Boss Power Stack ST-2
DISTORTION PEDALS
GROUP TEST
CALM
down, folks:
despite
evoking skin-masked lunatics
chasing nubile teenagers in
slasher movies, the Visual Sound
blurb quietly reminds that the
Chainsaw is “a unique and very
musical distortion, in
contrast to its name”.
Oh well. At least the
Chinese manufacture
means this high-end
US builder is able to
shoot for “expensive
boutique distortion” at
sub-60-quid, and if the
controls are thin on the
ground – Drive, Tone
and Volume huddled
on a steel chassis with the much-
coveted true bypass – then that’s
exactly what you want on the road.
No prizes for features, then, so
it all comes down to tone. First
reaction: this pedal is an absolute
killer paired with a singlecoil
guitar (we used a Tele). Spin the
dials and you’ll hit a sweet spot
that’s bang in the middle of the
sonic spectrum, where the low-end
is thumping, the mids are bringing
warmth and colour, and the top
end is scything through the mix,
if not quite like a chainsaw then
certainly like a hedge-trimmer.
This unit’s lower-level gain is
perfect for bringing understated
attitude to blues runs and punchy
alt country, but VS’s advice to pair
it with a Drivetrain or V2 Route
808 is revealing, and the Chainsaw
doesn’t quite convince as a pedal
for screaming molten-metal leads.
10 years ago, you’d have killed
to get this in your gigbag. Today,
modelling units are threatening
to make standalone distortion
pedals an endangered
species… but the Chainsaw
can still cut the mustard.
WITH
Mike Soldano
in the cockpit,
Jet City’s valve amps invariably
prick up ears at TG Towers, but
his pedals have so far been more
of an enigma. The Shockwave
Distortion’s vibe couldn’t be more
minimalist, so it probably won’t do
much for the superficial young filth
fan who craves buttons and bleeps,
but to mature players, there’s
something weirdly reassuring
about its skeletal layout of dials
and its bullish sales shout-out to
“serious and versatile guitarists”.
So, no, the Shockwave doesn’t
do much, but it does it damn well.
With a Gain control that raises the
temperature by degrees, there are
shades of the Chainsaw in the one-
knob tone-shaping concept, but
we prefer this unit
in practice. Tested
with a humbucker
electric, there’s a
really strong vintage
crunch to the lower-
end distortion,
and to these ears it
works best when
you roll back
the tone control
and crank out
some big, British-
sounding bottom-heavy riffs.
That said, for a unit that looks so
dull, it’s refreshing to find that
the Shockwave has a real split
personality, bringing genuinely
white-hot, high-gain sounds to the
table when you start twisting.
Some distortion pedals paint
themselves into a corner by trying
to live up to their ridiculous names.
This unit is different: it can do
extreme, it can do subtle, it can
lift a mediocre amp to supersonic
performances. If you’re after
no-nonsense distortion of real
pedigree, investigate the Jet City.
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USEABILITY
OVERALL RATING
S U M M A R Y
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USEABILITY
OVERALL RATING
S U M M A R Y
VISUAL SOUND
GARAGETONE
CHAINSAW
£59.99
JET CITY
SHOCKWAVE
DISTORTION
£50.99
AT A GLANCE
TYPE: Distortion pedal
CONTROLS: Drive, Tone, Volume
SOCKETS: Input, Output, Power
TRUE BYPASS: Yes
POWER: Battery, PSU
(sold separately)
CONTACT: Headline Music
01223 874301 visualsound.net
AT A GLANCE
TYPE: Distortion pedal
CONTROLS: Gain, Tone, Volume
SOCKETS: Input, Output, Power
TRUE BYPASS: Yes
POWER: Battery, PSU
(sold separately)
CONTACT: Source Distribution
0208 962 5080
jetcityamplification.com
158 MAY 2011
TGR214.gear_test 158 3/29/11 11:01:50 AM