Artec SE-CRM Crazy Metal

Pedal is easy to use, easy to tweak, fun to tone shift! "Regular" size knobs for Level and Gain, "mini" knobs for Hi and Low eq. Mini knobs are a little hard to tweak and see, definitely want to dial these in BEFORE hitting a dark stage.

I felt I needed to write a review on this one, as it is a very unique pedal. I bought this as a different distortion setting for my Peavey Valveking. I like the VK's lead channel alot, and was looking for something over the top, chunky, metal pedal. The "crazy metal" is actually a very misleading name. To me this sounds more like a natural overdrive, alot like a cranked unmodded JCM 800. It is very dark and round, at least on my amp. This pedal is NOT what I was expecting...but it will not be leaving my board any time soon. Although it is not quite "metal", it is an awesome sounding pedal in its own right. It is very dark, very round. Can get pinch harmonics easy, and it is very responsive to your pick attack.

The Hi and Low eqs are VERY sensitive. Low actually works on this pedal---can get ice picky if on min, speaker blowing bass if dimed. At least on the clean channel of my Valveking. True Bypass, and is not noisey at all.

I'm gonna give it a high rating, just because it really is a great sounding pedal...just not what I was expecting.

Seems very solidly built. Nice all metal frame, solid switch. Barrel-type (Boss) PSU is on the side--shouldn't affect the reliability, just might have to adjust your board layout if you have short leads. I won't rate this yet as I haven't put it through the ringers, but it seems to be built very well.

Bought on ebay from Dragonfly (US distributor). Had a few questions, got email responses in less than a day from Steve. Very helpful and responsive. But I have no idea where or what "Artec" actually is!

I play all types of music, but this pedal's intention was for prog shredding, or chunky riffing a la Porcupine Tree, Frost, Dream Theater. This does NOT give that sound, but rather, a really dark, organic sound. Even though it is dark, it is still pretty mid-scooped. I found I have to jack up the mids on my amp to compensate, which is kind of a drawback on the cleans when it is off--I don't like my cleans that honk-y. Also, because this is a rather dark pedal, if you dial the gain back, this can be a GREAT booster in front of the gain channel, like a tubescreamer. But more bass-y. I've ordered the "Soloist" dist pedal as well, just to try something different.

At this price, the quality is amazing, the true bypass is unheard of at this price range, and the sound of this pedal is definitely worth checking out. If you're looking for a dark, round, organic, thick overdriven sound, not like you've likely heard from alot of people, this could be what you are looking for.