This is the first attempt at a Skreddy Blog. This entry was originally from a Gear Page post I wrote when I first got the 3 Skreddy Precision pedals, this was Jan 3rd 2016:
“I’ve been on a kick for the last 6 months or so, I try pedals with actual 9-volt batteries. Its a laziness thing, kind of, but also informative, so whatever. (My earlier review used my old Pedal Power 1 ((from 1998!)) to power these pedals, into a 120 watt clean amp). I just-a-minute-ago did the 9-volt test with my 3 Precision Series Skreddies. Um, into my crappy old Blues Jr., too, so any sense of reality you might get from this review, is simply the *quality* of my delusion sucking you in. But here goes:
For starters, with this amp/setup, EACH of these pedals set “all noon” gave me endless sustain, even with low guitar volume-knob settings. Honestly this setting was more than necessary, so I’d say I need to revise “all noon” – this amp needs a different approach. Some things are different with these pedals with a different amp (the other amp had infinite headroom, this old BJ is the Opposite of that), but some things are the same.
Rust Rod is *still* a Muff as far as tonality; I’m getting more Sludge and more Muck in this amp; or in other words Riffs of Doom!! There’s a quiet *crackly* thing that keeps happening if I hold a note long enough, its like a harmonic of whatever note I hold, and it rolls up once in a while and goes “eee-yack-” and then rolls away. I said, endless sustain with this amp, so I can literally hold a note for minutes straight. I grab a note or a chord and wait a half-second and then I feel/hear the pedal *GRAB* the notes and compress them into compliance. Storm Trooper Doom! I also turned the Sustain knob down to zero for a minute, I thought it gave me a legitimate “Overdrive” sound. Which is why I liked the Perestroika (“Civil War” muff), because it works “low gain”. But Guitar Volume Knob adjustments are like a normal Muff. “Softens” and lowers the sound, doesn’t clean it up. I want to compare this to my P19…
Rover Fuzz is the same tonally, but requires different settings through this amp as well. Noon on the volume knob or less is Unity Gain here. Guitar Volume Knob cleanup was nice, I got a nice biting clean/jangly rhythm sound easily. I did some extreme settings, both ways, and its still a singing fuzz. Guitar Knob Cleanup is great, I still want to say Fuzz Face here (ha, but the only Fuzz Faces I’ve really played were Skreddies, so…) I’ll admit the “Wool” and “Attack” knobs make me unsure – I just looked at the manual, and it sees like the “Wool” control is the one that takes you through “ToneBender” or “FuzzFace” sounds. I will play with this more through the Cleaner amp…
Major Overdrive is the one I instinctively want to like. The BJ amp/battery brought out an interesting thing, where if I tapped the pedal or drug it across the floor a bit, I could hear this in the amp, all noon setting (only this pedal, not the other two). Again, Noon on the gain knob is too much with this amp. I just did a test where I had Tone on Zero, and Gain on Zero, and with some volume in the guitar I *still* got a rocking sound. Communication Breakdown stuff, where its punk and gushy and bright and rocking.
I can’t say what’s the 9-Volts, and whats the Blues Jr (this is an early model, known for being murky and gummy and flabby). I do know this BJ has a tendency to make things sound “congested” with no pedals involved. But through this amp each of these pedals clipped easily, and dig the *SAG* singing thing, each in their own way. So again this is just my delusion, and all pedals were high on 9-volt batteries anyway, so they weren’t thinking properly, so don’t blame them for what I made them do… “