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misterdetail
Bronze Member
USA
112 Posts |
 Posted - 01/24/2010 : 02:17:35
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I bought a used Vox Satchurator pedal yesterday and wanted to post some preliminary comments about it. I'll start by saying I've coveted one of these for awhile and am a big Joe Satriani fan. I knew Joe had used a MIJ DS-1 for years in front of a Marshall and, to my ears, that was his best sound. Watch the "Live in San Francisco" DVDs and you'll hear what i'm talking about!
I'd heard the Satchurator was voiced very similar to a MIJ DS-1, and having now played one for myself, I definitely agree. I was surprised to read on the back of the pedal's box these words: "This distortion pedal delivers Joe's signature sound and recaptures the tone of one of the most sought after vintage distortion boxes of all time." Hmmmm...I wonder what vintage distortion box they're talking about??! You even read on the box that the model name of the Satchurator is"JS-DS". So, it's clear what pedal and sound they we're going for.
I also own a MIJ silver-screw/long-dash DS-1, made in February 1980. It'll be 30 years old next month! It's a sweet pedal in every way and I use it a lot. So after playing through my Satchurator for a day now, how does it compare to my vintage DS-1? To my ears, the Satchurator is similar and clearly better. Maybe saying it's an improvement on a great pedal is more accurate. The distortion sounds a little better to my ears. It's more defined and not quite as harsh. Then you have an extra "More" button that truly does give the pedal a little more for solos and such. It works. The Satchurator is a little noisier than my DS-1, which is surprising since it's newer and not more distorted. However, the Satchurator cleans up better and is very usable with the guitar volume rolled back.
I have a lot more playing to do with it but so far I'm very pleased. I don't know if it'll hold up 30 years like my DS-1 but it seems pretty solid. It's made in Japan, too. And it looks killer, as well.
If there are any other Satchurator users out there, let me know your opinion of it. |
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zerksies
Double Platinum Member
USA
3406 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2010 : 04:28:36
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| thanks for the nice review and comparision |
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Radioheading
Silver Member
United Kingdom
494 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2010 : 04:52:57
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Yep definately a nice little review  . I read another on this forum... Someone said the paint job is really awful and comes off incredibly easy but wtf does that matter  I definately gotta check one out soon. Big Satch fan myself! |
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misterdetail
Bronze Member
USA
112 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2010 : 05:20:56
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Thanks for the kind words! I really like the paint job (candy-apple red like Joe's Ibanez guitar) and sure hope it holds up. Mine came with a few paint chips near the input jack. I always wonder how people bang up their pedals so much. Do they throw them against the wall, drop them on purpose, etc.? I really baby mine and just don't get it. Anyway, I now discovered that it was a either a cable or effect loop jack that was making the noise, not the Satchurator, so scratch what I said about it being noisier than my DS-1. They're the same. Also, it might be helpful to share my pedal settings, which I use on both pedals and are what Joe uses on his Satchurators:
Gain - 5pm (all the way up)
Tone - 10am
Volume - 1pm
Guitar is a Peavey Wolfgang Standard Deluxe in to the clean channel of a Peavey Prowler amp (all-tube). For some reason with the DS-1, it sounds best with my guitar volume at 8 out of 10. Any higher and it's not as good. With the Satchurator, it's best all the way up to 10 on my guitar, and I prefer it that way. |
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nosi0
Gold Member
Netherlands
511 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2010 : 14:05:25
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| Yeah i have a Satchurator aswell great pedal, i posted a review of it somewhere here before. I find that the best one word description is "organic" it just has such a natural tone. |
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misterdetail
Bronze Member
USA
112 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2010 : 20:46:44
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quote:
Originally posted by nosi0
Yeah i have a Satchurator aswell great pedal, i posted a review of it somewhere here before. I find that the best one word description is "organic" it just has such a natural tone.
I'll have to look up your review! "Organic" is a good word for it, and I'd also say it applies to a vintage DS-1, as well. They don't have the same parents, but they're clearly related, with the Satchurator being a bit of an improvement. |
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calvinpck
Copper Member
Malaysia
14 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2010 : 01:08:01
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Being a satch fan too, i got the pedal and have been using it as my main distortion with Joe's exact same settings cause i love Joe's distortion since the day i was exposed to him. First CD i listened to was Crystal Planet which till today has changed the way i play forever.
But in my opinion, the 3 best sounds i reckon from all the stuff he released as a solo artist is "Flying in A Blue Dream", "A train of angels" and "Asik Vesyel". Just that rich harmonics and overtones those 2 pedals produce is nice. Drier and more responsive than a EVH tone even though EVH has an incredible tone.
Try it out for other settings too dude i also found these settings work well
1)Gain: 1 o'clock with backed volume to 6-7 gives a nice touch of clean and distorted. Touch strings very softly for a nice gentle break-up sound, strum hard for crunch.
2)Gain: 10 o'clock> a very tubesecreamer like sound, subtle and not intense. This pedal certainly has some tubescreamer like tones in it but if those expect 100% u'll be disappointed cause they are 2 VERY DIFFERENT characters
Tone knob is best left @ 9.5-11 o'clock to retain its harshness
Volume knob of the pedal is where it gets really interesting. I set it @ 1 or 2 o'clock. But i recently found that if u push it between 2-3 o'clock, the pedal becomes extremely sensitive to your touch and strength of your picking and fretting hand. Its also more open sounding and overall tone is more defined.Try this with satch gain settings on 10 and your amp has to be cranked to like 30-50% of its power to truly hear it .
By the way, my guitar is an ibanez RG570 loaded with Dimarzio PAFJoe and Mo'Joe. I found these babies to be versatile pickups too.
Hope this helps. Its all honest opinion. Please correct me if anyone found this to be biased. |
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misterdetail
Bronze Member
USA
112 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2010 : 05:11:32
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Thanks for the info, calvinpck! I'm gonna try out some of your settings with my rig. What kind of amp do you have?
I'm having an issue with noise that has me stumped. When I wrote my original post, I stated that the Satchurator is noisier than a DS-1. Then in another post I retracted that, saying it was a cable or effect loop jack that was causing the noise. Tonight I tested cables and cleaned the effect loop jacks with contact cleaner. I still get a lot of noise with the Satchurator if I have anything plugged in to the effect loops, especially when the More button is engaged. But if I have nothing in the effect loops, the noise is gone. However, if I use my DS-1, there is no noise regardless of whether anything is in the effect loops or not. I didn't get a chance to try the dirty channel of my amp, but it wasn't noisy before I got the Satchurator. So I'm thinking there is something about my Satchurator that doesn't get along with the effects loop on my amp, even there is no cable running from the Satchurator in to the loop. Strange. Does anyone else here have this issue? |
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calvinpck
Copper Member
Malaysia
14 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2010 : 13:26:02
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oh no probs dude. I do have only 2 humble pies. Peavey Rage 15W and a rare (beautiful sounding) solid state Hughes&Kettner Club reverb model which was made from 1990's. Made in germany and is absolutely fat and transparent tone. I love both the channels but always on clean cause the satch pedal is my main distortion now.
I use planet waves & dimarzio cables. cables do affect tone and noise level and stuck to both of these cause they blend well with my tone.
Umm i usually chain all together and straight into amp input cause the Kettner has a very bad effects loop. Its the only hopeless thing on this amp but the rest to me is solid state heaven....till i get a ROland JC120 or Marshall 6100
I suggest only delays to be used in the FX loop and the rest straight in. If u use the satchurator or some other gain pedal as your main dirty the u won have too much problems. If u use amp, the there is some delayed signals here n there with some noise.
My signal path follows Joe's and many others who suggested the richer, more aggressive stuff 1st, then the tamer ones.
guitar>Dunlop 535 Wah>Satchurator>Boss CE2>Boss BF2>Boss DD2>Boss DD3
so i suggest delays into FX loop. The more switch if the satchurator is cranked, yes it does add noise and becomes hyper sensitive to everything but sometimes sounds muddy too for rhythm. only use more switch for leads. Volume knob to control amount of gain needed.
And to my experience, the satch pedal works well with many amps and guitar combo but it does prefer cleaner transparent amps because it sometimes tend to take over a bit. I think it'll run best with Roland JC120, Marshall 6100, Peavey Classic 30 or 50, Peavey JSX and Mesa Lone Star. But thats just my opinion. |
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misterdetail
Bronze Member
USA
112 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2010 : 21:50:51
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| Thanks for the info, calvinpck! I only need the effects loop when using the gain channel of my amp, for the reason you mentioned, but for the sake of keeping my pedal board configured the same I'd like to use it with the Satchurator, as well. I asked about it on the Peavey amp forum and it sounds like the issue may be the OneSpot power adapter I'm using. I'm going to test it again with only a battery in my Satchurator, and if the noise goes away then it will confirm that it's the OneSpot and Satchurator. I'll report later what I find. |
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nosi0
Gold Member
Netherlands
511 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2010 : 22:12:55
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| A little heads up don't use the same power supply for the effects loop and pre-amp effects. |
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misterdetail
Bronze Member
USA
112 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2010 : 00:32:44
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quote:
Originally posted by nosi0
A little heads up don't use the same power supply for the effects loop and pre-amp effects.
That's what I'm being told. I'll test it tonight to confirm if that's the problem. Thanks! |
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misterdetail
Bronze Member
USA
112 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2010 : 04:18:29
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Well, I tried running the Satchurator with just a battery and not with the OneSpot, and still a lot of hum. Then I used the OneSpot with the pedals running straight in to the amp (including Satchurator) and with only battery power for the pedals in the effects loop, and still the same loud hum. So it doesn't make any difference what is powering what, if I have anything connected to the effects loop, the Satchurator is loud with hum. If I run all pedals chained together and powered with the OneSpot, no loud hum. All I can conclude is there is something about my Satchurator that creates a loud hum if the effects loop is used at all. I don't know what, but there is. Not a huge deal, as I don't mind running everything chained and with no loop, but I'll have to get another pedal board to fit them all side-by-side.
Thanks for all the input! |
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nosi0
Gold Member
Netherlands
511 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2010 : 13:35:59
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Maybe you could run the satchurator in the effects loop and see i it still creates a lot of hum. if it doesn't then the satchurator probably is not to blame.
If it still creates hum try putting another distortion pedal in the effects loop and check. if both cases have hum then it more likely to be a problem in the amplifier. |
Edited by - nosi0 on 01/27/2010 13:36:36 |
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misterdetail
Bronze Member
USA
112 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2010 : 05:24:03
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quote:
Originally posted by nosi0
Maybe you could run the satchurator in the effects loop and see i it still creates a lot of hum. if it doesn't then the satchurator probably is not to blame.
If it still creates hum try putting another distortion pedal in the effects loop and check. if both cases have hum then it more likely to be a problem in the amplifier.
Thanks! I think it's a combination of the Satchurator, 1Spot adapter, and the effects loop causing the noise. There is some noise with my DS-1, but not as much as the Satchurator. The Satchurator has more gain on tap, especially with the More button, so that's why it's more. But I'm running everything chained together in to the front of the amp now, so it's alright now. I'll just use the loop with my gain channel as needed. Thanks again. |
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Vox Satchurator
