Construction and cosmetic concerns:
Each of these pedals is well constructed and uses high quality components. The rattle test leaves only a the slight sound the long battery cable touching . The form factor of the pedal is a little bit larger than most people end up being happy with, myself included. Strangly the switch is located near the center of the pedal, rather then closer to the edge as you normally see. This position can create a little bit of a reach depending on the layout of your pedalboard. If there was a significant improvement I could ask for it would be to squeeze one of these bad boys into a smaller enclosure.
The fit and finish of the boxes is very nice, espcially the silverburst edition, though the wiring runs are some of the longest I’ve seen inside a pedal. On the two regular models, the only way to tell the difference between them is one has a pink LED (silicon) and one has a blue LED (germanium). Sure the cardboard boxes that they came in are different, and the inside cover of the enclosure indicates the difference with a sticker. I’m sure not having seperate configurations saves on the time and effort side for Malekko, but I still think that not having a significant look-and-feel difference is a bit of an issue, espically for junkies who buy and sell pedals on the internet on a regular basis.
My other quibble would be the battery. Tons of room, but and instead of a clip or a compartment the battery is wedged into the corner of the case by the circuit board. A soft piece of foam is attached to the rear cover to keep it from bouncing against it. While this suceeds, you need to be careful when taking the back off, because each time I did so the battery was pressed into the foam enough that it came with the back and put a little stress on the cable attaching the battery clip (until you finally remember and stop doing it).
