediately changed to “paid - will be posted…” and got email confirmation, then three hours later it reverted. I suspect someone messed up somewhere. 

[Quatschmacher]

And collected. 

[Kev]

On 18/02/2025 at 22:50, Quatschmacher said:

WTF, Royal Mail?
 

I paid the charge, said it would be delivered Thursday, then later gets held again. Looks like I’m going to have to go there tomorrow. 

 

 

Interestingly, the same thing happened with me this morning.   Paid customs fee and an hour later, it said it was held again.  Fortunately the DO is close enough for me to drop in before work!  The guy said it is because the sorting office that set the fee and when it is scanned again at the DO, it doesn't update without manual intervention, the DO needs to scan it again after verifying payment.

[Paddy777]

2 hours ago, Kev said:

 

Interestingly, the same thing happened with me this morning.   Paid customs fee and an hour later, it said it was held again.  Fortunately the DO is close enough for me to drop in before work!  The guy said it is because the sorting office that set the fee and when it is scanned again at the DO, it doesn't update without manual intervention, the DO needs to scan it again after verifying payment.

Sounds very Royal Mail 🤦‍♂️ 

[Quatschmacher]

5 hours ago, Kev said:

 

Interestingly, the same thing happened with me this morning.   Paid customs fee and an hour later, it said it was held again.  Fortunately the DO is close enough for me to drop in before work!  The guy said it is because the sorting office that set the fee and when it is scanned again at the DO, it doesn't update without manual intervention, the DO needs to scan it again after verifying payment.

Hope your tube is OK. Both @JohnR and I had a defective Sovtek tube in ours. Nathan covered the cost of a replacement (JJ) one for me; I’ve used that to go towards a nice NOS Tung Sol tube that John recommended. 

[Kev]

12 minutes ago, Quatschmacher said:

Hope your tube is OK. Both @JohnR and I had a defective Sovtek tube in ours. Nathan covered the cost of a replacement (JJ) one for me; I’ve used that to go towards a nice NOS Tung Sol tube that John recommended. 

Different tubes so hopefully all good, i'll find out later!

[Quatschmacher]

18 minutes ago, Kev said:

Different tubes so hopefully all good, i'll find out later!

You mean yours has a JJ in as stock? Or you’ve bought a different Sushi Box pedal with a different tube type?

Edited Friday at 16:02 by Quatschmacher

[Kev]

1 minute ago, Quatschmacher said:

You mean yours has a JJ in as stock?

Yeah that wasn't clear - its a different one of Nathan's preamps I've received (Neptunium), 12AU7 in mine, haven't check if they're JJs or not but imagine they will be given its Noble's valve of choice too.

[GR7G5TER]

On 28/02/2025 at 16:05, Kev said:

Yeah that wasn't clear - its a different one of Nathan's preamps I've received (Neptunium), 12AU7 in mine, haven't check if they're JJs or not but imagine they will be given its Noble's valve of choice too.

99% sure all of Nathan's pedals come with JJs, I know the GS had a Sovtek when they first shipped but there were issues with those so i think he went back to JJs.

 

If you ever fancy rolling out the stock 12AU7 i have one of these Brimar 13D5 NOS in my Space Heater (same preamp as finally.)

[Quatschmacher]

12 minutes ago, GR7G5TER said:

I know the GS had a Sovtek when they first shipped but there were issues with those so i think he went back to JJs.

He will be moving to JJ for the GS too. Mine has a Sovtek. He says they’re generally good but has had a few too many duds in the recent batch so will switch to JJ.