I buy a XXL!
It's been a long time since I ventured down to Toronto's "Pawn Shop Alley"; in fact, the last time I made the trip I wound up buying the Reactor guitar. And after my visit a few weeks ago (mid-September), I wonder why I stayed away so long.
Lots of interesting stuff available from the various shops, but what caught my eye was a mint TECH 21 XXL pedal. Since my scanner is currently AWOL, I'll have to use a "stock photo" I grabbed from the TECH 21 site. It's a handsome pedal, but looks alone don't quite cut it for me (wait a minute - didn't I buy the Danelectro Daddy-O because it looked so cool? Never mind).
The shop had a room set aside forme to test out the pedal, so I grabbed a Reactor (what are the odds) and plugged into an old Roland Jazz amp. The pedal wailed, so I figured I'd take my chances.
I checked out the TECH 21 Home Page and learned that the XXL is discontinued. That's a shame, because it's a good pedal. The Level control packs an inhuman amount of volume boost, so be very careful with it. Both the Warp and Tone controls are unorthodox in their setup. Here's how TECH 21 describes them:
"The passive tone control differs from the usual circuit in that at the max setting its response is flat and as it is cut back, the bass is boosted, then below midpoint the treble is cut. The Warp knob controls the blend and balance of the even and odd harmonics generated by the distortion circuitry."
Personally, I like to set the Tone dead center. As for the Warp ... well, I've found it to be a subtle effect. There is a setting which negates it, and I tend to use that. Playing around with the Warp has given some interesting variations, but nothing too dramatic.
But the bottom line is, how does the pedal sound?
Well, I like it a lot! The Drive is useable at all levels, although I like to keep it a bit below halfway, since I prefer overdriven tones to fullout distortion. To my ears, the XXL lets my Strat's personality shine through regardless of the Drive level, which is a plus. Many pedals simply hide the guitar's natural sound under a wall of noise. Second, I've used it with my big old solid state Traynor amp, and darned if the XXL doesn't give the lumpy old amp some tube-like sounds. New life for crusty old amps!
Before you go out and hunt down this pedal, be warned that it gets a wide range of opinions from owners. A lot of people would prefer that the Warp control be more noticeable. Try before you buy!
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