Reviews from the SubDecay Plus Tour Box

Six pedals – four from SubDecay (Money Shot, Stupid Box, Flying Tomato, and Liquid Sunshine) plus the Monkey Fuzzle3 from Andy at Monkey FX (http://www.monkeyfx.co.uk/) and the Ugly Face from the Lo Fo Project (which I think is Tim Escobedo).

We’ll start with the Money Shot, an envelope follower funk box. I think there was something not quite right with the pedal I got. Brian emailed me to ask about a particular resistor, so this particiular box might have had a glitch. The way it showed up was the effect was subtle to non-existent unless you maxed the controls. With everything dimed, it was a pretty good effect. Not quite as “fingernails on the blackboard” screechy as the Q Tron can get in some modes, but quite chewy. But, since this one was gremlined, let’s move on.

The Flying Tomato is a variation on the Birthday Fuzz. It adds an input buffer so you can put it almost anywhere in your chain, plus tone controls and a “squish” knob for gated fuzz sounds. I liked it. Good range of tones from piercing to earth shaking. Pretty good articulation at lower drive settings and walls of sound when maxed. The Squish knob reminds me of the Gate control on my Zoom Ultra Fuzz. You use it to set a limit on the trail of your fuzz. Instead of fading out. It just stops at the point you set up. Cool.

I tried the Monkey Fuzzle3 along with the Flying Tomato. The Money Fuzzle3 only has two knobs, Fuzz and Volume. No tone, no squish/gate. Straight up against the FT, I preferred the MF3. They are both good sounding fuzzes, but the MF3 seemed a little more clear on chords at higher gain, a little more “bloom” on notes at lower drive settings. It’s a tiny little thing. Cool graphics.

Now for something completely wacked-out – the Ugly Face. Built in an old junction box, hand labeled, it is Uggguhly! It is also a noise machine extraordinaire. Watch your levels, hide the pets and small children. This thing is LOUD! Sputtering, blatty, piercing, frightening, and gated. I remember checking out the Jawari clips on the old website (can’t seem to find it today) and was expecting this sweet sitar like warble. WRONG!!! This is the Ugly Fucking Face!! I realized, while I was trying this out and hoping the windows weren't going to break, that I would never understand the use of this pedal playing by myself. This box is to be used in a band setting, a very loud, angry, band. When it’s your turn to solo and you want to knock back that first row of gob-spitting mutants, go Ugly!! It’s sorta the mentally defective cousin of the Bennett Lowball.

Speaking of Stupid – next up is the Stupid Box. I tried the prototype Stupid box way back when. It was in a box with the original Lovepedal Fab 50. This pedal started SubDecay and it’s a goody! Smooth singing tones. Did somebody say Marshall stack? Also very useful boost tones with the gain down. Nice range on the tone knob. Illegal smile graphics.

The Liquid Sunshine was a very pleasant surprise. In a little box about MXR sized, you have a two stage boost/OD. Not overwhelming volume, but very touch sensitive, great tones and at certain settings, it reminded me more than a little of the Hellbilly. Which is a very good thing.

A good time was had by all.