Who: Way Huge Electronics
What: Swollen Pickle
Price (MSRP/PAID): Used Only/$350
Battery: Yes
Power Supply: Yes
Size: 5″ X 3.75″ X 2.4″ (Approx: including Jacks and knobs)
Available from: Secondary Market

Comments:

This is probably the hardest pedal for me to review and even pretend to be objective. The bass player in a pseudo-goth act I saw in like 2001 had one and I just loved the drones he was getting out of it. I remembered the name of the pedal, but not the name of the band. When I started looking for one in earnest they were topping around $500-$600 and seemed to be only going up. I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn’t every have one until I had the chance to own an excellent reproduction by a forumite on Harmony Central (MrSage) called the Black Pearl Distortion . After Dunlop revived the Way Huge name, the origionals started to sink in price and I was able to pick one up without feeling bad about the money spent (and yes, that does happen… even to me.)

I’ve sat on it for awhile now, and I’ve been meaning to do a review and demo video. I get a ton of questions asking about the difference between this one and the reissue, but I’ll leave that issue to the MKII review.

The pedal is well made and sounds great. It’s one of my all-time favorites and would be one of the last pedals I sold if I found myself in an unfortunate economic position, or I need to fund a child for college or something.

Who: Way Huge Electronics
What: Swollen Pickle MK II (WHE 401)
Price (MSRP/PAID): $199/$125 (New)
Battery: Yes
Power Supply: Yes
Size: 5″ X 3.75″ X 2.4″ (Approx: including Jacks and knobs)
Available from: Dealers Everywhere

Comments:

The first question that people ask, how does it sound compared to the original. My feeling is that despite the desires of the ‘old elite’ the Swollen Pickle MKII is just as good, if not better, than the original. The additional controls (two internal, two external) really mean you can dial in a much wider variety of sounds, while still capturing the signature boom, drone, or shriek that the first run pickle delivered. While some think that Dunlop has ‘tainted’ the Way Huge line with it’s major market exposure, I have nothing but good things to say about this particular pedal. It certainly has lost a little of the brand cache’ that it used to have, but in the end… if it sounds good… play it! The market seems to reflect this at some level with the price of a first generation pickle sinking to around $300 when they were as high as $800 before they were reissued.

This isn’t a pedal for everyone, it’s a high gain monster that likely doesn’t have use in many musical situations, but when bomb-bastic is required the SP has plenty of power to make a statement. There are plenty of places with this pedal to dial out the low end, and just as many places that actually seem to add sub-harmonic booms… it can be tricky to dial in something that is personally useful. I actually find this to be a situation where having more choices is just confusing the issue, because I like the default configuration of sound/knobs so much.

The fit and finish is a top notch homage to the original and with a nice battery compartment added I think it sets the standard for enclosures in it’s size range. The street price of these around $130, and you see them used for well under $100. If you want to enjoy a little high gain thunder, give this one a go.

Who: Fender
What: Sub-Lime Bass Fuzz
Price (MSRP/PAID): $199.99/$132.99 (New)
Battery: Yes
Power Supply: Yes
Size: 10″ X 4″ X 3.5″ (Approx: including Jacks and knobs)
Available from: Dealers

Comments:

I’ve been sitting on this pedal for a couple of months as I was a bit daunted about doing the demo. The large size and all the inset the controls (with the exception of the giant glowing knob on the front) made it a little tricky. I hope I’ve done a decent job capturing the pedal in the video. Ultimately it’s an excellent addition to the bass pedal universe; its affordable, sounds great, and provides a decent amount of tweak-ability. It’s got a smooth vintage vibe to it and frankly there are a lot of things about this pedal that point at it being marketed at the traditional bass player who is a bit curious about fuzz rather than the hard-core pedal divas that tend to come visit a place called bassfuzz.com.

It’s very flexible unit with the user selectable cross-over for the fuzz and control of the total drive and the tone of the fuzz sound. I expected to like the x-over freqeuncy control (30-300hz) a little more than I actually did, but it functions well and really gives you the feeling of more or less low-end as you play with the different settings.

The big glowing knob of fury is cool as hell, there is never any doubt where you have the pedal set or when it’s engaged. Basically, you set up the sound and feel of the pedal with the tone, x-over, and drive knobs. The big center knob acts as a ‘how much’ inside of the paradigm that you’ve already dialed in.

There are two possible negatives to this pedal and neither of them is related to how it sounds. This thing is absolutely gigantic! It’s longer than two boss pedals stacked end to end and wider! The “built like a tank” metaphor has been wildly overused to discuss big and heavy pedals, but this guy might set a new bar. It quickly moves into second place amongst all the pedals I currently own (the boomerang 3 is slightly bigger) and is by far the largest fuzz pedal I’ve ever used. The case is made from steel, and it weighs well over three pounds and the product container from Fender is a pretty big shoe box. The other issue is one of those, “it will work for some, but not for others” issues. All of the adjustments beyond the giant center knob are set into the case in some way and aren’t easy to adjust on the fly, with the ones on the back even requiring a screwdriver. This is great for gigging where you don’t want to have to worry about the details of settings being correct, but can be a little annoying for the tweaker.

Who: Pete Cornish
What: NG-2
Price (MSRP/PAID): £457.31/ Loan
Battery: Yes
Power Supply: Yes
Size: 5″ X 7″ X 3.25″ (Approx: including Jacks and knobs)
Available from: Direct and Dealers

Comments:

Spending time with a pedal like the NG-2 is always fun and exciting. I’m like a kid in a candy store as I carry in the box and zoom around looking for the scissors to cut the tape. Getting over the initial joy of a new pedal is always easier when it’s a loaner, because there isn’t the same kind of personal investment, but there is always a little fear and double checking everything when its rare or pricey (or both).

There are a couple of a cool settings here, but this high gain monster is much better suited to guitar, and for the coin this will cost there are 3-8 pedals you could buy that would succeed in tickling your fuzz itch and fill out the rest of your board too!

The thing looks and feels solid, but isn’t going to win any art and design awards. Pete Cornish designs serious tools for serious people and if you don’t want to pay 600+ for a box decorated with a label maker, so done else will.

Joking aside, I don’t want to suggest that the pedal is without merit, but it’s not something I’d ever use on bass outside of a review like this.

Who: Pete Cornish
What: G-2
Price (MSRP/PAID): £444.15/ Loan
Battery: Yes
Power Supply: Yes
Size: 5″ X 7″ X 3.25″ (Approx: including Jacks and knobs)
Available from: Direct and Dealers

Comments:

It takes awhile playing with a pedal that costs this much to really get past how its value and just start listening to it. I’ll say right off the bat that this pedal isn’t worth the price, especially if you are buying it with the idea of using for bass. This isn’t to suggest that the pedal doesn’t sound good, because there are several settings that sound very very good.

The size is expansive, but everything is well laid out and easy to access. The labeling isn’t quite top notch in the art of finishing, but does cast a serious industrial attitude that is hard to ignore.

This pedal is perhaps the most transparent fuzz i’ve used. I know that sounds pretentious and a bit stupid, but each bass retains it’s own unique flavor more than i’ve ever experienced. I actually liked it best with my five string active, which also makes it the first fuzz I’ve been able to say that about. Cutting through in the mix and low end loss are going to be problems on some levels, but I’d be afraid to take it out of the house anyway! Noise levels are very low and it worked well when recording overdubs to a dry signal.

In conclusion, save your money unless you are serious crazy loaded or an obsessive collector, but if you have a chance to give one a whirl, do so!