SFX Sound pedals - 3 quick reviews

[Marlat]

Hey, I posted this on TB, but I thought I would share it here to since Max is a local!

I just got back from a second visit to Max at SFX Sound's house and picked up some pedals that I had ordered recently and had a quick play through them and wanted to post some pics and comments.

The pedals I have from Max are:

Micro RD - (booster / overdrive)
Micro Fuzz
Ultra Tone - (tone enhancer)
Micro Thumpinator

Pics:



And here's my full setup (that needs some reworking now I have these new pedals):



Firstly, before I get to the pedals, I have to give huge props to Max for being one of the nicest guys I have interacted with! He is very friendly and accommodating of all my stupid questions about tone shaping and effects. He also helped my by modding my WMD Geiger Counter (Civilian Issue) to make it more bass friendly. He let me borrow a couple of pedals to test out as well. Basically a top bloke who I would encourage everyone to support. He really knows his stuff when it comes to electronics and effects and would have no hesitation in ordering more pedals from him.

Now the pedals:

[b]Micro RD[/b] - this was my first SFX pedal and I use it as a low gain overdrive to give me that little bit of breakup and warmth. It does the job perfectly. I generally set the volume at unity and then have the gain at about 2 o'clock and get a great warm breakup. There is almost no low end loss with the pedal (in fact, with any of Max's pedals that I have tried). I was looking at pedals like the SFT, Blueberry etc to get that low gain overdrive sound, but this pedal fits the bill perfectly, is much less expensive and is tiny. This is another plus of Max's pedals, they really are put into the smallest cases he can possibly get them in and they do maximise space on the board.

[b]Ultra Tone[/b] - Max lent me this to try out for a couple of days and it has won a place in the "always on" spot on my board. It is hard to describe what it does, but I think its related to the Aphex Exciter / Submarine / BBE type of active tone enhancement pedal. Max might be able to add more detail about what it does, but basically it provides a great afttening of the tone and low end. It particuarly tightens up the low end when set to about 11'O'clock which is where I set it to. The range of tones is great, but it works so well with my FEA Growler that the two of the stay permanently on on the board. Highly recommended. Do not be fooled into thinking this is just a passive tone control, it is far from it!

[b]Micro Fuzz[/b] - I really like this fuzz because there is no bottom end loss at all. I have the tone set about 11 O'clock on it and the gain at unity and the range of fuzz tones is amazing for such a small pedal. It doesn't matter how aggressive you set the fuzz, it still retains the low end so well. In fact, the only way to lose it is to wind the tone all the way up. Max based this on a Coloursound Bass Fuzz I believe. At the highest fuzz settings its quite aynthy, but I prefer it about 2 o'clock where its a but less synthy. Again, a great pedal in any sized enclosure, but given the tiny size it really does allow a huge variety of tones on a very compact pedal board. Two thumbs up.

I haven't integrated the Micro Thumpinator into the set up yet, but will try and do that on the weekend when I have a reshuffle.

I will jsut finish by saying that I can't recommend Max and the SFX pedals highly enough. He really does understand what makes a great bass pedal (ie no low end loss) and tailors his pedals to fit the bill. He doesn't compromise on quality and is very receptive to feedback. I am lucky that we live quite close so I can pop down to his "laboratory" and see what new stuff is on the horizon, but even without doing that, I would encourage you to give his pedals a try.

Just by way of disclosure, I paid full retail price for all the pedals so I am not an endorsee or anything, I just found his pedals to be worth the plug!

[deej]

Very helpful reviews there. Ive been looking into these pedals recently and im hoping to order one or two once one of my sales goes through.

How high does the gain go on the micro rd? Im on the look for an overdrive at the moment. I want something fairly low gain, but I have a Cream Pie boost for that little breakup warmth. Does this pedal go above that?

[Silent Fly]

Thanks for your kind words Mark. It was a pleasure meeting you and have a chat about effects and signal processing.

I am really happy to hear that you like your new [sfx] pedals.

Regarding deej's question about the micro-rd (aka micro red dragon)... the micro-rd can produce fully saturated sounds but I wouldn't call it an aggressive overdrive.

I was talking today with Mark about a pedal with a more aggressive distortion. Mark described it as “a distortion that begins where the RD ends”.

I was thinking to a micro pedal with a Rat/DS1 distortion perhaps with a frequency-based clipping... what do you think?

[deej]

[quote name='Silent Fly' post='877654' date='Jun 25 2010, 06:32 PM']I was thinking to a micro pedal with a Rat/DS1 distortion perhaps with a frequency-based clipping... what do you think?[/quote]

I like the sound of that. I like my Rat distortion (in a blend to get the low end back), but I dont have space for it on my board anymore. I loved using it on a fairly low gain setting for gritty aggression.

[Marlat]

[quote name='Silent Fly' post='877654' date='Jun 25 2010, 06:32 PM']Thanks for your kind words Mark. It was a pleasure meeting you and have a chat about effects and signal processing.

I am really happy to hear that you like your new [sfx] pedals.

Regarding deej's question about the micro-rd (aka micro red dragon)... the micro-rd can produce fully saturated sounds but I wouldn't call it an aggressive overdrive.

I was talking today with Mark about a pedal with a more aggressive distortion. Mark described it as “a distortion that begins where the RD ends”.

I was thinking to a micro pedal with a Rat/DS1 distortion perhaps with a frequency-based clipping... what do you think?[/quote]

As we discussed yesterday that sounds like a good idea. I would be inclined to add a contour control in there like the Aguilar to help shape the tone of the sound coming out. I was playing the fuzz a bit more last night and the way it retains the low end is amazing. I don't think I have heard another fuzz that does it so well. If the distortion circuit had the same low end retention it would be a winner!

[Walker]

Hi Mark,
I've found your clips on Soundcloud, comparing Max's pedals. I don't suppose you can let me know what clip relates to what pedal? I'm struggling to find vid's or soundclips of the Red, Black and Fuzz.

Many thanks

Chris

[BigBeatNut]

[quote name='Walker' timestamp='1324715103' post='1477222'] Hi Mark, I've found your clips on Soundcloud, comparing Max's pedals. I don't suppose you can let me know what clip relates to what pedal? I'm struggling to find vid's or soundclips of the Red, Black and Fuzz. Many thanks Chris [/quote]

Chris, you might want to check [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f36/bass-overdrive-experiment-bbbod-content-733301/"]this thread[/url] by Mark on TalkBass. It starts as a quiz, but he did reveal in the answers that 4 of the clips came from a red dragon and a black dragon.

Andy