I thought I’d take the time to review 2 pedals. The Digitech Grunge and the Behringer Ultra Chorus. I’ve had these a while, at least since before Christmas so the novelty of them being a new toy has definitely worn off.
First off is Digitech’s Grunge. As you probably guessed, it’s a distortion pedal. This one will set you back about $100. It’s name definitely doesn’t scream “bluesy overdrive.” However, if you bought it for that you probably also have a BC Rich Warlock for
slide to go with this pedal in which case I should write a review on what you should be doing with the $100, but I won’t. Back to the sound, it is heavy, unfortunately too heavy to be grunge. Maybe at the lowest setting you can pull some post-grunge ala Nickelback, but everything about that is metal territory. Around the mid gain setting you get more grit than rough sandpaper with enough heavy metal to build your own Imperial Star Destroyer. On the highest gain setting, it has so much grind and bottom end you could end up shaking the light bulbs in your house our of their sockets.* Is it a bad sound? Definitely not. It’s designed to give you a heavy gritty distortion, and it does that. You probably won’t ever need the gain higher than the lowest setting. It is a one try pony though. You won’t be squeezing Hendrix riffs out of this one. It is well made with a case of metal and knobs that won’t adjust from your foot. If you are looking for a hard rock/metal sound, I definitely would recommend it.
Next is the Behringer Ultra Chorus. This one will set you back $50. Like the last one, it is also a one trick pony, well, more like a one tone pony. If you have all the knobs cranked all the way to get any sort of effect out of it, otherwise it sounds like a clean signal. That in itself isn’t so bad, considering the price until you realize how loose the knobs are. One small tap of the foot, or even a really be exhale on the knobs will adjust it which again, looses the effect. If those warning lights aren’t enough, the blaring siren is the cable on the input jack is the same way. The saving grace about the knobs is you only lose the effect with an accidental adjustment, whereas the pedal moves a bit and the cable falls out and you’ve killed the sound. At that point you better hope the audience has their headphones on connected to their iPods and are working on an Excel spreadsheet, because that’s the only way they won’t notice your guitar died.
Thanks for reading my review. Hope they help.
*Light bulbs are to be replaced at no cost to the poster.
