Alright... its review time. Im running a strat through an emery sound superbaby (its a 8-12 watt tube amp depending on the tube config. see their web site for more details)
first the cliffhanger. Man, this is one nasty pedal. Pure rock and roll with tons of volume and gain available. It has a lot of mids and a good amount of treble, almost too much at some of the higher distortion settings. very crunchy with a good amount of compression. It is in a league of its own compared to the H, EGDM, and SYOD in terms of raunchiness.
This one didnt love to be stacked with anything (it was ok with the hb)... more of a stand alone lead or heavy rhythm pedal.
next up the SWF. Im now really gassin' for one of these. I have now tried all of bjorn's fuzzes, and this one could possibly be the most versitile. I sold my PPF because it was almost too nice of a fuzz, and i got tired of it. The SWF is more "loose" than the PPF. I tried the folk fuzz last tour box, and from what i remember this sounded a bit similar, definatly less woofy though. I really like the gain taper on the swf because it can do everything from a light overdrive to a full-on saturated fuzz. It does nice open chords and lead lines too. At max fuzz it rivals some of the less fuzzy settings on the caf in terms of sheer mayham sounds and gain. As usual of bjorn's pedals it has great responsiveness and reacts well to the volume control on the guitar. The tone control was fairly flexible as well. It stacked nicely with the HB and sounded cool through the model H at low drive settings. For a real crazy sound i stacked it with the CAF... huge leads and sustain. i hope this gets made a production model because i want one! it fills in the gap between distortion and crazy fuzz perfectly and could be used as my only dirt pedal if need be.
I tried the SYOD before, but i have grown fonder of it since the last time i played it. It is almost refreshing to hear this pedal because of the treble content, although it was too bright with the tone control past 2 o'clock with my strat. chords just ring out of this pedal with great note separation. it has plenty of volume on tap too. it stacked well with the H and HB. i didnt love it with the CAF or SWF. Although it was too bright for my rig, it has a niche in the selection of overdrives.
i have already reviewed my H, but i have some more comments now that i have compared it to the EGDM and SYOD. I still love the H for that crunchy distortion sound. I use it for both lead and rhytm along with my HB. It was definately darker than the egdm, but it still doesnt get lost in the mix. Both pedals have have great note separation for chords. they are somewhat similar in terms of gain and volume on tap, but they differ in terms of their eq's. Compared to the syod, it again had a lot less treble. The H stacked great with the HB, SWF and sounded ok with the EGDM. Overall, the H is still a keeper. it has grown on me a lot since i first got it.
The CAF is next. It is the craziest of bjorn's fuzzes and is just so fun to play. It completely outnasties the ppf and even the SWF. i love the tone control on this pedal. it is so flexible in terms of the octave sounds and the gated, fat fuzz. There is plenty of volume on tap as well. I wish there were more range with the fuzz, but i guess it was designed to sound as it does. It still responds to the volume knob, although not as well as some of bjorns other pedals. it stacked great with the HB and sounded ok through the H and EGDM. Overall, i dont know if the potential use justifies the cost of the pedal, but playing it brought a smile to my face.
Last but not least is the EGDM. i wont go too in depth with this one as it is fairly common. like the SYOD, it is a bright, crunchy distortion. I liked the EGDM better than the SYOD for leads. the egdm is more aggressive than my H and sounds good on chords. It stacked well with my HB (i know, what doesnt?). Overall, it is too bright for my setup when the voice knob was over 3 o'clock.
Phew that was a lot of typing. i really enjoyed this tour box. There were almost too many tonal possibilities between the 6 of them and my timmy and HB. I am planning on sending everything to thiscall around Wednesday. Thanks to all for the oppurtunity to try all these wonderful pedals!
