I got this pedal after reading much about it and watching many videos comparing it to the previous V1 and was wondering if it will succeed to replace my other high gain pedal (totally different beast- rectifier style) that's been on my pedalboard for 8 years.
This anniversary edition has the exact circuit as the V2 just with different livery that is so neat and well designed I like its looks more than the V2.
I was hesitating between this and the G4 but from other demos and reviews I went for the G3 as it has more focused mids and less loose low end.
The Pros:
- It really does what it's aimed for, high gain, focused mids and amp like tone and feel (remember this is modeled after the purple channel on the REVV Generator amps), it's very responsive to touch and guitar volume knob just like an amp, but even on the lowest gain, it still has tons of it.
- It preserves the guitar character and transparency really well, unlike many other high gain pedals you can still feel the guitar tonality, so plugging a strat still sound and responds like a strat through the pedal without being thin.
- You cannot make it sound bad in any setting, no matter how extreme you turn the knobs, it always sounds great as the EQ section is well designed.
- it takes other pedals really well for stacking, I tried it with a Tumnus before it, TS mini and an Angry Driver (on BD-2 mode) and it sounded even better just like an amp being pushed with these pedals.
- It sounds great into real tube amps and even into amp sims, I tried it into a Harley Benton Tube 15, Laney IRT studio, Simplifier Mk ii and some plugins and with each amp it sounded different but very pleasant. this thing is so versatile.
- It has tons of gain on tap without getting too muddy.
- its noise level is way less than other pedals I have even from well known boutique brands, (it can get noisy on very high gain which is normal for any pedal of this style but it's much lower than others.)
- The aggression switch does make a difference and has very nice flavors, on blue it sounds more tamed but quite forward and pushing, and on red it's more of a "tamed" fire breathing beast without getting all over the place.
The cons:
- The lows feel a bit underwhelmed BUT, this is when compared to a Rectifier style pedal like that Triple Wreck and in an isolated setup, I'm sure for cutting through a heavy mix, it will set perfectly without competing too much with the bass and drums unlike other high gain pedals that can get too muddy too fast.
- while a positive point that EQ is really well thought out, it also feels a bit more on the conservative side, for example scooping the mids doesn't really take all the mids out but it does make a difference. so it feels a bit shy, same for pushing the treble. On the other hand, this is what makes it hard to sound bad.
All in all, it's a really awesome pedal and I can't wait to record with it, built like a tank and in fact it's soo good that it managed to knock off my well beloved Wampler Triple Wreck off the board after 8 years.
PS: as per REVV advertisement, 1 out of 10 pedals of this anniversary line (G2,G3 & G4) contains golden ticket to win something cool from REVV, unfortunately mine wasn't one of those but it's worth mentioning.
