Guyatone SD-2 Sustainer

sometimes simplicity is difficult. a lot of people will think that if there are knobs then those knobs have some purpose. on this thing, they don't; if you don't turn them to ten, the box doesn't do a lot.

very odd guitar that says epiphone but probably isn't and has unknown, ancient, low gain pickups---->sd2--->modded russian muff---> art tube preamp--->POD XT--->mixer--->stereo amp--->home stereo speakers.

yeah, that's an unconventional setup but that's the point of this review. if you're going to buy this thing, it has to interface with a tube for it to sound good. the tube can be in the amp or in a preamp, but it has to exist. i know the writeup says it's a tube in a box, but it's not; what it IS is a great way to drive a tube without turning it up too loud. the reason a lot of people have thrown this thing at the wall is because it sounds absolutely horrible through a solid state amp.

if you want great sustain to record with or you want a bit of a boost on the way into your POD then this thing is great. it's function in my rig is to turn my very low gain pickups into very hot pickups, and it really does work brilliantly for that purpose.

but, make sure you're buying the right tool for the job. if you want a scorching tube amp in a box then go to sleep and dream about it.

i bought it second hand and it was a little bit....frozen. it thawed out well but the LED is a little wonky. i don't know if it was like that when it was mailed out or not. it has an adapter plug but sounds better with a battery.

no opinion

see sound quality, that's what's important. it's the best pickup booster i've yet to use...just put a tube somewhere in your chain or it will sound awful!

2 knobs simple to use

this will not give you any added sustain that is a downright lie... obviously the lie turned into a downright discontinuation of this ***** compressed boxy sounding pedal...i cannot GIVE this thing away no one will take it

guyatone has great customer support but they are very misleading when describing their products (take the tz-2 fuzz for example i CANNOT get any ring modulation out of mine whatsoever)

what is their add dept. talking about?

i cannot get any sustain out of it... i was naively HOPING for a cheap fernandez sustainiac type of device or an ebow style sustain...this is not it...the add for this had me fooled!

Two knobs.Reaaaal easy

Not good through most amps, it is muddy like everyone says.I cant get any thing to shine, no harmonic glory.For some reason It sound beautiful though old fender amps, but only certian ones.Doesnt do me any justice through any of the other amps Ive tried it with.

Not even close to what i really want. Single coils sound better then humbuckers through it by the way.
Too muddy for me, playing either a Epi SG or a Schecter into it.Compared it to many pedals, its only better then those cheapy plastic ones you find from stores at christmas time.As you can tell Im not a big fan.As someone else noted, a tone knob would have been nice.

This review is totally about reliablity. I think this pedal has some promise sonically, but since it broke immediately... caveat emptor...

This pedal has the poorest switch I've ever encountered. I broke on the third or fourth gentle, not 'stomped', use!!! It feels notchy/sticky and will work intermittently. I have an older trem pedal by Guyatone, and it has a totally different switch. I fear they have gone cheap-supplier, and reliability is out the window.... So, a word to the wise, expect to return this several times to get a working sample, or replace the switch with a quality item on your own ticket. I big disappointment.

Didn't try directly, returned to web-store, thank God for 45-day return policies.!

ENDLESS SUSTAIN AND LOTS OF GAIN, SO EASY TO USE DID NOT HAVE TO READ THE MANUAL

GUITAR INTO GUYATONE SD-2 THEN THROUGH DE-10 BY FOSTEX AND INTO MY PC SOUNDCARD. ALWAYS SOUNDS GREAT TO ME, FROM LIGHT SUSTAIN TO ENDLESS SUSTAIN. SOME NOISE WHEN TURNED ALL THE WAY UP.

IT HAS NOT FAILED ME YET, SEEMS TO BE VERY SOLID UNIT.

YES AND THE OWNER PERSONAL EMAILED ME BACK.

GUITAR ROCK MOSTLY. PLAYING SINCE 1974. FOSTEX DE-10 MULTI FX. I FEEL THEY MAKE A GREAT PRODUCT AND THE SIZE IS SO SMALL YOU CAN PUT IT IN YOUR POCKET. I CHOSE THIS PEDAL BECAUSE I WANTED LOTS OF SUSTAIN. THEY CALL IT THE SUSTAINER. OVERALL I,M VERY HAPPY WITH THIS PRODUCT, I TRIED THE IBANEZ DISTORTION PEDAL AND SENT IT BACK. WANTED A MORE CLEANER SOUND. ITS A DEFINITE MUSIC HELPER TOOL. HAVE ENJOYED USING THIS PRODUCT.

Not too easy, it takes a while to realise that the less tone you have, the better it sounds, but other than that - 4 knobs Volume/tone/distortion/sustain. Also the switch is a little crappy, like the DOD ones. You actually have to look at your foot to make sure you hit it right. (Or maybe that's just me). Easy to understand, just difficult to get a useable tone.

Okay, this is third in a row of Distortion pedals, after a RAT2 and a CM-5 by Ibanez. On it's own there's no background noise or anything, but the distortion sounds like mud in a box. It's just bland crap that would get lost in any band's sound. The tone control has the ability to get it from "Mud" to "Wasp" and nowhere useful in between. The sustain is brilliant however. It works better than any sustain I've tried before, it doesn't add noise to the sound at all and can last for years if you work it right. So it's a shame that they stuck a good sustain on such an awful distortion.

What's good about the sound? Well because I have it after two other distortions, you never get the pure Guyatone awful sounding distortion, it's fed by my RAT and then my CM-5 and so it gives it a whole new character. With the tone turned right down you get tons of distortion and a smooth controlled note, I've been looking for a sound like that for ages. Of course after the other two pedals are turned on it starts to make some background buzz, but that isn't a problem the way I use the pedal.

The Volume control could be a little louder too. My other pedals can get louder than this and I had to bring them down so this pedal could play too.

With other pedals feeding it I'd give it a nine, but on it's own it has to be lower than that.

It's second hand and looks dusty, dirty and the switch seems a bit untrustworthy but it hasn't broken down or not turned on yet. Everything does what it's supposed to.

Hahahaaa! Ahahaha! It's second hand, given to me by my friend. It was his brother's ex-girlfriend's and he wanted to give it away, so customer support? I'm NOT going to complain to his ex for fear of being fed pedal.

This is great for smooth fat solos with just a hint of noise, but only if it's used with other pedals. On it's own it's not too good at all for what I want. I would have had to have carried on with a MT-2 if this pedal didn't fall into my hands, so I should really just be thankful for that. It looks brilliant with really seventies silver knobs on it and a bad orange sticker and this weird label just saying DIST on the bottom of it. If I was going to buy a distortion, this would NOT be an option, it sounds like it looks, cheap. Fortunately there are ways around it and I love how it sounds in my set up, But again, I'll give it a mark out of ten for it's own merits.

One small black pedal, two knobs (level and gain) and one switch. How much easier can you get? The gain goes from none to over the top, and the level does the same. My one slight moan about this pedal is that the level is a bit low, you have to have it set well above 7 before you can get a decent 'unity gain' level out of it.

I've mainly used this pedal with solid state amps as it was all I could afford at the time, a Roland Super Cube 60, and my main guitars are an Epiphone Sheraton, an Epi SG and a Fender Jagmaster. I wouldn't say the pedal lets the original guitar sound make much of an impact on the effect, but it does make some difference. As I've already said, it's either full on or nothing, so you either like the full-on-ness of it or not. For me, that highly saturated tone is perfect, I don't need EQ or anything else, the pedal distorts the notes and sustains them for a long long time. It is easy to slip into feedback, especially with the semi-acoustic Sheraton, but that's just part of my sound. Let's put it like this, I tried it in the shop, played a few of my standard licks, it sounded bloody marvellous and has done ever since. My friends are amazed at this tiny little box making such a huge racket.

I've had this pedal since, oh, 1996 or thereabouts, and have had no trouble with it at all. Change the batteries from time to time. I've gigged with it, I've thrown it at people, it's worked every time.

Haven't the foggiest.

My band play sort of indie-powerpop and this pedal fitted in perfectly with my other gear and the sound we make together, it's great for long sustaining solos and notes and fuzzed out chords with oodles of feedback and noise. I've been through many different distortion boxes in my 14 years of stompbox purchases and this one has lasted me the longest and it's a keeper. It goes next to my Danelectro Daddy-O, the Vox Valve-Tone and the Ibanez Digital Delay, and it's staying there. I instantly sold my Boss Heavy Metal and Metal Zone pedals when I got this, because it did everything I wanted it to do, and loudly. Would I buy it again if something happened to it? Without a doubt. For what it is, it's brilliant. Have no misconceptions, it's not got a lot of variation but it does its own job perfectly.

This is a mini pedal with 2 knobs, one for level and one for sustain. I was using it with a Les Paul into a silverface Fender Deluxe Reverb and had real difficulty setting the level on a par (let alone to boost) the clean signal with out it squealing like a little piggy... not a good sign!

When I managed to get it so I could use it (I had to keep it on all the time or only use it for overdubbing parts) it actually produced some nice sounds... very convincing Neil Young in Ragged Glory mode... real thick, sustained notes, easily pushing into harmonious feedback. This was great for home recording as you can get huge sounds (with feedback) at pretty low levels... however, it was bugger all use live as I couldn't set it up at not to squeal at high volumes! No tone control either... a real one sound wonder (and quite a muddy one at that).

As highlighted above, no use at gigging volumes... it's got metal casing and a solid looking stomp switch, so it should take some abuse despite it's diminutive size. Right enough, it'll take a load of abuse when the frustration of getting the bugger to work gets too much!

Didn't keep it long enough to experience problems...

As I said, fab for getting specific sounds for home recording but for anything else, forget it... I sold it on eBay and bought a second hand fuzz face... much better. I've also got a Vox Valve-Tone which is unbelieveable for classic 60's guitar heroics! I also had little success with my Tele (hot-rail in neck, standard bridge pickup).

Still, I got some good sounds out of it and on to tape... might be good with a strat or something with lower output pickups (Dano?)