Akai D1 Shred-O-Matic

Basic controls are easy as it gets, the switches and "volume type" pedal just add different distortion voicings...doesn't take long to find the one that suits you and your amp.

Use this with a Les Paul Classic and ESP H 1000 LTD into a couple of different tube amps. Isn't noisy at all...I go for a very heavy "Slayerish" early Metallica sound and this thing grinds, screams the right way, very much has that heavy chunky sound that I love.

Some people have claimed that the tube doesn't really do anything, but I have to disagree...it may not be a full-on hot plate tube set up in there, but it's a total improvement over any standard analog pedal. The tube does what a tube should, it "Warms" up the sound well.
Some people have complained about the lack of mid control...I haven't found this to be an issue...could have something to do with the amp they're running in into (you might try bypassing your amps preamp section-just run this pedal in to the loop bcz your pre-amp is probably coloring the sound). I have no complaints about the tone-it's got that METAL tone-thick bass, nice highs, the right kinda middle- thick crunchy and sinister.

Never a problem with it...different tubes seem like an improvement over stock

Never had to deal with 'em

I'll give it an "9"...not sure what a 10 is, but I'm still looking for it. For a distortion pedal though, you really can't do any better than this one. The only pedal I have ever had that comes close is a Zoom Tri-Metal which still sounds thin compared to this one. My Keeley MetalZone wasn't near as good as this one either. I've had just about every distortion pedal under the sun, and I've never been able to replace this one yet.

easy to use. bass, treble, gain nad volume control. a switch to turn it on and off a switch to select between tube, diode and two mixmodes and a pedal to control amount of distortion or volume while playing.

i use a epiphone lp studio through the d1 through an ibanez eq into a seventy's fender replica clean channel(250 watt, transistor)with a behringer bg412h 4*12 cab.
i changed the original sovtek tube first i used the preamp tube of a marshall valvestate combo, than i bought one from tubeampdoctor. now it sounds great. i normally use the tube setting when playing, only sometimes i turn it to diode when i want some mid-less pig sound.

never had problems, i have it for over a year now and never took a backup to the gigs or the rehearsal room. but i always have a spare tube with me.

don't know, but i liked it that you can download the manual from akai's homepage, because i bought it without a manual

i play hardcore with some metal influence and it fits this style. like i mentioned above i sometimes use the diode setting- thats when i tune down to c and play some sludgecore (normally i play tuned to d). i especially like the pedal to change the amount of distortion. it's like having a three channel amp: clean, semidistorted and distorted.
what i don't like about this thing is that it has no control for the mid-range, that's why i use an eq to pull up the lower-mid frequencys and pull down the "real" mids.

Pretty easy to use, the controls are not unlike any other distortion pedal, except for the expression pedal.

I love this pedal, but only through my setup. If you plug your guitar into this pedal, and then straight into an amp, it'll suck. But I run it into a Behringer sonic enhancer, and it REALLY helps. I think this pedal has too much midrange by itself, and the sonic enhancer helps me to correct that. Once I have everything dialed in perfectly, I love the sound. I use it for a 80's hard rock kinda sound, sorta like Extreme's "Get the Funk out", although it's not quite so one dimensional as that particular song. I use this pedal mostly with a Hamer Diablo loaded with Dimarzio Evolution pickups, although I'll also play my Aria 7 string through it.

I use it with a Fender Hot Rod deluxe, and I think it sounds really good. Helps bring out some of the low end that the Fender doesn't naturally have. I don't know how noisy it is, really. The sonic enhancer has noise suppresion built in, so I havn't paid attention to that.

Deffintely dependable, and I've gigged without a backup. Had it for a couple years now with no problems.

Never had the pleasure.

I play worship, prog-metal, blues, classic rock, etc. I mostly use it for 80's era classic rock, like Van Halen and the like. If you darken it up a bit, it will go metal, but that's not where it shines, I don't think. If it were stolen or lost, I would buy another, and actually did just in case that happened (it did). I don't use it as often as I used to, since I've been playing with a different band, but I still really like it. The only thing I wish it had were a mid EQ knob, because it tends to have too much mids, I think. If you could scoop them a bit more, I think it would be killer.

Before you throw it out cuz you hate the eq AND buzzsaw grind....

1. BYPASS THE EQ BY TURNING HIGH AND LOW TO ZERO
2. turn the drive to zero
3. Assign the expression pedal to Output

Now you have your guitars signal routed through either a tube filter (overdrive) or a diode circuit (compression and odd order harmonics) that will clean up with your volume knob and a BOOST using the expression pedal.

I'm using a BOSS powersupply from a small mixer and the pedal is very quiet. This pedal doesn't like my one spot, but I dont either cuz I only use one pedal now.

I've used it for about a year now in various setups with various results tonally. The settings above are now my Gibson Goldatone's 2nd channel, comes through sounding like my goldtone with a some sizzle and sustain for days.

I'ts the most frustrating pedal I've ever owned.

It is easy to operate this unit however, it is not so quickly easy to get an immediately good sound out of it. It comes nowhere even close to a Fulldrive 2 or ToneBone Hot British. I bought mine a few years back when everyone was blowing them out at $50.00 new. I feel sorry for the folks who paid the full price of these when they first came out. I laugh when I see them higher than $50 bucks on ebay. I have gigged with it but, wasn't very impressed with the sound so, I boxed and closeted it. Now, after reading some of the reviews here, I decided to experiment with it and give it a fair workout using a DOD stompbox EQ, A Rocktron Nitro tonal enhancer and a very necessary Boss NS-2 noise suppressor.

For my experiment I used a Fernandes Sustainer Monterey Elite into the Boss NS-2. I used the loop of the NS-2 like this. SEND Rocktron Nitro > Akai D1 Shred-O-Matic > DOD FX40 Graphic Equalizer > RETURN of NS-2 into a Mesa Boogie Nomad 45 1X12 combo on the clean channel #1. I dialed in the cleanest sound possible on the amp first.

Thr drive knob goes to a hard overdrive in hardly any movement at all.
At 8:00 it was already way beyond any light overdrive. I tweaked the onboard high and lows relentlessly for awhile settling for straight up 12:00 noon on both. Then I worked in the magic with the EQ pedal. I have to say that, I have read the reviews on many harder distortion pedals and have to agree with many reviewers that, an EQ just after them, makes a world of difference. I've heard this is very true of the un-modded stock Boss MT-2 metal zone pedals too.

The Boss NS-2 kept the noise down very well. I believe it was a very necessary part of the Shred's signal chain.

The Rocktron Nitro added some nice sparkle to the overall sound. I think it has some slight compression in it.

The EQ settings were somewhat "smiley faced" but tended to go higher on the bass side, mids in the center and a slight rise on the brights.
Within 20 minutes I had a very workable general purposed Bad Company
"Can't Get Enough Of Your Love" crunch going on. Once I got to 11:00 and beyond on the drive knob, things started to blur and were less defined. The pedal in DRIVE mode is kind of weird. With the drive knob setting all the way off, it causes the pedal to default to the highest gain setting the pedal has. I preferred the TUBE mode. The
other settings yielded a harder and colder response in my opinion. I guess it's all about what YOU need it for.

It's been working for me for years without a problem.

Haven't a clue and for what I paid for it, it could burn up tomorrow and I wouldn't be lost without it. I'm going right in the middle with this one with a five. I really don't know about their support though.
They haven't made them for a while now so whats to support?

I play classic rock. It doesn't suit what I am currently doing. Been playing since Oct 1964. Been playing out professionally since 1993. I
am a Gear Acquistion Syndrome sufferer. I own way too much gear to list. I've tried out and, in many case bought, pretty much everything. I wouldn't buy another one. It should have had a better onboard EQ when it was designed. I bought it because I heard a very nice demo of it from a CD which came from Guitarist magazine (UK) and those guys make everything sound pretty damn good. Plus,it was only $50 bucks. I'd really love to try it with a JJ 12AU7 or JJ 12AT7 tube in it.

This is NOT a plug and play pedal. Like any decent distortion device, it requires the owner to actually spend some time learning its nuances. If you want a convenient, knob turning buzz-box, go to your nearest big box retailer and buy the latest nu-metalesque toy. This distortion unit is for the big boys.
The pedal speaks for itself. If you want to control the volume, switch to volume mode. If you want to control the gain, switch to gain mode. To bypass? Keep the switch in the middle. Enough said.

The amp, like any distortion device, when dimed out, can roar; so you'll want a good noise suppression device if you're going after the violin-shred tones. In tube mode, the changes in tone are less dramatic than with the solid state mode but I've taken a liking to the mix mode, which seems to really provide that saturated distortion sound which spoke for an entire generation of NWOBHM (if you don't know what that is...skip the rest of the review). This won't give you a Pantera or Metallica style of distortion in of itself because the two tone controls are about as useful as boobs on a bull. Rotating them full circle doesn't do much for the sound but when used with a sublimental eq pedal, holy cow! The Akai comes to life. Makes me wonder why the company didn't pay a bit more attention to the tone shaping of the unit. Think of this as simply an incredible distortion device for the money (most, can be had for 1/2 of what a new Rocktron Silver Dragon goes for and THAT 12AX7 dual-tube/solid state pedal doesn't come with it's own foot pedal which can adjust level and gain while standing).
This device can best be used through the clean channel to give you an added "lead channel" or hell...with the gain judiciously used, will even work on your own amp's lead channel if your current combo needs that extra push to get the real saturated tube-like singing sustain. It definitely will warm up a solid state, especially if run through your clean channel.
This is a distortion device, so I rate it simply based on the quality of the distortion provided.

Built like a tank. No problems ever.

Akai hardly even knows this unit existed. It must of been made by some of their rogue engineers on the sly with intentions of "let's see if we can make a great distortion pedal while the suits are on vacation."

You're on your own here.

I play 80's metal and this unit nails that era of tones. I can mirror about 75% of the Lynch, Vai, Malmsteen, etc tones with just my Strat (X2N rear humbucker), reverse headstock...yada..yada...yada, and my stock combo...a Roland VGA-3 (unbelievable amp). You'll need an eq pedal and noise gate for things to really come to life (with some control) but without a doubt, this is the best $65 distortion pedal you'll ever hear IF (and only if) you like creamy distortion and not chainsaw buzz.

Easy enough for a guitarist. A drummer, on the other hand, would find it incomprehensible.

I used my guitar, the electric one, and six Hi Watt 200 full stacks. Couldn't really tell what the D1's effect was as I get plenty of shredding sound anyway. Being partially deaf couldn't help either.

I suppose it is dependable. As for using it at a gig without a backup (?) Was I suppose to have two? Please advise.

Customer support hadn't heard of the thing. Said it wasn't in their database. Which I could vouch for because it was on my floor. They were friendly though, offered to come around and set me right.

I play electric guitar style and it is for electric guitar. So I say it is a good match.

I have been playing for about three hours and then I got online for something (forgot what) and then somehow I ended up doing this opinion poll. Will continue playing as soon as I finish here.

If it were lost or stolen I wouldn't have it anymore. But that's fine because I stole it first.

I love the foot part-pedal thingy. The glowy bits. I hate paying for equipment. I liked that my leads (cords) fit into it so I didn't have to steal special ones.

I can't compare it to anything as I have never used such a product before, it was just closest to the door at the shop.

I wish it had wheels to cart it around. It's a bit unruly.

It doesn't help me play music but it sometimes gets in the way. I once kicked it into the audience and put out some poor fecker's eye. No laughing matter. It's been months and I'm still picking out bits of eye.

How about that bloke's girlfriend?

VERY easy to use.

I set the output at 9:00 (superstition), the bass and treble at 1:00-3:00, drive JUST above zero, and set the pedal to "drive". Usually I run it on "tube", but frequently on diode (each has its unique sounds).

I use an electric singing saw of my own design [an M&W tenor saw w/ a Gibson(?) humbucker], into the Akai (set up as above), thence into a Behringer X-Vamp, and from that into a 1965 Univox U-155R.

Sometimes I use a Charlie Blacklock "bass" saw equipped with a BC Rich humbucker; and occasionally into a Univox U-305R.

(I don't believe in "10" ratings.)

Yes, and Yes...as said, solid metal, tube etc. should last forever....

I don't think that they want to know about this thing....

Yes, this pedal honks, although who knows, with a *&^%! saw? Besides, I think most musicians these days are so used to cranking the treble and bass, that a FLAT frequency response sounds like it has a huge mid-range hump. However, it also kicks a_s!! I don't get s--t out of my saw and X-Vamp w/out the S-O-M; with it, I can trade licks w/ Albert, or Luther, or whoever you like.
Originally, I bought this pedal to "warm up" my Roland (ss) amp (vain hope, of course- I took it apart too, and saw the l.e.d. under the tube), BUT I found thet I NEEDED it with my Korg multieffects pedal, or all I got was a thump and a faint wail. BTW, while I had it apart, I replaced the Sovtek that was in it (what IS the original tube, Russian or Chinese?) with a nice Mullard that I happened to have from one of my Univoxes- the improvement was dramatic, but it didn't eliminate the "honk".

In any event "de gustibus non disputandum"- i.e., "in matters of taste there is no dispute" (cause I'm always right), and like a bunch of the people below, I LIKE the sound of this pedal! In addition, my setup wouldn't work at all w/out it, so I find it ESSENTIAL! Also, the sound is UNIQUE (you won't see everybody else driving one).

BTW, I've tried Ibanez, Boss, Digitech, etc., and this pedal is the Magoo, AFAIC.

Simple purchased in 1999 many have come and gone and it still remains.

I'm using a Boss compressor-D1(peddel set to gain amount)-digitech Rp5 .I have used several different amps with this set up,I'm running it into a traynor YC40WR that is slaed out to a sound city 120 the left cannel of the RP5 feeds a Randall RH 100 all the amps are set clean (to many custom guitars to list,some inexpesive ones to ).No noise unless it is set at max gain. I don't like the tube channel of the peddel it is fairly useless.I don't care what mod anyone does it will never sound like a true tube dist.Lets face it if you don't feed a tube the proper voltage it will always be brittle. That being said the solid tate channel sounds great.This is one of the best I have used and I've had a lot to many to list ( been playing for 21 years ) I would have loved to rate it higher but unfortunaly the crapy tube channel will limit this.

Extremly reliable I have been using it for five years . It has had a tough life.Still works like new.

Never used it

I play heavy alt .I've been playing 21 years.

Pretty easy to use. Functions all seem logical. Rocker pedal isn't super smooth...

Peak in mids makes it unusable. I use a JC120 and a MUSICMAN 210 amp, with a les paul custom. The distortion sounds thin in either tube or diode mode. EQ is practically useless, and does nothing to counter the huge midrange peak. Great idea poorly exacuted. Someone mentioned its great after changing the valve. someone else said let it burn in for 30 hours first. Maybe, maybe not. I'm not going to waste my time fiddling with an ultimatly flawed design. Maybe mach 2 will be better, but from the looks of the headrush 2, I seriously doubt it.

Solid enough.

Don't know

I play rock music. If your after a really shrill nasal lead tone with good sustain, it may have a valid use for you. I like my distortion to sound full. This it doesnt deliver. In my live rig I use a akai headrush, which has certain design faults. I have tried the new version, and none of those faults were fixed. I guess what I mean is Akai seem to be trying, but have coped out just before the finish line.

seems easy enough. volume, gain, high eq, low eq. footpedal. switch from diodes to tubes to a mix.

if you're into mild distortion, then this unit may be for you. but if you want some over-the-top gain, no matter what this thing is called, you're not going to get it with this thing! there's little flexability in this unit. every tone you adjust sounds slightly different than the previous. to me, this thing sucks! not worth the heavily discounted price it's marked at. i played it in the store and i passed on it. however, i did a/b it in a ss amp. i can detect a slight warming up of the tone.

it seems quite sturdy. but since the tone sucks, it'll only be useful as a paperweight.

n/a

unless it has exactly the tone you're looking for (and you'll know it in 5 seconds) then avoid this paperweight like the plague.

Ok,this thing may be easy to use but you don't get a real big variety of sound.

I bought this to use with my ss jc 120 to get more of a tube sound out of it but I don't like the tube setting at all. The diode setting isn't bad.
I then tried it through a classic 30 and still am not impressed with the tube setting.
It does appear to be hissy on all settings except diode.

It seems to be reliable, made of metal. I wouldn't ever gig without a back up but you probably could.

n/a

I've been playing for about 15 years and I'm always looking for new things to try and this one just didn't do it for me.The diode setting is actually good for a heavy sound but the tube side is what I bought it for and it just didn't impress me and is a little too noisy for me. I'm being gracious and giving it a 7 only because the diode setting is decent.

Easy enough to operate. Bought it for the dual tube/diode drives and the selectable pedal features. Price was right.

Tone is quite subjective, what one might like, another might not. I consider the tone of this pedal is very opaque. As others have said, this pedal is very midrangey, rather nasal, the "high" and "low" tone controls have little effect, both in the tube and diode modes. I spent a number of hours experimenting with all kinds of different pedal settings, amp settings, pedal arrangements, etc., all with no success in achieving a the kind of round, balanced tone I want. Also have an Ibanez Tube King (real tube) and an TS7 Tubescreamer both of which I like alot, and they are each quite transparent compared to this one, no EQ issues to speak of. Tried substituting a 12AU7A which has a lower amplification factor than the stock Sovtek 12AX7; this resulted in a smoother tube overdrive, but did nothing for the EQ. If you're looking for a honking, screaming overdrive that pushes the mids, this is a good pedal, but it's not what I'm after.

This is a well constructed unit, all metal housing and pedal. The tube is not easy to change out, but that's due to the design which is intended to isolate and protect the tube. Pedal mechanism is rugged and well designed. I wouldn't worry about reliability, although I have not gigged the pedal.

So-so. I emailed Akai about a possible solution to the tone-sucking problem; I got a timely reply, but they had punted my email to 2 other non-Akai tech support outfits and the end result was "..cannot suggest a replacement tube".

Disappointed.
Pros: Great concept, nice features, well constructed. The pedal with its selectable options is pretty neat.
Cons: Too much midrange for my taste, no midrange EQ control, bass and treble controls do little.

Too many bells & whistles, The gimmicks don't add anything of value.
They just get in the way. Changing the tube is a major procedure, not
recommended for those unfamiliar with the insides of electronic devices.

Stock Sovtek 12AX7 is unmanagable, Way too much gain at lowest settings. Changed to 12AV7 RCA sounds very good with humbuckers,nice & crunchy. Dreadful sounding with single coils. Thin & nasal.

Seems to be solidly constructed,although light in weight.Would benefit from a heavier bottom plate.Switch & knobs are all smooth and solid.

n/a

No match for a REAL TUBE.

like the pedal format, easy to use, nice lay out

I used the clean channel of a Marshall JTM to check it out
It seems to have nice distortion charecteristics. The tube can be creamy and solidstate side crunchy.
Unfortunately, the EQ sucks so bad I wanted to kick somebody ass.
the midrange has a 20+ db spike or something. Even with the Bass and Treble maxed its not even close to being flat, much less good for NuMetal :)
I changed out the tube, tried tweeking the trim pots inside, which will alter the gain structure in good and bad ways,
but theres nothing that will help the tone...
I was so disappointed, that when I put it on eBay, the best I could do was "Quote" akais marketing blurb.
Reading these reviews, all I can say is thank God Somebody likes these things, so I won't feel THAT guilty for foisting it on another unsuspecting soul

mechanically, it looks pretty sturdy. Didn't keep it long enough to work the switches, (or heat up that tube)

no idea

currently use marshall jtm combos, carvin 1/2 stack, or rack.

This might be a kick ass distortion pedal, if the EQ wasn't so fouled up...
Maybe somebody with a schematic can figure out how to fix that ?
I'm pretty happy with the Digitech Hotrod I replaced it with, and am looking at more distortions to rebuild the pedal board,
but It'll be a cold day before I recommend the Shred0matic to anyone

and Putting an LED behind the tube to fool people into thinking the tubes glowing, borders on Fraud ?

Easy to use, to get the right sounds you'll need to play a little with your amp's "Clean" channel. The special thing on this effect is the "Volume"/"Drive Level" pedal, this is good to use in stage sitiuations -but be carefull: always look down when you want to bybass/unbypass the effect, sometimes I hit the pedal and ....(silence) .
The manual is short, but gives you enough information in english, french and german.

I play at first place a "Career" LP-Style guitar(very,very nice!!!) and second an Epiphon Strat-Style guitar(not so fine). These babys run through an "Ibanez WH-10" into the D1 then through an Akai P1 Phaser (SWEET!!) and a DigiTech DigiDelay then in a Carlsbro GLX 80 solitstate Combo (80 Watts/ Celestion GT12 speaker). All effects are powered paralell with a 1000mA PSU (stabilized). Until the Amp, this setup is totally noisefree, no noise, no huming ore anything. For Recording i use the same setup exept the amp(it's noisy as hell!) in run the signal through an old Yamaha FX550 unit, only using the speakeremulation an a little reverb. This gives a monstrous sound! From Clean to HighGain- everything is possible. No Noise at all!
For the D1 alone i have to say: The intresting thing about this pedal is the fact that you can switch between two distortion modes 1) You can use the 12ax7 tube sound, the sound is a gritty, dirty - blues, grunge style.Strong mids emphasis.
The 2.) Diode Mode, smooth, creamy sound. Metal, HighGain Style.
The Pedal can be used as a volume sweller, to create string-like sounds or to set the drive level (for this i use it) .
I like the Tube-Sound more than the Diode-Sound because auf the nice overtones. This box has a lot of it.
The controls are Volume, Bass, Treble, Drive Level, Drive Mode and Pedal Asign.
The tone controls are more for adjusting than sound forming. Drive Level doubles the pedal (if it it is asigned to that funktion) and sets the minmal drive level. For my propose i like it to set maximum level, so a minus on that one). The Drive Mode switches between Tube and solid state distortion or you can blend between the modes(i don't like this function, because it's too dificult to control...)
The pedal is true-bypass! So if it fails, breaks down or something, you can still play leaving this pedal in the signal way.

This box has solid metal housing, and one of these nice metal buttons to bypass the effect. The Pedal is also metal. The jacks are metal to. I use my D1 for about one year now, and ist was lot carried around in this time, it has shown no problems with that.
Only the switch, to select between the functions of the sweller, has some problems. This may be only a contact problem, but it should not happen! (even if i don't use this setting)

Never dealed with them in relation to the guitar effects. I only contacted them ones for a question on my S2000 sampler, that time they where good. (Only can tell for German support)

I play rock/punk/stoner in a live band and do some homerecording on various styles of music. For me it fit's perfect. I play for 10 years electric guitar and experimented a lot in this time. This Box is not a plug-and-play box. It gives a variety of sounds if you invest a little time playing with your equipment. You wil get great sound of it but don't expect a wonder. If you look for a distortion pedal, wich has an own sound go for it. You will not find anything for this price with this possibilities. But leave your hands of it if you look for an overdrive! It's distortion, it's a shredder!

Easy. It is what it is. Read further as I comment on some of the above complaints.

I use this with a modified Les Paul Standard, heavily modded Tele, modded Explorer with locking tremelo, and other guitars into a 67 Deluxe Reverb, BF Bassman, Bassman 100, modded Line 6 and several amps of my own design. (The above Tiffany and I build amps and guitars. She has acquired many more amps, speakers and guitars since she wrote her review.)

This pedal has "Shred" in the name. To maintain note clarity bass is intentionally restricted to avoid fartiness and bluring when playing fast or with complex chords. The majority of distortion pedals do this including the Ibanez Tube Screamer, Boss DS-1 and most of their other distortions, etc.

It seems to like British voiced amps (Vox, Marshall, etc) and Celestions more than Fenders with Jensens. The tones in any amp I've used it in are useful, and tasty. I like a rig with several distortions, and this one is unique and very useful.

There is nothing more subjective than distortion. What you may like, I may hate and vice versa. And often, a distortion that sounds great in the bedroom alone, sounds lousy or gets lost in a band. A distortion that sounds bad soloed in the bedroom may cut and be perfect in a band setting.

I'm not interested in nailing the sound of my favorite artists, but like to get in the ballpark of specific artists, like Billy Gibbons (who uses all manner of distortion devices over the years from his simple Les Paul into a tweed Deluxe early on, to the constant use of a Rockman ((chorus and echo disconnected))nd other pedals and amps in the 80's to God-knows-what these days!)

Some of my favorite distortions sound strange and awful to some, but I love them. I have two 80's Washburn distortions that have a harsh, but excellent 70's grind that I can't find anywhere else.

The Shred-0-Matic covers a good range of mid focused distortion, with nice features. The tube is run at low voltage and although useful, a pair of germanium diodes would have worked nearly as well.

In bypass using the volume pedal, the unit CAN pass a small artifact of distortion into the clean guitar. I hunted this down and eliminated it with the addition of a jumper wire. It requires taking the bottom panel off to add this wire. It's simple. Anyone interested, please e-mail me.

Great build! I bought the schematics and service manuals for all the Akai pedals and the design is more like a stereo than an effects device. The tube is run at low voltage so it could run forever.

Akai is good, period. I had to buy a package of schematics ($35) when all I wanted was the schematic for one pedal, but I'm glad I did. Tiffany and I have found other Akai pedals and I like to have schematics for all our equipment.

This pedal will be in my rig. We play country to metal and need all the flavors we can muster. I've played since 1967 and own too much equipment to list.

If lost I'd find it. If stolen I'd hunt the skunk down. Tiffany's a good shot and I need practice~

I love the build and the sound quality. It has it's own personality. We have probably 50 distortion devices at home and this one has it's own place.

I added a switch to change the type of distortion diodes to add more versatility. I will add a midrange soon.

It's a great pedal. I wouldn't pay the original price, but for what I paid...excellent!

"Turn off the nightlight Tiffany...it's time to go to bed."

this things works itself

at first i wasn't sure about this. a few weeks later i retubed it and i was blown away. this is the distortion i've been looking for since i started playing. i play i rickenbacker through an ampeg bass cabinet and 2 twin reverbs and this thing is thunderous.

i've used this without a backup since i got it. they're easy to find and cheap on ebay so if something does happen it wouldn't be that bad. changing the tube is a bit of a hassle but it's only 5 or six screws once you get inside.

who knows

i play noisy rock and roll. the stuff that kills the neighbor's grass. i get any sound i need out of this, sometimes i use a big muff with it but not so much anymore. i love it. so far akai's pedals have all been great. too bad most of them are so hard to find

Great to use, the pedal's action is fast but you just have to remember to touch it gently on stage. Having smoothly variable drive adds sooo much to the dynamics of a gig. SOmetimes I get too loud by turning it up to fast, but thats great for going into a solo.

Electric guitar to wah to the D-1 shred to chorus to volume pedal to echo to a clean tube amp. Flawless, dynamic, and very controlable. Duh.

This is why Im writing actually. Mine Died. I need some help putting it back together. After a year and a half of faithful and daily hardcore rocking, the tube stage got all messy sounding. The diode only mode (my least favorite, the least powerful, but still ok sounding mode) was the only that still worked. THen an hour later no sound would go through. THe leds still light, and the cords and grounds inside are still fine, and there is nothing visibly wrong with the tube on close inspection. My roommate says the tube has probably just died and replacing it will make the whole thing work, but Id like some second opinions before I get my soldering iron hot.

bought the pedal direct online somewhere for like 60$ so if I can find that webpage Im inclined to buy another. Im too lazy to try to contact them when I know that YOU will tell me what to do. I imagine theyd want me to send the whole thing in anyway so I dont electrocute myself on my soldering Iron and let my parents sue them.

I give it a nine because It was my guitar and amps best friend untill it died last week. Some seriously cool tones and character. When I have the time I intend to buy another one anyway to look into making some unique modifications to one to further make it my own little secret, but in the meantime I recomend you pick up a cheap one (some places online want to rip you off for this pedal big time, trust me) and do some dynamic exploring. My biggest tip is to actually not use it fully distorted, because some of my favorite tones were somewhere in the middle of its drive spectrum.

Dialing in your choice of tones is easy, just four or five knobs and a pedal, no manual or editing patches needed. Just dial in the tone you want, that's it. The first time you use it, you'll look down and see and orange glow from the middle of the pedal......that's the tube warming up. That's why people say it makes a great nightlight....and it is easy to see it when playing on a dark stage.

I am using this pedal with a Tele and a Les Paul. After 20 years, I finally found the best pedal for rock and blues. This unit has both a real tube circuit (with a real tube) and a transitor circuit (like a Tube Screamer)...plus, you can run with one or the other...or you can mix them for your personal blend.

That right there is cool enough for me, but this unit then adds a pedal that allows you to, for example, increase the amount of overdrive without either of your hands leaving the guitar. I know of no other tube/transistor overdrive booster that will do this.

The sound is what I expected.....your choice of full, rich, creamy real tube overdrive, or the same except transistor driven for a more metal tone. So, it covers the bases from clean blues to heavy metal.

Finally, one more part contributes to the tone......no battery. You have to plug it into the wall, but it keeps any hum to a minimum. Plus, no batteries to replace.

Every square inch of this thing is solid metal. I've never felt the need to buy another as a "backup," but pro's that use them, like Eric Johnson, have other pedals all over the place for their pedalboards. Don't bring a second unit, but, for the worst case scenario, bring an extra tube (again, I've never felt the need.)

I've owned and used Akai equipment, from studio gear to more personal gear, since the 80's. Nothing has ever failed or been even slightly out of order, so I'll give them a nine.

I play rock and blues, overdriven and with a touch of distortion. After 20 years of playing, I still like my Tele and Les Paul.....they cover the areas I play. I have Marshall tube and Fender tube amps. Like most players, I turn it on and leave it on, as it doesn't get in the way.....it has 100% true by-pass.

My favorite feature is the pedal that allows you to adjust the amount of gain and growl while you play....without the use of your hands. Any lead player would love this.

If someone stole it, I'd buy another. It's a boutique pedal at a decent price. Also, no one else makes a pedal that is as fuctional as this one. For the price, compared to other real tube units, you can't beat it.

Easy.

Anyone who doesn't know how good this pedal is, doesn't know anything about electric guitar. You'll wonder how you lived without it. Give your tube about thirty hours to burn in, this tube starts out awesome, but the tube only gets creamier after a good burn in.
Diode mode is awesome too. Mix modes are superb. A great pedal at a great price. Get one before they're gone, you'll regret it if you don't. Switch is noiseless, and this pedal has true bypass circuitry.
I got one, he he. Being a guitar hero is easy with pedals like this one.

Very good build; all metal chasis. Comes with power supply.

N/A

Kicks Major Ass!!!

I received one from eBay, so I really can't comment on a new one. Although I did read all the other comments about it, the person who rated it a "1" can't be the only one out there that has such lousy comments about it. I agree with the one guy who says there MUST be a problem somewhere. If it was that bad, why did he even take time to discredit the pedal? I hope he got his money back. Nothing on the market can possibly sound so bad!Sounds to me like he just didn't get the sound he expected. That's why you take your equipment to the place of business to try it out.(I guess he didn't)

I use a Ibanez JS100 with a Limited Edition Hendrix Wah pedal. I am currently using a Crate amp w/custom speaker, I also use a DOD Compression/Sustainer.

Very dependable. I would use it without a backup.

I've been playing 14 years and I can say it is a very good pedal and I have no intentions of ever selling it.

its very easy!

strato,tele,lp,sg,335...i think the tele is the best for this box. the box is very very silent.i dont know whats the trouble with the other guys.i use vox ac 30 with it and there`s no trouble at all. i had a maxon b808 and it caused me trouble all of time.this sounds the same and is much more debendible...cool.

yes yes yes

i`ve been playing rock for 36 yrs now and this is my pedal. stolen?? i would move back to --------------i love that brooming sound sound it makes. i wish it has a wah pedal.

I think that for the price of this unit that the sound is quite reasonable. It's unfortunate that Akai have discontiued this product (or so I have heard). If you are looking for one and you find it; don't let it go. Mine came with a manual, doesn't really tell much of use. Just the obvious stuff.

I'm using an Ibanez SA series guitar with a DiMarzio PAF pro humbucker in the bridge (close to the strings), signal from there is pretty high level and drives the input of the Shred-o-matic. The output from there runs into my homemade 19" rack power-amp (150watts, solid state dual-class) and then on into a Marshall quad-box fit with Celestion G-12L's. I'm an electronics guru and have changed the valve in the D1 to an Ei, as I found the harmonics from the chinese tube that came with it to be less than musical. With this simple modification I find the sound quality to be equally as good as (if not beter than) that of the new Marhall AVT amps. The main difference from a valvestate pre-amp would be the addition of the internal compressor circuit that Akai have used. As someone else on this page has said, the compressor is great for sustaining notes and that instant-metal-crunch sound but if you want those sutle half-dirty blues tones you may find it difficult to grab accurately; Even at lower gain levels as the job of a compressor is too reduce the dynamic range of the signal.

I have pulled this thing to pieces, examined the circuitry, looked at the soldering and wiring etc. In any normal playing situation I would trust the D1 to be quite reliable. The only possible exception would be the pedal-assign slider switch, which is sometimes a little scratchy (a least on mine). But that is a minor problem. I would use it without a backup, but that may have something to do with my budget :oP

Never had to deal with them. Wouldn't bother either, it would be quicker and easier to fix it myself ;o)

I mainly play classic metal, hard rock/hard blues. I've been playing about 5 years or so. I would like to add that this pedal has the potential to work wonders for it's price, so long as you relace the tube that comes with it for a better one. That would be my only disapointment with this unit, considering that the rest of it is built like a tank. I think control over the compressor would allow much more versatility in the sound, but there are some trim-pots on the PCB that I am yet to fiddle with for this purpose.

For those of us who can't afford that full valve head just yet...this is a good alternative in the mean time. Just remember that without a full valve power output stage you will never get that proper power compression with the speaker.

Have fun :o)

Everything is labelled.

This is for the guy below who gave this pedal all 1's:

There is either something defective about your D-1 or the rest of your equipment. The voicing of the tube versus the diode setting
is radically different. Like it or hate it, that's a fact. They sound
like two entirely different pedals. Anybody who has actually used one
would notice this. Now, you might hate *both* sounds, and that is
your perogative, but you can't claim to have used the pedal and
gotten the same sound out of both settings.

I would suggest taking your pedal and the rest of your equipment
to a qualified technician to have it checked out. Otherwise,
your opinions about this piece of equipment might be seen as
suspect. and you wouldn't want that, would you.

I wish all pedals were this well-made.

I don't actually know if Akai still repairs these things.

The tube setting sounds like a Tubescreamer, the diode setting doesn't. The Tubescreamer is a pedal that you buy when you want
a lot of midrange. Apparently, the Shred-O-Matic is a pedal you buy
when you want to complain about too much midrange.