Marshall ShredMaster

just like a marshall amp. i max the distortion, max the bass, contour turned to between 4 and 5 o'clock to make a seriously thick distortion, then edge it back to bleed in some of those raspy, biting mids until, when i put the treble to around 2 o'clock, i have the most defined, crisp, crunchy chug i could wish for, but read on, because my relationship with shredmasters has not always been so rosy...

my problem with this pedal goes back about a year. i got a shredmaster because i had switched from bass in a band to guitar in a rock/noise duo and was learning about guitar sounds and how i could use them. shredmasters get a great right up, so i thought i'd try a few good pedals, and see what i liked. i was playing a gretcsh sparkle jet into a marshall solid state, and was impressed, but it was always a bit muddy. i didn't understand the hype. these are easy to sell, so i flogged it on and tried some more things. thren i got a tube amp, and cos i was always looking for a better sound, i saw a very cheap shredmaster on ebay and got it. it was better with tubes, but still not that amazing, so i carried on buying and selling to find the right sound. recently i got a very nice epiphone les paul which was heavily modded with very good pick ups and and entire set of new hardware, wiring, tuners etc to bring it up to near gibson spec, and an orange tiny terror which is one of the best sounding little amp heads i've heard. i then saw another shredmaster on ebay badly listed and going cheap, and thought if i still don't like the sound, i'll sell it on for a profit. HOLY ****. good tube amp plus fat gibson guitar sound plus shredmaster is THE BEST DISTORTION OUT THERE. bear in mind i do heavy, heavy rock, noise, metalish stuff with distortions, and this is by far the tightest, rishest, thickest, most defined sound i've ever been able to make. i've tried everything you can think of - boss, mxr, blackstar, zvex, amt, ibanez etc, many o/ds, distortions, tube screamers etc, and now, after possibley between 60-70 pedals, this is it. it is THE BEST, no questions. if you want the tightest, edgiest, thickest, most defined sound, pick up one of these as cheap as you can. if you don't like it, sell it on for a profit, but if you have good gear, this will repay you.

20 odd years old, solid as a rock.

absolutely amazing. i've tried them with bright guitars (single coil) and they sound good, but, as is the case with most marshall equipment in my opinion, if you match marshall guitars to marshall effects and marshall type amps, you get the best sound you could possibly wish for. simple stunning with so much bottom end, awesome mid and treble control and plenty of head room.

It is VERY EASY to get an INCRDIBLY ORGANIC Tone out of without sacrificing your Marshalls inner tone already (If you run it thru a diff. amp likea fender it will sound like a cros between the two. Not a bad thing wither actually. ran it thru a 66 pro and it sounded really good . cleaned up the notes andthe nswitch of for killer clean . Ultra portability and 40 watts of tone heaven @! would bring my 1991 Marshall Blues breaker for funk and blues fusion and such , chords as well. !
1st edition diff then 2nd edit.
stock

First I ONLY USE THE SHREDMASTER & BLUESBREAKER thru Non Master volume amplification.If you dont . youll get a slightly muddied tone running it thru an already beefed up amp with internal gain. not good ! YOu want killer gain from the pedal (w which this is one of the4 rare ones that has it and then go to clean on the drop of a dime ! I run the 1991 Marshall shredmaster and a 1991 Marshall BLues breaker for differant tones from dhredding ,fusino, funk, r&B, soul, instrumental playing, chod work, originals , covers all styles it handles with ease thru my beautiful 1977 Marshall "HOME TAG" 100 watt Superlead with 100% NOS QUAD SIEMENS and my V1 V2 & V3 positions holding original NOS MULLARD 12ax7 G.Britian 1960s . AWESOME TONE ! YOu MUST START WITH YOUR GUITAR ANDYOUR AMP FIRST ALWAYS >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>THEN set up the Shredmaster after youve gotten optimal tonefrom the amp and guitar .Im my case I use a couple of 2001 minty PRS Single Cuts with #7 P/UPS (Great Tone and PRs;s finest moment IMHO in pivkup history so far also my prize and glory which is a well done 1973 GIBSON LES PAUL CUSTOm. I had hte neck painted . XJ tall and thin mnd you frets installed and the serial number burned in a litle better just mainly aesthetics. Ithink thats why people go forthe ESPs they have the big ars Fret material but the bodys are not very welll made. IMHO

ZERO issue

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Overall If you runa 1970s or an NMV (NON MASTER VOLUME amp I would at least TRY the Shresdmaster or the Blues breaker depending on what type tone your looking for . If you want death metal you may wish to look else where but the SHREDMAStER can be Eqd to give you RECTIFIER tone. I dont usethe SHREDS EQ at all! 0% I use the amplifications EQ!. ultra cool to go this way. The LESS OUTSIDE EQING the better i always say ! IT makes sense think bout it .

5 buttons, 4 are usual (gain, bass, treble, volume). The 5th is unusual, called 'contour' : cuts or reinforces the mediums, with a really strong action. As easy to use as any other stompbox, and a real plus with the contour, hence 10 (what could be easier ?).
True Bypass.

Here is the real matter !
I mainly play on a Peavey Classic 50, full tubes 4 x 10" speakers. My axe is mainly a US strat, or sometimes an old tele (1977). This setup is wonderfull for clean sounds, but not for distorted sounds. Here comes the Shredmaster, as a 3rd channel for the amp.

The Shredmaster is an incredible overdrive / distorsion box.
Whith the gain between 7 and 12 o'clock, it is an overdrive. Very subtle, but really there, with "that" grain we are all looking for. Much better than the Peavey lead channel, because the ShredMaster has loads of bass and still a very precise sound !

Gain between 12 and 16 o'clock it becomes a distorsion unit. The trick is that you can play at low or high volumes, it still sounds as good. I just don't understand how they manage such a sound in such a single box ! That sound is among the best I ever played on, even at low volume.

Passed 16 o'clock, it sounds like if you got a full stack of amps behind. The box becomes noisy depending on your stuff before it. I use a Shure UHF wireless transmitter, and its own noise is clearly audible at that point. With a cable there is less noise, but still some. At high volumes, this noise causes feedback, depending on your playing it can be wanted or unwanted. I just like it !

I'm in love with that unit. Through the years I used to play with different boxes : a boss SD1 and a DS1, a DOD FX100 (try one !), a Banzai Fireball II, a MT2, a Bad monkey and lately a Maxon OD9 Pro+, and a boutique tone bender (fuzz). The Shredmaster, with a rangemaster treble booster before it, does the same job plus a lot more tones. A real heaven, it is all the sounds I ever wanted at low volumes as well as at very high volumes !!

I should by a JCM - but the clean channel is not that good !

Mine came old, with a lot of scratches, no battery cover, but working fine ! A heavy unit, the only issue could come from the dust : the box is not really waterproof, and the dust quickly goes inside the pots. Old units could need an anti-dust spray inside the pots (I had to clean mine. No more problems since).
Otherwise, seems very reliable !

No idea, never dealt with them.

I Play since 25 years, and got a lot of boxes and some digital multieffects racks over the years. But finally the axe, the human and the amp are the only good parts for a good music !

With that little box, the link between the axe, the human and the amp is better than ever! Really amazing how such a little box can sound good.
Very reactive to the volume pot on the guitar ! I generaly put the gain at 16h o'clock on the unit (no more because of its noise), and manage the amount of distorsion with the guitar pot. Very transparent - remember, I play on a strat and the subtle harmonics are still there !

I mostly play blues, rock & metal in a local band, and the shredmaster is OK even for metal (thanx to the 'contour' knob). Really helps making a better music, because its sounds so much 'organic' and interactive.

Of course I would immediately by another one, should I lost mine !
But they becomes difficult to find, and prices are quickly increasing !

Very Easy: five knobs, selfexplaining.

Great.

To refer to the last two reviewers: unwanted feedback is not a matter of the shredmaster but rather of cheap humbuckers or single coils. When I bought my Epiphone Les Paul, it was also euqiped with cheap pickups and it squeaked like hell. After replacing them with semour duncan 59 humbuckers I never had problems like this again.

(Other possible reasons for feedback are: (semi-)acoustic guitars with too much gain, very loud playing in very small rooms)

Outstanding. Built like a tank, as the saying goes. Got mine for 8 years, now. Never had any problems

Never had to deal with 'em.

Superb. Great distortion - a real classic.

Well...five knobs. Not that difficult to handle! Didn't ever need the manual at all. I just leave bass and treble at 12:00; no further adjustment needed. I once tried to crank treble all the way up, to get a "mean" fuzz-sound, but that`s not what it`s made for.

Then to fix the amount of gain. Actually it doesn`t really start to distort below 12:00. So you could also use it as "clean" boost. At noon it`s still a bluesy kind of distortion. But the more you crank it up, the more it unleashes the beast inside.

Contour is brilliant, since you can vary from classic Rock to Metal with a little turn of the poti.

I`ve been playing guitar for twelve years now (since I was 14), always collecting good stuff and doing a lot of internet-research, checking out youtube for soundsamples - so I`m comparing all the time. I`m very much into boutique and vintage effect pedals.

When I bought this pedal, I actually wanted to buy the drivemaster, but it was sold out. So I decided for the shredmaster. It was definitly a good choice - it gives me a good complemantary distortion sound to my smooth overdrive (Fulltone Fulldrive2) and it has become one of my all-time favourites.

I`m mostly using it with my Roland Jazzchorus (stage & rehearsal) and my Fender Champion600 (home practise), to switch between sweet fenderish clean and rough marshall sound. Of course, I could therefor just use my Marshall DSL401 or my Marshall El84-20/20-halfstack (which are both great, too), but to me the sweet clean sound of the Jazzchorus is indispensable.

I once was a big fan of Guns`n Roses, Metallica, Monster Magnet, Black Sabbath and especially Slash, trying to mimic his rig as good as possible. Of course I`m still a fan of Rock and still love and play sounds like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Lenny Kravitz, Ten Years After, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Gary Moore and so on, but I also discovered other styles of music (Reggae, Rocksteady, Dancehall, Ska, Funk, Jazz, Blues, Beatpop), . So I sold my former Marshall JCM900 Sl-X halfstack and kept the Shredmaster.

Other effects I use:
Crybaby, H&K Rotosphere, H&K Tube Factor, H&K Replex, Marshall Supervibe, Marshall Compressor, Marshall Guv'nor 2, Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Fulltone 70 & EHX Little Big Muff (both ordered, but not yet received), VoodooLab Tremolo (one of the best tremoloes out there imho), Korg DT-10 Tuner (forget Boss TU-2; imho)

My setup:

Gibson Blueshawk --> Korg DT-10 --> Crybaby --> Fulldrive2/Shredmaster/Guv'nor
--> (sometimes) VoodooLab Tremolo --> Replex (Delay) --> Roland Jazz

It differs from time to time; let`s see if it changes again with my two new fuzz pedals ;-)
But for distortion I will always choose either the Shredmaster or the Guv'nor.

It was the first pedal I ever bought (right after I got my Zoom505; but I wouldn`t count this as a pedal) twelve years ago and it`s still in a splendid condition. Solid metal-casing, the knobs give you a good grip and on top there`s a good ol`metalswitch (important to me, since I don`t like the boss-type footswitches).

Just what you call "Built like a tank". And nope, I would never play with a backup, because I doubt it, that it could ever break. It`s built for eternity.

No need for this unit.

Although it doesn`t quite fit the music I play (as I mentioned it`s mostly reggae with my Band & 60ies style Rock and Beatpop for my own joy) it provides for all contingencies. And who said, that Reggae music can`t come along with rockstyle solo parts? Besides; even musicians playing "light" music, need to flip out from time to time!

I wouldn`t replace it, if it was stolen; instead I would hunt down the thief and then take back what is mine!

One thing that`s very important to me is: this thing has a true bypass and a standard 9V jack (unlike the fuzz face, the Schaller Tremolo and the old MXR Phase90). Ya know, I hate running my effects on battery.

It's not as easy like a two knob pedal, but it's fun to play with those 5 knobs. The contour is owesome!

I'm using a Fender Super Six amp.
My chain is USA Fender Strat- BOSS PW10- Whammy- UE400 Comp-UE400 Phaser- UE400 Overdrive- (on an external loop)ShredMaster- EHX LPD1- Visual Sound H2O- (back to the UE400)UE400 Chorus/Flanger- BOSS Spache Echo- BOSS DD20- Line6 DL4- BOSS RV5
I had a TS808. It's a nice overdrive, but since I have that vintage analog Ibanez UE400 I sold it. I wanted a real distortion next to my overdrive. The ShredMaster is a masterpiece. :)
First, when I bought it used, I was afraid, because it was very quiet even when I'm turned the volume all the way, but I brought to my friend who fixed the volume knobs. I was so excited when he said it was wrong as I thought and he fixed, so I went home and turn it on. WOW!!!!!! The best distortion I've ever had!!! Of course you can do terrible sound out of it with the contour knob, but that's just a plus (if you ever want something like that on purpose)

Well, the plastic battery cover allready missing, the foot switch allready has been reinstalled, the jack input is loose......but, it's an old, old pedal and it's still around us! :)

have no idea

I play indie, shoegazer. This is what I wanted!
If it were stolen I'll be in big big trouble, because not many around here, so if you find one, buy it!!!

Very easy... For children :)

GREAT SOUND!!! Shred Master is the BEST of the distortion pedals. It is REALLY THE BEST!!!

Also I use Gibson Les Paul Custom, Tech21 Tri-A.C. and connect it to mixer console.

Didn't try...

I play from rock'n'roll of 50's to hard and heavy of 80's.
Playin' guitar from 1974.

Easy to dia lin a sound with this pedal. I use it wiht either my 1977 Marshall MKII 100 Watt Jmp or my 19722 Marshall 100 watt w/ laydown mains ( marshalkl actually haad put this laydown mains into this 72' as verified by a top tech of ours. The 72' is a Superbass while the 77 MKII PCB is a superlead. BOth amps are with "HOME TAGS" and as close to MINTW as possible and very original incuding trannies, caps and such. onto the pedal.No manual needed! THis is the 1st edition with the serial number engraved in the pedal. I canttt confirm but ie owned both t he first & second ed. and they have just a slight diff. cap layout so??

10++ This is a VERY OREGANIC sounding pedal. What more can i say. Depending on what head your using ( Marshakk that is) youll know whether t o jump the channels or not. I run the EQ unity (strt up) and run the level at 55% while thee gain is at 65% to 95% depending on the sonic im tryin to achieve. If you start with a great amp this pedal only shines that much more with it. It has a wonderfully tubey and very marshal ycrunch to it without any overbearing or unwanted freq. what else can i say. dial in you r heads/ combos eeq forr 100% of the tone shaping. my left handd is injured temp. so please endure my typin.

no problems yet. slight loosenewss to the plug in jack. quick fi and nothing otherrrrr than that..

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IVe t ried OCD, Tube SCreaamer and most other more conventional overdrives, distortion pedlas which IMHO are made for MV smps. This is THEE one for anNMV marshall unless your an attenuator junkie.

This pedal is great! I found the contaur hard at the start to find where i wanted it but after i found out how to use it properly i LOVED it!!

I first bought this pedal for the signature Jonny Greenwood sound, but after i got it i tried his settings and wasn't into it, After playing around with it for a bit i LOVED it to bits! With the right settings you can get Jonny's sound. This pedal is the sound of many 90's bands! This pedal has BALLS! and doesn't create extra buzz. I play into a Vox Valvetronix and it sounds brilliant!

It has already lasted over 15 years! and i am sure it has many more to come! its solid, built like a tank! I wouldn't need a backup!

When i first got it i got new pots because they were a bit scratchy from dust, But what can you expect from such an old pedal!

I play many genre's of music with this in a few bands, one is hardcore and this Pulls off the Marshall sound brilliantly! In another band i use it for lead, with slightly altered settings and it sounds brilliant, not just a wall of noise.

I was extremely lucky to pick this pedal up right before they raised in value! from the day i bought it i have never regretted it! and if this ever did die i would defanately buy it again!

Very easy get a good sound of it. No manual. I bought it at vintage guitar store in Brazil. Only five controls - Gain, Bass, Contour, Treble and Volume. No secret!!!

I??ve looked for this pedal drive a long time ago. My amp Fender Deluxe Reissue needs of a drive pedal very hard to obtain my preferred sound, even I using Les Paul.
I was trying Fulltone OCD and Ibanez TS9 together... It didn??t work.
Both are great pedals but I prefer to use it separate although I think them very seemed.
Yesterday I bought the Shred Master. I arrived at home, plugged it into my Fender, took my Les Paul, I enjoyed, enjoyed, enjoyed and enjoyed!!!
My amp Fender sounded like a Marshall JCM 800!!! It is serious. The Shred is everything I dreamed.
It is not noisy... It is not weak.

No opinion!
It seems very sturdily built.

I never had to deal with them.

If you want to hear your amp Fender sounding like Marshall, like Slash, etc... Buy it! You won??t regret! Channel drive, of course!
I wasted very time of my life to trying several pedals. Right now I found the real drive! I kept my TS9 to play other style music; Blues, Country, Classic, etc... OCD is a great pedal, but sounds like the TS9, of course, slightly differente.

I??ve been playing for twelve years, so I can advise you - Buy it!

What can I say - it`s very easy to use. Contour knob is fantastic ! It allows you to play every kind of music - blues, jazz, rock@roll, hard rock, heavy/trash metal... etc. and everything sound great!! Very versatile pedal.

I play mostly heavy metal, hard rock. It`s the best pedal I have ever used !!! Huge bottom end deep sound - great for heavy riffs (contour and gain 9/10 or 10/10) !! But on the same settings solos don`t sound good (for me) - I need to change contour leve to 5/10, then it`s usable for soloing. It`s quite difficult to find settings good both for solos and riffs (that`s why I gave "only" 9) - but to play one of them - it`s the best pedal .
My main pickup - DiMarzio Tone Zone(bridge), second - Sey. Dunc. Hot Rails (neck), use Fender Squier Strat. I play trough solid state amp - I really can`t wait the moment I will buy a tube amp and use this awesome pedal do smash my ears !!!

I depend on it and use it without any backup on gigs. I bought it with changed footswitch...

Never dealt with them.

It`s the best overdrive/distortion pedal i have ever used or heard (I`m playing for 3 years). Much better than Marshall Jachhammer wich I have also and use to play solos. Better than any Boss I have heard or used. Far better than Ibanez SM-7 Smash Box - its sound is synthetic.

Very natural, tube sounding, great bottom. If you find one - buy it !!! It`s just great !!

Many sounds can be got out of this. Just twiddle the knobs! Gain only really comes on after about 2 o'clock, also get the terrible no mid sounds for metal if you are not careful.

This pedal IS the best distortion pedal ever. I have tried over the years, Jackhammer (rubbish), Boss turbo distortion (no bottom), Boss Metalzone and none of these come close. I feel sorry for any guitarists that use the mentioned pedals really as they do not know what they are doing!

Obviously, these are not made anymore but they seem to be strong except for the switches, which are easy to replace.

Never

This pedal is fantastic, the bottom end and all important mids are great. Also easy to get musical feedback out of it.

This pedal isn??t as easy to use as a two-knob pedal, but its completely worth fiddling around and getting to know what the knobs do. You won??t need a manual (since these are vintage don??t expect anything coming with it). If you find the sweet spots its AWESOME. and you know you??ll find them when you know what you??re after.

the sound from this unit is brilliant. wide range of OD and distortion sounds. can be bluesy but also handle metal, rock, whatever.
This is a top-of-the-line distortion, better sounding than any boss pedal or similar crap. Its lively and has soul. it has loadsa charme.

I use this with an ibanez ARC300 into the following:

guitar --> ehx octaver --> ehx microsynth --> shredmaster --> dano eq --> ehx stereo delay --> fender twin 2x12" / epiphone valve jr 1x8"

superb sounding setup. sometimes i use a vintage framus with two dimarzio superII pickups and therefore have to turn the gain down a slight bit (those PUs have a freakin?? high output for passive PUs). sounds great too.

can get noisy but most distortion/OD pedals can do this. mostly sounds great. never heard such a smooth but still in-your-face distortion sound. this is my main drive.

it was in good shape when i bought it and still is. i don??t think it??ll ever break but i have a DOD fx51 for a backup (go look it up if you dont know this, yet another great but sadly discontinued pedal). the casing looks sturdy and the knobs aren??t scratchy/flimsy yet.

I play tool/kyuss/melvins influenced so-called "stoner" rock and a little improv blues. its a really good match for my tastes. it can be quite bluesy with the contour knob around 9 o clock and the gain turned down a bit, and powerful distorted chords and still cutting and smooth leads are also possible. wonderful. show me another pedal in this pricerange (look what i paid! bargain!!!) that sounds like this. if this were stolen, i know someone who has one and isn??t too satisfied. i might even ask him for it someday. whats better than having the same pedal for a backup?
this thing thru an all-tube fenders clean channel and i??m happy. really shines!

This pedal has the usual gain, bass, treble and volume, with the addition of CONTOUR, which acts like a mid shift knob. It can really get a bluesy half-distorted sound to a scooped out mid recto sound, with the gain on 10 and the contour on 8-10. Great variety, takes a bit to adjust, but every sound is great!

Okay, here we go. I can't believe how fanstastic this sounds with my nonmaster marshalls. I use it with a 100 watt '69 and a 100 watt '72, and it sounds wonderful! I bridge the channels and lower the bass a bit, it is dark, and the sound really shines! I just gave up my tonebone hot british for this, the shredmaster even sounds clean and heavy gained out and using the neck pickup! Most of the tube drivers fart out on the neck, but this thing shines!! WHY DID MARSHALL STOP MAKING THESE! Then again, why did they originally stop making the nonmaster volume amps back in the 80s? Well, since they are remaking a lot of the classic amps (hopefully they will get it right soon) they may remake this pedal!!!

built like a tank!! I really think this thing could be driven over by a car and plug and play!! the on off switch is a little weak, but it works! Funny, the knobs remind me of the marshall amps, some turn easier, and they have ranges of sound, rather than each notch changing the sound, great stuff!

huh?

Overall, this is my main pedal for the nonmaster marshalls!! It sounds like a tube screamer boosting an MXR distortion+ without the noise!!

set gain to full, set bass to 1-2 o'clock,play with the treble this will dictate the "darkness" or the "lightness" of the sound. Play with its contour, the higher your contour the thinner the sound gets(less presence for solo's)use the volume for presence to catch up. So for a chunky,crunchy sound lower its contour. turn the unit for awhile.set your amp volumes "clean" to desired settings, then turn on your shredmaster and adjust its volume to catch up with its clean. this will asure you of a balanced presence or kick for rhythm and lead solos. plus this setting will balance your tone and volume and incase you want to switch it on or off for your song. very easy to use but you have to appreciate blues rock, rock n roll, blues, jazz, classic punk, even metal etc. to appreciate its simplicity and smoothness. most modern rockers don't deserve this distortion. they should just buy a metal zone or something.

50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's sounds. from inxs, to rolling stones, to sabbath, to zeppelin, etc. i use a fender amp so i can balance it's clean to distortion, i either use a les paul(US standard) or a strat(US standard). depends on my mood or sound i have to get. but more for my mood. i can play either guitar for this set up almost any song(give or take). its best used with a passive by-pass modulation. It whistles a lot(depends on setting, wire condition and distance of amp to user), in return for power and sustain. my set up is: Amp---Shred---sansamp GT2(for variation. never at at the same time)---passive by pass Modulation---vox wah--guitar. thats 7 years of playing.

you can depend on the casing! But not the nipple like foot switch, it wears out first. dependable but always keep in in check. keep cleaning it after use. regardless of your gear bring back up if you can afford.

friendly but hard to depend on for repair. good with sales though.

classic rock, blues, rock n roll, even metal. yup its perfect for me. but they don't make them anymore so it replaced it, with a Guv'nor plus and a jackhammer for variation.

Modern rocker set ups are to dependent on digital. thats baby stuff, almost all speed. lacks imagination. till the day i find someone better than tom morelo, you guys have to learn more.

Bought it used at a flea market

When I remember to futz with the knobs it gets better...it has a variety of moods from Ozzy to Mazzy Star to Galaxie 500...tends to be a bit tempramental, but then again I practice at a rehearsel space with Marshal amps with master knobs...not my preference (prefer Mesa Boogie Head or old Fenders, but that said...it's a staple in the gear bag.
I wish the knob functions were more visible(unreadable with out a microscope) since I try to experiment with many effects pedals seeking a unique sound, but still use it as my main distortion. People always want to buy it from me.

I can depend on it even though the battery keeps flopping out due to the missing cover. As with with all vintage pedals with missing backs....wedge a piece of soft foam in there to hold the battery...it's a hassle but hey...whats the alternative?

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I play experimentel art music with a bunch of non-musicians which are getting musically better by the minute. I've been playing for 20 years.
I've had to sell great gear from time to time to live...but it comes and goes like the sun..as with old records, the best gear is the cheapest, I play an old cracked Harmony with a vintage DeArmond pick-up and a Cortez electric. If the shredmaster was stolen I would probably update it with some kind of home made gizmo often found on the net these days but not before a having a bar brawl. Although sometimes it gets in the way of good music..its me more than the pedal, however the pedal is the main stay.

ease of use, hmmm , fairly easy to get basic sounds, but fine tuning it can take some time ,but i like the fact it can be tweaked, its definitly not a one trick pony, compared to some racks though its childs play

im using this with two marshall stacks, one is a 1972 50 watt non master volume ,the model is the 1987
the other is 1972 100 watt non master volume superbass,used for guitar
i play a les paul
i find the pedal a bit noisy , but then my amps are as well, it doesent bother me
i dont think this a high gain type of pedal but it does have a LOT of gain ,just not rectifier sort of gain, if you like 70s 8os rock you will probably love it
i tried this through two marshall master volume amps one jcm800 and a jmp , didnt like it with them , it squealed very badly ,not natural feedback just crappy uncontrollable noise ,
BUT it shines with the the non master amps
i notice some reviewers comments that the pedal is too dark sounding
ive notced it can be ,but ive found if you set the pedals out put too low its dark, if you set it too high its bright
it can produce a wide pallette of tones , but i prefer it with the gain flat out
ive noted reviewers comments about radiohead ,i dont know if they are accurate or not as im not that familiar with their stuff ,
ive noticed however that with my marshall 100 watt superbass it does the sound that thin lizzy had on the track stone cold sweat,
which i think is the guitarist john sykes, definitely one their more gained out sounds, sounds bloody amazing i love it.
with my 50 watt marshall it also does a very impressive take on the guitar sound from the billy idol track rebel yell, again absolutley killer marshall sound
both these sounds or either one alone are well worth the money i paid for the pedal, i think it sounds incredible , i cannot stress this enough , use it with the non master volume marshalls, you will be blown away by the sound!!!!!!

dont honestly know mine seems sturdy, but the baterry cover is crap
and a pain in the arse,

ive used marshall for a long time,
ive lost count of how many marshall amps ive owned, i dont know if marshall would repair this if it broke, i would probably just buy another anyway
BUT, their customer service ive received for my amps has been first rate, they are always polite, knowledjeable and helpful, and their prices for repair or service are very good,
you can take your amp to marshall by appointment, for repair or service or modification, and wait and watch them work on your equipment ,they have a courtesy area where you can sit and watch them in the service area through a huge window
ive dealt with paul marshall and phil wells , they have both been great
phill wells must have spent hours on the phone with me teaching me how to run marshall se100 with an eventide for a wet dry wet setup
now THATS customer service
RATING 20

i love the sound of this pedal if mine needed replacing
i would buy another in an instant
ive owned boogies , soldano, fender,vox, carvin,eventide
ive tried too many pedals to mention,
ive come back to marshall, this pedal works brilliantly
with the four hole marshalls , amazing gained out leads and rythym
stunning

real easy to use. contour control does take a little tweaking but once you understand how it works and what it does to your sound it`s a piece of cake.

i use a 1978 les paul anniversary and either a 1981 marshall jcm 800 half stack single channel or a 1984 peavey heritage vtx.....pedal sounds great on either amp.......

like the previous guy, i also laugh at some of these reviews. guys playing a whole 2 years(wow) and giving low ratings for one of the most sought after distorion pedals on the current market because it does`nt have enough gain, that is absolutley ridiculous. all that gain only covers up shitty guitar playing. i`ve been playing thirty years plus and believe me, i know what a crappy sounding rig sounds like, as well as a good one. this pedal is absolutley awsome if you like the british/marshall crunch. it can sound just like a jcm800(i have two of them so i know) or the jcm900 high gain master volume(had one of those too) with the extra 11-20 gain knob. loads of GOOD feedback if you know how to use it. this pedal has plenty of gain. like i said, i read here where some say it does`nt have enough gain, thats total bullshit. if it had anymore gain, it would sound like a buzz saw. it really depends on your amp and the guitar you are using. the guys using fender strats with single coil pickups will never get a crunch like my les paul can get. so before you complain about the amount of gain this pedal "does`nt" have, try all guitars with this pedal, not just your cheap fender copy with weak pickups. so, if you want to sound like computer generated crap, then get a boss metal zone or something. this pedal is just dripping with authentic tube tone and it sounds great.

i have had mine since 1990 and all i ever had to do was have a new foot switch installed. i play every weekend so that pedal has had the living shit stomped out of it and it still sounds as good as the day i bought it. the original stomp switch lasted for 14 1/2 years. i had the new one installed last year(2005). seems like a good reliable pedal considering how many times i stomped on that thing.............

never needed it

i play all kinds of music in my band. everything from metal to country. i use a blues breaker 2 on the boost setting for country leads and the shredmaster for classic rock and metal. the SHREDMASTER one of the best distortion pedals ever made. just go to ebay and price them (around $150-$200). yea, it does sound like an overdriven marshall, but that is the point now is`nt it. if you want a chain saw sound then go buy a BOSS heavy metal HM-2 or a metal zone. i know because i own a BOSS HM-2 also................

Pretty much self explanatory, just plug it in, and start jiggling with the controls, hit that switch to turn it on and off.

My setup is nothing fancy, Japanese Fender Stratocaster 62 reissue and a Fender Champion 30 Watt amp. I developed very high expectaions for this item and was thrilled once I won it on Ebay, imagining my Radiohead crunch or my Sonic Youth noises coming through the speakers. Well, I was disappointed. Even with full gain this pedal sounds more like an overdrive pedal than a distortion pedal. Sure, the contour button can give you some versatility, but at the extreme right setting there is a very bad drop in tone, and in the extreme left setting there is a drop in gain, so you end up somewhere in the middle anyhow. The new DS-1 I bought easily out-noised this pedal. The Shredmaster should be of better use as a light distortion pedal or as an overdrive pedal, but don't expect much more than that. If I connect through it when it's off it somehow gives a better clean sound for my guitar than a direct connection, very odd feature.

Looks very sturdy though the power connection seems a big jigly. Also, I bought this second hand with one of the original knobs missing, so watch out for them falling.

I play alternative rock (Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins) and some blues and just a little jazz. I found the pedal too weak to use as a distortion pedal since I'm looking for that killer grungy sound which it simply failed to deliver. However it could be of use as a strong overdrive pedal since you can get quite a few different tones with it by playing with the knobs, then again you'll probably find one you like and stick with it.

pretty easy.. gain, bass, contour, treble and volume..unlike the drivemaster, the volume level stays pretty constant when you apply the gain

i use a strat and an es335.. plexi amp

this must be one of the most UnderRated pedal Ever!!

for starters, it's pretty quiet considering the amount of overdrive you can dial in. when looking inside the pedal, it has 2 levels of cascading circuits available. IT's very well built inside..

The very surprising thing here is how soft and musical the overdrive is when using a lower gain level. I swear that when dialing it right, you can get damn close to a Tube screamer..

As a matter of fact, i tested it with a friend that is a TS808 maniac. i was hiding the pedals behind my amp and i plugged in his TS808, a TS-9 and this pedal and the ONLY way he had been able to identify this one is by the click the on/off switch does..he was really surprised how close it was to his Tube screamer..

Things get a bit more 'heavy/complicated' when applying more gain and fiddling with the 'contour' knob.. you had a LOT of other sounds available with this pedal. from Hard rock to heavy metal to Death metal.. grrrrrrnnnnnn!!!...

But in order to get a good heavy tone, you have to understand mechanical/vibrationnal feedback..you see, when you apply more gain (a lot in this case), and you are playing loud, this pedal will enhance KEY frequencies that will cause material close to the amplifier to vibrate..ESPECIALLY it will make your guitar feedback.. loose strings, pickup, your teeth too!!

it makes me laugh reading the reviews of this pedal that some had serious feedbacks happening and blamed the pedal..!!!

OF COURSE it does that,, it's a high gain overdrive/distortion pedal.. you have to learn how not to put TOO much gain to have some control over feedback and adjust the bass/trebble..duh!!

i have been fiddling with overdrive pedals for years and i am very happy to have gotten this one..
i am able to get 3 very good sounds with this one..

a tube screamer type overdrive
a hard rock Marshall sound
a heavy metal/distortion sound

seems pretty tough..this is the black metal box with the 5 knobs on the front on a lower level to prevent your foot from accidentally change the settings..

the battery door sucks thought..it's all metal except thig..flimsy battery access and the battery is loose inside..(i fixed that with a piece of styrofoam..

i dunno

worth every dime .. this is a great addition to my pedalboard..which is :

guitar -> modded vox cry baby -> shredmaster -> TS-9 -> vintage electric mistress -> amp

i will be using it as my Marshall overdrive sound.. the Output level is not very high.. so it's at 3 oclock all the time..

i reduce a '1' because of the battery door..

As far as this pedal goes for use. Yes it is tricky to get what you want from it. Tho its all very much worth it. Bass Treble Contour Gain and Level. I bought my second hand so no manual. The gain is superb tho at around 3oclock it starts to get a bit sensitive with the tweaking. Control of low gain tho is a sinch not a problem at all.

My set up is as follows

Japanese made Fender Jazzmaster > Marshall-Shredmaster>Electro-Harmonix-Big-Muff>T-Rex-Mudhoney>DevilsFXMod-Boss-SD1>MXR-10BANDEQ> Ernieball Volume;Tuner

---effects loop---- Line-6-Echo-Park>Boss-DD3>Ibanez-AD9>EHX-Holier-Grail>Digitech-Whammy-wh1> Ernieball Volume ----- Into Vox AC30cc2

The Shredmaster is ESSENTIAL to my sound. I have it set pretty low to give my tone a bit of an edge and dirt. It also still crunches and gives me a sound all of my own. Down low is where this pedal really shines. Plus with the Big Muff and Mudhoney infront of it you can really tear apart your sound. Shredmaster definetly

It is not noisy at all DEAD SILENT even all the way up ive never had an issue with the pedal. And as far as my tone goes it leaves my signals original sound untouched unlike some digital atrocitys ive played with

In reference to Jonny Greenwood yes he is my favorite guitarist of all time and he and Thom did use this pedal but why emulate his sound when you can create your own with this versatile tank? Its endless. Doesnt matter if you buy it coz u love the Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine or Radiohead sound this pedal can bring you into your own

Apart from a stick swith that corrects itself after a few seconds this pedal is completely reliable. Buying them now means buying second hand so you have to appreciate they are already torn up a bit when you get them. But i would be lost without this pedal although i trust it enough to not need a back up at all. Its never died on me once and i dont think it ever will when im depending on it

7 - for the sticky switch

Never had to deal with them

This pedal can suit almost any heavy loaded genre. If you want to tear apart your sound this is the pedal. It even does subtltys nicely aswell but i cant think of any one who would deny this pedals qualitys. If they do its simply narrow minded. The only thing you wont get is that calafornian metal sound but you dont really want that anyway and any1 who buys this pedal thinking they can get it from the unit obv hasnt done anywhere near enough research. Im hanging on to this pedal forever without a doubt. If it ever dies ill make sure its brought back to life its the only unit i can depend on for the sound it gives you cant really find anything else like it.

Its controls resemble Marshall's Valvestate amp line, having Countour control instead of Middle. Contour on the far left makes the sound less bassed and trebled with emphasized middle and by turning it clockwise, the sound gains in bass and treble and drops in middles. At the far right position the sound somewhat resembles Death's on "Human", which shouldn't be a surprise, since Chuck Schuldiner was an avid Valvestate head+cab user.

I used it with '76 Master Volume mk2 Marshall (pre-JCM800, sans FX loop) through the Low input and it sounded awesome. It also gets the best possible sound out of crappy amps, giving it the Marshall flavour, of course...

I own it for 10 years and it has always served me extraordinary!
The complaints I have are the footswitch, which fell apart internally (!). It is soldered directly through the PCB, so if you have a replacement that doesn't fit the holes, you'll have to widen them or search elsewhere. I had to widen the holes and never had the problem since.
My biggest complaint is actually the battery door, which is made of not so durable plastic. I see no point in making the whole pedal bullet proof and put the plastic battery cover! Of course, the latch has broken ages ago and now a piece of gaffer tape holds it in place.

Never dealt with Marshall

I play various forms of metal and rock and pedal suits these styles greatly. It was actually stolen from me 9 years ago at a gig and I immediately bought another one. Compared to Boss distortions it puts them to shame IMO...

A great versatile distorsion pedal. I Use it from more thant 10 years now, and i'm always surprised how the crunch can be warm and how the heavy distorsion can crush my ears.

This pedal can sound with every amp (pretty impressive with peavey bandit 112) and it works well too with my v-amp Pro.
Very great for recording, the by-pass is a true one and there is no noise when using a 9V battery.

The greatest distorsion pedal i've ever heard. Nigel from Spinal Tap certenly loved to rate this with a 11/10 ....

the push/push knob is the only part of the pedal what can be broken. Change it yourself for a better one, and it's ok for decades of playing.

I can't play with another distorsion pedal now. It's a part of my sound for more than 10 years.

Playing Metal, you can get sounds from Hetfield to Dimebag.
Playing Rock, you can get sounds from AC/DC to the Stones.
Playng blues, you can get the crunch you want.
Playing anything else... You can always found something you want... Or By pass the pedal ;)

Very easy to use.

Well, it's almost the thing I'm looking for, but there's one thing that I find really annoying. The Shred Master cuts highs as some other reviewer told. It's really very stupid, because the sound would be very good indeed, if there only was enough high end. You can't fix this by using your amp's eq knobs, unless you keep the Shred Master on all the time (I don't). It doesn't matter which guitar or amp you use, it's still the same result. May be there's a wrong kind of a treble pot, who knows? I'd give it a nine if this problem wouldn't exist.

It's made of metal.

Anyway, I can find good sounds, too. If the highs were there, it would be much better.

Very easy to get a good overdriven, chunky tone. The manual is not needed as the pedal is very simple to use: gain, treble, contour, bass and volume.

My basic setup is either a les paul or a strat through the shredmaster into a 50W non-master marshall head driving a 4X12 greenback loaded cab. The pedal will exhibit minor residual noise at high gain levels but nothing I ever worry about. It has lots of gain on tap and is pretty good for palm muting. The contour control helps you get anything from a blues or rock tone to a super scooped metal tone. Many different sounds are hidden in this pedal waiting to be unleashed by fiddling with the contour control. Tons of deep bass can be dialed in or out without affecting the treble frequencies. The treble control can be a bit piercing when dialed up very high, but it's very smooth from 0-tomore than halfway up. Not a very loud pedal, but it does get much louder than the amp. Nicest thing about this pedal: it cleans up really well with the guitar volume control.

very dependable, although the weak link in this pedal seems to be the "smaller-than-standard" metal footswitch. Mine hasn't failed me yet and it's about 13yrs old all original. So, I'd say it's definitely roadworthy but needs to be checked from time to time. Just don't run it over with your truck and it'll be fine.

Dealt with the company direct on a couple of occasions, though unrelated to their pedals. They are helpful and friendly folks who promptly tended to my problems every time I called on them. I wouldn't send this pedal back to england for repair and korg - their US distributor is just pathetic... However, since this product is quite simple in design and parts, any decent tech could tackle any problems with it.

I play a mix of rock, blues and metal. The pedal suits me fine for all 3 genres - very versatile. Been playing roughly about 20yrs and gigged heavily the 1st ten. Although now I do just the occasional jam with old friends. Own lots of other gear. Among distortions and overdrives I own (boss DS-1, Blues Driver, tubes screamers, MXR Dst+, EH BigMuff) the shredmaster is by far my most favorite. If this one disappeared, I'd just build me another one - it seems simple enough. This pedal is a very versatile overdrive/distortion, solidly built, still cheap and fairly easy to find, with all analog circuitry and good-looking too. Definitely a pedal that makes me want to play more.

It`s got one knob for gain, another for volume and three for EQ.
All of them work pretty well and make the device quite easy to use - within a few seconds, I get the Shredder adjusted to my amp.

The sound quality is simply amazing. I would like to say that it`s the best-sounding distortion-box I`ve ever heard.
It offers very harmonic distortion and it was obviously designed to reproduce almost all of the classic distorted amp sounds that Marshall is know for. Besides, it offers tremedous gain allowing for endless sustain even with low-output pickups.
By just experimenting with the "gain" and "contour" controls, you may get anything from old plexis to jcm2000.
It may even only be used as a booster pedal to overdrive a tube amp, as it has such a good equalization function apart from the drive/gain itself. For guitar player who generally like Marshall, this is paradise ! Others - I think - won`t be too pleased, since it isn`t really versatile beyond the "Marshally" sounds. I got the impression of a pre-amp to simulate the sound of the classic stacks and combos, less of an ordinary disto stomp box.
For example, you cannot make it sound like a fuzztone or a metal-type box (e.g.Boss DS-1). It simply makes any tube amp sound like a Marshall.

Made of solid steel. I gig and practise very often, and I`ve been using it for about 7 years without any problems at all.

I have never contacted Marshall.

I play Blues and Psychedelic Rock and I am very much influenced by Hendrix' and Trower's tones (Strat through lots of effects into a tube amp at high volume levels).
I use different Wahs which come first in the effect chain, along with an old 2-stage phaser behind them. Then comes the ShredMaster and some chorus and delay at the end of the chain into a 50-watts Laney tube-amp with a 4x12 cabinet (75 Watts celestions).
The tubes of the Laney are just about to distort slightly when I turn it on to about 50% (Preamp and Master at about 12 o'clock), and that`s a good job for the Shredder: It fits perfectly with the amp's own distortion and offers endless sustain while keeping the tone quite clean and defined.

Well 5 knobs is trickier than most pedals so it gets an eight.

This pedal is not for everybody. This pedal is basically JCM-800 distortion in a box. This pedal sat in my closet for the last 9 years during which I felt it was redundant to my JCM-800. I actually tested this switching between the overdrive channel on my amp and the shredmaster. They are of the same genes.

I rediscovered this pedal after purchasing an Orange AD30 amplifier. I was considering selling the shredmaster and thought I?d pull it out and see if I could find enough redeeming qualities to keep it around. I put it in-line with my favorite distortion pedal, an old russian Big Muff Pi.

The AD30 and big muff are very warm, full, and rich. The AD30 and Shredmaster is comparatively lo-fi. Like the signal is being compressed. This is not an insult to the pedal. I find the sound strangely appealing. There is a lot of versatility in this pedal. You can get some nice sounds and some really, really crappy ones.

You should also note that this pedal does not sound good with all amplifiers. I have plugged this thing in-front of two different solid state amps (one fender, one peavey) and they both sounded terrible.

I bought this pedal new over 10 years ago. It sat in a closet unused for 90% of its life. The pots crackle when you turn them and it adds noise to your signal. Points deducted for using shoddy parts.

Some will like this pedal, others will definitely not. With the price these things are fetching now you may want to try before you buy. One thing I can say for sure, this pedal has some unique tones. One of them may be your sound.

I play indie rock and blues rock. I think I'll keep around. Maybe?

Its pretty easy to use, but like most people have said the contour knob may take a lil bit to get use to, and by a little bit I mean 5 minutes tops.

I use a 76 Twin so i get all of my distortion from pedals. And i have tried so many differnt types of pedals, and i could never find one that was completly what i wanted. And i had 3 distortion pedals in my line until i got my shredmaster. I had a Boss Turbo Distortion, Boss Metal Zone, and a Mxr Distortion +. This Pedal by far is the best sounding. It sounds so much like real amp distortion, i love it. The only complaint is it is a noisy little box, but its worth it because it sounds soo good. You can get a lot of differnt sounds. They should have named it something differnt, because the Shredmaster title makes it seem like it should be a metal distortion, and its not.

I dont think ill have a problem with it.

I play all differnt kinds of music, and this thing is great. This is a pedal for anybody that plays rock music besides heavy, heavy metal.



www.jeffersoncolby.com

this is an update to an earlier review

one thing I'd like to note is even with the gain on max, which is the only way I like to run this pedal (in my opinion it doesn't sound that great at lower settings), the noise is pretty minimal.

I found the secret Jonny Greenwood tone I've been racking my brains trying to get...it's a simple trick!...read below! the result is so creamy and smooth, it knocks my socks off. maybe another pedal would come close, but I haven't really tried any other high gain pedals with my new trick

you can get some passable sounds with this pedal on its own, with off axis mic placement when recording, but for live in the room in your ears sounds I much prefer to run it as described below

OK, the Deluxe 85 is a pretty good sounding amp, one of the best solid state amps I've played. I like it better than both of the newer generation amps which I have owned (Deluxe 112, my first amp, and Deluxe 90, my sister's amp) bright fendery cleans, a bit too glassy for me, so when I want clean i run my overdrive pedal at low gain to fatten things up...but I do this on all my amps, you might like this sound. exception: humbucker guitars sound good to me with or without the overdrive pedal. (the hot rod deville sounds to my liking without needing any pedals). the gain channel on the Deluxe 85 is just horrible, fizzy weak and crappy (the deluxe 90 has a decent sounding gain/more gain channel). what I really use it for is to run pedals through it on the clean channel.

HERE IS THE SECRET JONNY GREENWOOD TONE:

the trick is to take the marshall shredmaster, which on its own is bright and fizzy (marshally I guess?) and RUN IT THROUGH AN OVERDRIVE PEDAL set for low gain. (putting the overdrive first in the chain doesn't really change the tone much at all) Jonny uses a boss SD-1 (that's S.D., not D.S.!...yellow, not orange); I use a reverend drivetrain II (love it). this shapes the tone, taking away the fizz and imparting a smooth, smooth, focused sound that's great for rhythm or lead. turning down the treble knob on the shredmaster does NOT accomplish the same thing. through my selmer treble n bass mk II and celestion loaded avatar cabinet (Vintage 30 and G12H30) (recommended), the sound with these two pedals is a bit creamier and more vintage sounding...through the Deluxe 85, it's a bit more shreddy and modern, hard to describe. both are good, useable sounds. through my silvertone Twin Twelve, the sound is nasally/boxy, not very good, but passable, so speaker selection is important! (my big muff, however, rips through the silvertone/jensens and sounds like butt blooz through the celestions) I think this two pedal whammy sounds great with single coils or humbuckers, whereas normally using one pedal at a time, I prefer humbuckers for high gain, and generally single coils for low gain.

my settings: deluxe 85: (clean channel) bass on full, treble at 3 o'clock, volume wherever. shredmaster: contour and treble at noon, bass and gain max, volume wherever. drivetrain II: drive 9 o'clock, treble all the way off or up to halfway up (my drivetrain has the "smooth cap" mod), bass to taste (noon to 2:00), volume wherever. of course you can find your own settings, but these give me sounds that I love through my amps...perhaps a starting point for you...use your ears!

This thing is easy to use. You really do not be needing to read a manual to operate it. Controls are self explanatory. Except perhaps the contor. A mid freq scoop control.

The sound out of this is very flexible. Classic rock tones through to 90's Metallica. Well almost. With low gain you can get some nice bluesy tones as well. As someone else mentioned. When you turn the contor to boost the mids, the thing gets quite a bit louder. Just one to watch.

I'd say this thing is pretty reliable. Well never had a problem anyway. Only week point is possibly the battery cover. Other than that the knobs are flush with the metal body of the thing, so can't knock them too easily. As the thing's metal it's pretty rugged. If you manage to break this by chucking it around, you're a bloody ideot. I'm giving a 7 due to the battery cover thing. However, I think all battery covers like this are easily snapped. 9 valt. Never seen a particularly stirdy one.

Never dealt with Marshall

I've been playing 10 years and don't really use this pedal often as I have a Marshall Valvestate amp which has the same sound. However, I'm not selling this thing at all, despite the prices you can get for them on Ebay.
Other gear I use is.
Ibanez JS-1000
Ibanez RG
Fender Mexican Strat Deluxe.
ELECTRO Harmonix Holier Grail, reverb pedal.
For recording on a PC. I use a Johnson J-Station amp modller. To lazy to mike up the Marshall in my small living room.
To sum up though. This is an excelent distortion pedal. Very flexible. I've no idea why Marshall stopped making them. I'm hanging on to mine so if I have to play on a non marshall amp, I can still get that over drive when I need it. I actually think the thing looks quite cool as well. I compared it to a couple of other distortion pedals. A Boss something and another thing which was more like a preamp at your feet. Anyway for me this wins because I'm a Marshall man. if you like that sound this is the pedal for you.

5 knobs relative simple to use.

One of the best OD/Distortions I've ever played. When I bought it I usualy played it with gain 80-100% but after a while I noticed its light OD-sounds. Now I prefer the gain at 1-2 o clock and the sound is a real pleasure. Think of Popa Chubby live, SRV etc. (with a strat). But it also works very well with Tele or Les Paul (Standard). The Best thing ist that the Shred Master likes my 1972 Twin and my two JCM800 (one split chanal, one one chanal). I push the SM (set to light OD)with an old black box Bluesbreaker pedal to high gain. Because this setting first gave a lot of noise to the otherwise fantastic sound I changed the two TL072 OpAmps to NE5432AN which are low noise ICs. I think that this ICs also sound a little bit better but the best thing: You get rid of the noise. You can use this setup with all my amps and guitars and it always sounds wonderful.

The quality is good at all but I'd like to have better switch.

Soundwise the best OD/Distortion. It does all the things the Fulltone Distortion Pro promises (but doesn't make) for a fraction of the Fulltone price. Ive been playing guitar since 1972 and tested many, many ODs and distortions. The shred master is a pedal one shouldn't sell. It does all sounds from light overdrive to classic high gain.If you like classic rock or blues give this pedal a try. You won't be disapointed.

Es sencillo de usar. el gain controla la saturacion del pedal, bass y treble son los agudos y medios. y el volumen al final. el control de contour es lo mas "complicado" a?ade medios o los quita a la se?al.

uso una stratocaster del 74 y una epiphone les paul standart, un fender pt-10 - whawha crybaby - ibanez ts9dx - marshall shreedmaster - boss os2 - mxr 90 - danelectro reverse delay y un boss dd6 conectado a un fender twin reverb. la distorsion central es el del marshall y noto un cambio de calidad de sonido al conectar el shredmaster encima de el ts9 (obviamente lo mejora mucho) pero en fin, tienes que jugar mucho con la ecualizacion del pedal hasta encontrar una buena distorsion. creo que hay mejores distorsiones en el mercado, pero si lo conectas a un jcm800 es de las mejores sin dudarlo.

duro como una piedra!!!! pero tuve que ponerle un par de trozos de caucho en la base, resbala del suelo.

duh...

toco britpop desde oasis hasta radiohead, y me compre el pedal por que me salio barato y lo tocaba mr.greenwood, si me lo roban aprovecharia para comprarme otro... y si no tambien, pero es muy interesante tenerlo por el control de contour a la hora de meterte en un estudio.

If you are fammiliar with distortion pedals, then you can work a Shredmaster. 5 knobs:Dist,Bass,Contour,Treb,Vol. Didn't come with a manuel, but who needs one with the simplicity of this pedal? No visable upgrades, this thing is has it's fair share of battle scars and the battery cover is missing, but I don't care cause it still sounds fuckin good.

I Play a reissued Mij Fender Jazzmaster through a Fender Deluxe Reverb II. Before I found this gem, My Rat had a seemingly lifelong spot as the first pedal in my effects chain, this has all changed and am suprized that the Rat could take a back seat to any pedal, I guess I know why Johnny Greenwood and Kevin Shields use the Shredmaster as their main source of distortion. My effects chain is like this, Shredmaster,RAT,Mxr Bluebox,MXR Phase90,Boss Ps2 delay/pitchshiter. Its kinda noisy, not as noisy as my rat is though. I think it uses analog cirtcutry, so noise is to be expected, but who cares when then pay off is sweet fuckin distortion? You can find many tones within this box and may ask your self, "how is this possible?" You may look at your amplifier and wonder why it never sounded so good, then look down at your guitar and then to your fingers with satisfaction. I like artists like Sonic youth, Blonderedhead,Deerhoof,Bjork,Radiohead,My Bloody Valentine, The Fiery Funaces, oh yeah and Melt Banana. You can get distotion that can exisit in the minds of people who enjoy good music, making your life feel refreshing and trustworthy.

I've had this for a day and I dont see it dying on me anytime soon, its made by Marshall in England so I'm pretty sure that it doesn't suck. I'd gig without a backup cause i don't think i'd want to play without it anyways.

Not sure about Marshall, I'm sure they have good support though. If anything I'd like to be able to open the housing of the unit, the thing is so old that my screwdriver cant catch the grooves, the screws are pretty much fused together w/the box. And I would get a battery case if that were avaliable to replace my library card with duck tape that serves as a temporary fix.

I play rock and electronic music. It's the sound I was looking for, honestly my guitar sounds better because of it, especially with higher notes every string is clear crisp. I've been playing for 5 years now and enjoy playing with my synthesizer as much as my guitar. I own a microKorg,Yamaha Qy70,Korg Es-1 sampler (one of my best pieces of gear),Electro Harmonix Bass Sythesizer,Honer Soprano Melodica, Yamaha classical guitar. I really love this pedal,it fits the sounds I have in my head and makes me feel ultimate excitement upon recieveing the spectacular sounds that penetrate my skin cells.

This is a fun pedal, you can get so many types of drive and tone out of it, and it still sounds Marshally! As others have mentioned, the Contour control takes a while to figure out (I've had this pedal forever, and I still like to tweak with it), but it's still a simple pedal to ooperate in today's digital world.

The first time I plugged into the Shredmaster, I was blown away by how BIG it can sound. It's got a great, full sound and has that Marshall thunk that you get with Marshall cabs, without using a Marshall cab. I play rock, blues, etc., and the Shredmaster can fill all shoes easily. I use Strats through a Peavey Classic 50 with 4-10s in conjunction with an old Peavey Bandit with a Tube Screamer, the Shredmaster, a Danelectro Cool Cat chorus, a Boss compressor and an old wah. The Shredmaster will always stay in my chain.

This thing is a tank, it's gone through well over a decade of abuse and still hangs in there. I play just about every weekend, and the only probles I've ever had were a broken wire to the battery terminal, big deal.

Never have had to deal with Marshall.

I've been playing for over twenty years, and if my Shredmaster went down for good, I might try to find another or a similar Marshall product. Right now, I am finally entering the domain of mult-effects, as I have began using a Zoom effects pedal, but as I am an old dog musician, I still love and collect pedals. IT's hard to break old habits.

Easy to use, but like any distortion pedal you need to tweak it. I like the sound a bit mid heavy. I use this pedal to push a Marshall Bluesbreaker reissue combo. Manual doesn't really help. It all depends on your amp and how it reacts to the pedal.

I use many different guitars. This pedal sounds decent with all of them, but so do alot of other OD/distortion pedals. I mostly use my Tele with a 70's Seth Lover humbucker in the neck, and a TexMex in the bridge. Good, but it tends to cut the natural highs of my guitar/amp combination. It is not a transparent OD at all. Also, it is very noisy on high gain settings-> Extremely noisy!! I don't know why this pedal is popular right now, other than rock star hype. Don't always believe the hype. People are paying WAY too much for these now. Wait until the hype dies, then buy one...The hype will die...Hopefully people will snap out of it...nobody else is going to sound like Jonny Greenwood, or Kevin Shields!

I guess you can depend on it. The switch seems dodgey though. Also, the input guitar /output to amp female 1/4 inputs are made of crappy plastic. One false move and you will have to replace one, or the other. I would have a backup, but who the hell can afford it now?

Haven't dealt with Marshall, but an ocean divides us. So, I am not sure there would be any point. Plus, this pedal has been discontinued for a while now.

I play rock music. Good match, but so are alot of other pedals. I have been playing since 1990. I own lots of other gear, including a vintage Boss OD-1, vintage DS-1, Peavey Hotfoot Distortion, Shin-ei Fuzz wahs, Turbo Rat, Big Muff, Roger Mayer Octavia. Try the others. The Shredmaster is among stiff competition.

This is an update to my previous post from 2003.

Still Freakin Awesome!

Into using it non-stop for 14 years and counting... no problems, but I take good care of my gear.

Never had a need, haven?t owned any other Marshall gear.

Still using this thing for blues and fusion, but recently getting into some roots rock and country with a Tele 52 RI, as well as a new LP Gold Top 57 RI and another modified Fat Strat with Van Zandt SCs and a stock Pearly Gates. Since my first review, I have purchased and played a few hundred hours on a VHT ST-50 with 2 x 12 cab, and an Allen Old Flame with a 1x12 open back cab with a Weber 12. I have also been playing with (after waiting 8 months) with a new Banzai Fireball II pedal, and returned a Barber Burn Unit, as well as a Fulldrive FD2 and 69 and 70?s pedals. The Shredmaster is still the most versatile pedal I have ever owned and warms up combos, open back cabs and flat sounding amps with mediocre tubes like nothing else. The name may scare some people away, but I am studying tone very conscientiously these days, and I am still disappointed by the boutique pedal market. I?m currently waiting on a Bi-Comp and a King of Tone pedal from Analog Man and am looking at either a Fuchs OD supreme head or a Mesa Lonestar head, as well as a THD Hot Plate, because it is so difficult to get great overdrive at lower volumes. But the Shredmaster still rules at warm, Marshallesque tone in a box. Think Gary Moore, Eric Johnson, Peter Green, Robben Ford. I guess Gary Moore recorded his entire breakthrough blues album with a Marshall Guvnor pedal through a 50 watt Marshall plexi head (maybe even a re-issue, but don?t quote me.) If you see one, buy it, but don?t get the new silver stuff from Marshall, it?s just not the same. You won?t be sorry!

really easy despite having more knobs on it than usual
but you'll found your tone in a matter of minutes

american standard tele with a twin reverb..
this pedal sounds really nice...as someone said:it's easy to get radiohead dist...
i love this pedal...it makes my kind of sound
i just don't give it a 10 cause it's a bit noisy

no back-up needeed

i don't know...never dealed with marshall

i play for around 10 years..and i think i found my favourite dist pedal..althoug i'd love if it was just a bit less noisy

EASY....more knobs than most distortion pedals, but why would you complain? You get more for your money.

The guy who posted a few down (Jose) is nuts! He did admit to plugging it into a shitty amp, and guitar,...so, his playing was probably shi...anyways,...
Its got great sounds. warm bassy OD, to cold hard thrash by way of contour. Easy to get radiohead sounds.
But, since (IMO) it has a distinct sound its like playing a new type of distortion. It's not the best, its just different. Easy to mess around with and find a sweet spot that you can call your own sound.

I build my own pedals from scratch, and the guts in this are very clean and was put together by someone who was having a good day or took pride in their work. Case itself is indestructible. MAYBE if you jumped from the top off your stack onto the footswitch it would break,...but youre probably not going to do that,... unless your Jose.
no worries.

Never had to contact them, thank God. Dont know anything about their support or tech teams.

Bought this pedal used in a guitar store. It was traded in for a boss SD-1... or so the dude that works there says...so, knowing they go for well over a hundred bucks online, I asked how much it was, and he shrugged (clearly not knowing anything about it) and said $45 bucks ...!!!...i bought it and ran out of the store and jumped in the car and drove home. I had it on my lap, and whlist I petted it, I whispered "my precious".... kidding. Made sure it worked, THEN i did all of the above.
It is a VERY pleasing distortion Pedal. When Ive played it for the band the first time, they all asked what I was doing differently, etc. They just said that it had a beautiful tone. But attacked like a rabid dog. Thats the thing with this pedal. It sounds like it can go from having a good day to being pissed off, all with a touch of a button, or some buttons. Reliable, and just DIFFERENT....get one and youll see. You CANT be dissapointed.

Five knobs, the price you pay for versatility.

Best distortion I've ever used. Of course this is a personal matter, but for me it's indispensable. My setup: fender stratocaster, Q tron, Soulbender, Sansamp GT2, Shredmaster, Vox wah, Boss DM3 Dealy, plugged in a slverface twin reverb. Right now I'm selling the soulbender and the GT2 couse they didn't fit well to my sound. Shredmaster is the only distortion I need (for now at least).

I have this pedal for 13 years and never had a problem.

I play rock and groovy stuff. I really love this pedal (was the first one I got) and recommend for anyone that searches for 70's rock style distortion. Can't imagine my setup without it.

Pretty easy to use, even if it has a few more controls than other distortion pedals: half an hour of fiddling and you have our pefect sound

I currently use: a USA fender tex mex fat strat (with a JB)/ japanese fender jaguar>Boss OC-2 octave > Shredmaster > Boss OS2 overdrive > EH Big Muff USA RI > Boss BF-3 fanger > EH Small Clone chorus > Maxon AD-80 delay > Marshall JCM800 100W stack(re-issue: with all those effects i NEED the fx loop!). Basically the Shedmaster is my main distortion: it sounds simply amazing ,great tone, lots of gain but still clear; I can get it to sound like my big mff if i want to (courtesy of the contour knob) or light overdrive and everything inbetween. At first i didnt like the pedal as at the time I had a fender 100W silver face combo and it sounded muddy and limp (on a big radiohead thing at the time) and my rat2 sounded much better. But since getting the marshall, this pedal has got me hooked (the rat2 incidentally sounds awful through the marshall). Can get everything from radiohead to smashing pumpkins to the pixies. Only complaint is that it is quite noisy in operation, much noisier than boss distotions etc so if i stop for a pause it has to be turned off. Otherwise fantastic pedal.

got it second hand and have had no problems except the output jack won't 'click' in any more: probably just 15 years of wear and needs replacing. no biggie

Contacted marshall about my amp but never the pedal: obviously they were very nice to me but then i spent #1200 on an amp off them. Still me nor any of my friends have ever had problems with them

I play rhythm and sing in an indie rock band and this pedal is brilliant: lots of gain (which is lovely) to play about whilst still being very clear nd warm if i need it to be. my main distortion and id kill whoever tried to nick it. impossible to uy in shops (i tried them all) but they regularly come up on ebay. get one.

Pretty easy to use, 5 knobs: Gain, Bass, Contour (scoop mids), Treble and Volume. Stomp on and off. The manual isn't much use, but you can easily figure out your own great individual sound in no time.

I usually just use my American Deluxe Tele through the Shredmaster to a Drive 80W amp. This is the only distortion pedal I use as of now, and for good reason too. This is by far the best distortion I've ever heard. The only problem is that usually I have to adjust the volume as I change the contour settings; turning the contour knob all the way to the right reduces the volume significantly. I don't feel that this is any major drawback, though. The only way to describe the pedal's sound is warm, smooth, and juicy. The range of sound on this thing is amazing. You can make it scream or you can set it on bass settings and actually sound like bass. I usually play rock, but if you crank contour all the way up you can get that metallic sound...I don't like metal, but you can get that sound from this thing. The name "Shredmaster" shouldn't be judged upon...in my opinion this pedal is better for rock than the Drivemaster, and it has more gain too--this thing is great for feedback (more gain = easier feedback/resonance). But the gain isn't the crappy noisy kind that takes forever to go stop when you stop playing; you can hear every note clearly even with all settings at max and the pedal is incredibly responsive so your sound doesn't get drowned out with noise. Only a tad bit of hum, but with a sound like this, it still gets an absolute 10.

I'd say it's pretty reliable. I haven't had it too long, but apparently the battery cover isn't very well designed (which seems to be a common problem with this pedal), and the pedal feels a bit flimsy...it rattles a bit, but no problems whatsoever yet. I'd gig without a backup...in fact, these are so rare and in demand now I probably couldn't go to the trouble of getting another one if I still have this one. It seems that the people that this pedal breaks for are those that throw their pedals across the room and try to break them. This pedal is way too precious to me to do that...and I don't usually throw my gear around the room anyway. :P

Never dealt with them.

I play rock, both lead and rhythm styles, and this is perfect for that. I find that with gain at about 4 o'clock, bass at 3 o'clock, contour at 3 o'clock, treble at max (about 6 o'clock), and volume at about 3 o'clock, you can get a nice rich sound. This pedal doesn't drown out your guitar. You can really hear the pickup character through it, as well as your own playing style. If it was stolen or lost, I'd kick myself a million times and probably get another one ASAP. I bought this one from eBay and got it shipped in from the UK. I was planning on buying another distortion, probably a fuzz of some sort, but upon receiving this one and playing with it, I decided I don't need it. This if probably going to remain the only distortion I use for some time, and it'll definitely be my main one. There is no way you could go wrong with this treasure.

I have to say, yes, it's damn easy to use in the sense of the controls being very obvious as to what they do, but it did take me a while before I found a sound I really liked. It may just be personal taste though.

It really is amazing how clear the distortion is, I can play open chords with the gain on full and they sound good! Not even a hint of muddiness. My setup is basically an SG copy (Vintage VS6B) into the Shredmaster and then into Fender FM 212R (Solid-state 100w twin speaker combo). It's also very easy to get your own signature sound, I was once playing just using my amp's distortion and my band's lead guitarist said to me "Eurgh, what happened to your distortion?".

Nothing's ever gone wrong with it, no matter how much it's been chucked about. I haven't gigged with it though, but I'm sure it would be fine...

Never had to contact them for any reason.

It's the best the best thing I've found for getting the very Sabbath-like tone I need for my band. I get some awesome tones for recording from it, it really does define my signature sound. This is all considering I only bought it as a fluke, I walked into this music shop and asked what distortion pedals they had and the bloke told me all they had was this secondhand Marshall 'cos they mostly just sold multi-fx. It was #30, so I bought it. I have since fallen in love with it and had some guy offer me #160 for it, I refused.

Basically im submitting this since loads of people here have claimed how they get their wanted Jonny Greenwood tone, i.e. The Bends. Well yeah, fair doo's, but they didnt actually say how. So ill tell you how i got my The Bends, Just and Electioneering sound. It isnt spot on obviously, i havent got lace sensors and all that in my guitar as of yet (once i sell my previous guitar i will).
Well, i actually, it took me ages to find out the tones i want, and of Jonny Greenwood's. There was no manual with it as this was second hand, got it last week. My pedal has been seen to inside the circuits, i think the stomp button has been fixed or something, as the screws have been messed with

Well, my current gigging setup is - Telecaster -> Digitech Whammy -> Line 6 DL4 -> Shredmaster -> Fender Princeton Chorus 75W Amp.
Now this Fender amp is actually quite different in sounds from other amps, especially Jonny's 85. But the way i got his Bends era sounds, is have the amp settings on quite a bassy setup, as this gives a nice clean tone (main prioity). So i countered this with relativly trebly settings on the Shredmaster, with treble on full, bass to 3 oclock, and contour i kind of mess around all the time since it changes the sound dramatically, but usally 2 oclock. This all seems to work.
These settings are really for the bends, (my fave tone, The Bends on Jools Holland was the best!). Electioneering, well i have my amp settings a bit more treble in, with the mid rounded off towards the trebly side. Just remember to do alot of palm muting.
P.S - Remember, always remember that there are three guitarists in radiohead, and so balance the sound out of all of them. Thom's distortion is very bassy. Jonny's is trebly. So, sometimes you will have trebly sounds to match Jonny's settings, and think "Sounds shit, very thin". Well, with band it sounds amazing. You can always make it a bit bassier to suit tastes though cant you. Besides, i think the Shredmaster is more suited to that.

Well, ive only had this for a week, so dont really know, and havent gigged with it yet. During practices though with band members, it was great and definitly heard it amongst the rest. I feel i can depend on it as it's pretty damn solid, no messing around, good basic shape so built very strongly.

N/A

I play blues and rock, and this is suited for both. I've been playing for 2 years, play all Radiohead, Muse, Placebo, Coral, Jeff Buckley, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, and of course, my own material. If it was stolen, i really dont know, would i get another? This was stumbled across by pure luck, in a second hand electronics store. hehe, after over a years of searching. I wish it had a built in 'Jonny Greenwood Emulator', to save us all the hassle. But i've given you a guide to get his sounds, so cool beanz go for it, rage on that axe!

This is for distortion and overdrive-it's the wedge of wedge!This is one of the early ones-a wide black number.Five controls-(l2r)Gain,Bass,Contour,Treble,Volume.Quite versatile but then I've never used it for a clean boost!Does require a little fiddling with the contour but once u've nailed it...

My setup is----Fender Big Apple(Twin Duncans,no trem)/Custom Shop Tele----Boss OC-2,Boss PH-2,Marshall Shredmaster,Ibanez DDL10,all looped through a Death By Audio Total Sonic Annhialation----Line 6 Duoverb.The amp I used before this was a Sonus SC-10 and it sounded like the hammer of Thor when I used it with the Shredmaster so I wasn't sure how the Line 6 would sound but man...In my experience this is the best distortion on or off the market.In the past I've had the DodFX56(american metal),Dod Hard Rock,Boss DS-1,Boss MD-2,Boss MZ-2,Marshall Drivemaster,EHX Big Muff(russian),Solasound Tonebender,ProCo Rat II,ProCo Turbo Rat and a Danelectro Daddy-O but nothing has stayed on my board longer than the Shredmaster.I wish it had the outrageous volume lift of the Drivemaster but it's fine just the way it is.If you want it to it'll do blues,metal,hard rock AND strip paint if it's loud enough.Not mega noisy, even at high settings(a blessing in this market)

Mine is at LEAST 3rd hand and seems to be indestructable.If pedals break and I don't use them often they just get forgotten but if this gets broken I'll probably get a letter from Jim Marshall himself.

I've been playing about 8/9 years but I've been a pedal collector(mainly distortions)since then.I'm currently covering every base from progressive metal to folk noise to speed industrial to hardcore and I don't change my rig...This pedal is ace-I was lucky because the morons in the guitar store in Glasgow(that's right-you're the rudest assistants I've ever met.Ever wonder why your store's so quiet?)didn't know what they had and I got a great deal.Superb.

this pedal is simple as hell to use, 5 knobs. didnt have a manual but then you dont need it at all. if you cant work this pedal the you are retarded im afraid.

I use a Standard Telecaster through a Fender amp, i have basically every effect under the sun. i have 2 distortions EHX Big Muff and the Shredmaster. this is just the best thing ive heard in my life, i was taken aback the first time i heard it. this pedal, however is not for everyone, the name is a bit misleading i think as its far from a harsh transistor style distortion this is more a really warm tube style overdrive, great for indie.

the shredmaster has never let me down, but then again ive only had it a few months, but i really cant see it breaking in a hurry cos its built like a tank.

Second hand, never dealt with marshall, never needed to

Quite possibly the best distortion pedal in the history of the whole world ever, i love it like a member of my family, it has the exact tone i require for my sound, works great in an effects loop cos it has true bypass. if it was stolen i'd mourn it and then get another one straight away. a must have for anyone into indie/post punk.

Just 4 knobs, if anyone has problems with this kinds of pedals, they have problems with everything.

I play a Fender Telecaster Custom, ( invested a lot in this baby ), its like a Tele Nashville with a bunch of modifications I asked for ( * too lazy to write them all * ) its like a Tele plus, I play it trough a Fender Twin Reverb Re-issue, and :

- BOSS CH-1: SUPER CHORUS.
- EHX : small Stone.
- BOSS ?? : Super-Overdrive.
- Digitech Whammy,.(most of the time used only as a pitch shifter
- DOD FX 72 : stereo Flanger.
- BOSS: Digital Reverb.
- BOSS: Digital Delay.
- DOD : Envelope Filter .
- DOD : Compressor.
- Vintage Pro-Co RAT.
- EHX: Big Muff

and thats all for now

THIS IS MY MAIN DIST, I HAVE TRIED BOSS, DOD, ZOOM!!, EHX, ALMOST EVERYTHING AND NO DIST HAS GIVEN ME THE POWER I WAS GOING FOR .

IT is almost undestructible, but if you hit the footswitch too hard ....., but hasnt happened to me, and I dont treat this pedal too well, I have kicked it around the stage for almost two years now

JUST TRY IT AND YOU WILL SEE

This is the old black "wide" type, as used my Johnny Greenwood. I haven't tried the new ones but they look like a piece of crap.

I'm only giving it an 8 here because I think 6 knobs is a bit excessive. I've never found the Contour control any use except when playing the occasional bit of Thrash (turn it up to 10). It takes a bit more fiddling to dial in the exact tone, but at least you have the option to do so unlike some more simple two/three knob pedals.

It really is as good a sound as you're going to get without using a real overdriven amp. A nice natural sound and amazing clarity even when Gain is on 10. The extent to which this sounds like "The Bends" is frigtening. It even sounds good through the pissy little practice amp I'm using at present. In fact I bought a cheap Danelectro fuzz pedal just so I can have something which sounded cheap and fedback!

I broke my battery cover the day I bought it, mostly through my own stupidity. But I had it for 5 years and spilt many different substances on it, with no effect. The switch looks like it might break, but so far it hasn't.

Considering I'm obsessed with distortion, it's a testament to the versatility of this pedal that it's been the only one I've used for 5 years. Search around for one of these - it's worth paying the extra money for something this good.

it's analog with five pots, so there is no problem. it has a true bypass, so you can use it in any effects line. i have no manual, but i don't need one. for minor inconveniances see under reliability.

ibanez telecaster thinline special custom (humbuckers!) -> Marshall Drive Master -> Marshall Shred Master -> Jacques Fuseblower 2 -> Yamaha G50-112II
i tested at home at living room level in direct comparison with my other overdrive/distortion boxes named above.
the shredmaster is not noisy, as long as you keep gain below 3 o'clock. At that setting and both treble and bass at max and contour control at about 9 to 10 you get a nice "fat" overdrive sound with very good sustain, near to early 70s blues/hard rock, e.g. Humble Pie on Performance. as compared to the drive master the shred master doesn't have much more gain, as long as you keep out of the noisy zone. the sound of both of them is very similar, but the shred master sounds to me in my setting a little bit closer to a tube overdrive than the drive master. the difference is hard to describe and subjective. there are two major differences: 1. the drive master has far more treble amplification giving distorted overtones ("fuzz"). Because I usually don't need that, i keep its treble pot at about 10 - 11 at max gain. 2. the drive master has more overall gain. Keeping volume at the same level as bypass means about 2 with the shred master, but only 9 with the drive master. it is possible that some of this differences are due to variability of production and another pair of boxes might yield slightly different results.
as a last test i tried to emulate that nice vintage sound of the shred master with the very versatile fuseblower 2. it was not possible! in order to obtain a sustain equal to both the drive and shred master i had to crank up the "fuzz" control to at least 10, thus giving the sound some additional overtones and harshness.
So overall: the shred master is an overdrive pedal with a very good vintage sound. you should not consider it a distortion box, and i did not get the point, some people think of it as "metal". i would prefer other pedals for that.

it is marshall. you can use it without any backup on stage. a minor drawback of all marshall pedals of that generation are the pots that draw dirt. it is easy to clean the outer 4 with contact spray, but the contour in the middle is a little difficult to reach, as it is hidden under the electronics.

never dealt with them

i have been playing blues to hard rock for 30 years now. so i like the sounds of the 70s a lot. the shred master is an ideal pedal for that. yes, it is a one sound pedal, but that it is great in! i hope it will last as long, as my other equipment, i. e. at least 25 years. if it got lost, i certainly would look for another one at a reasonable price. so this is where my advice for those looking for an overdrive comes: if you are not exactly sure what you are looking for, you might as well consider the drive master. try to test both of them in the same setting. i'm certain, that not all of you will prefer the shred master to the drive master, as this a question of personal taste with two boxes very close to one another.

Its very easy to use: five knobs = gain, bass, countour, treble, volume. For the first couple of days you'll think this thing is impossible to get a good noise out of, then you'll hit a couple of settings and never want to turn it off. Personally, its quite hard to get a really good sound, but its worth fiddling and finding that right sound.

Setup = 69' Telecaster Thinline reissue (about 2000) -> Shredmaster -> very old modded flanger -> Boss DD-6 -> Marshall Valvestate I 100W.

Its total bypass when the pedal is not on, so it adds no noise to the chain. The gain knob is pretty insensitive between the bottom to middle of its range, making the pedal act more like an EQ than anything. The higher gain settings are rich and full, and don't kill the bottom end like the Boss DS-1 and DS-2 seem to do. Its great for getting angry, angular sounds, like Fugazi or certain Radiohead songs (Creep, The Bends, Electioneering) with midrange gain. The countour knob is pretty useless, at the bottom end of its range it kills all the topend of the sound, and at the high end of its range it just makes a bassy hiss. You can get a good "wall of noise" out of it if you really crank it - akin to a Deftones or a loud Mogwai guitar part. Personally this thing is my only distortion, and I tend to use Gain = 9, Bass = 10, Countour = 5, Treble = 8, Volume = 5. This gives me the Mogwai grinding distortion and keeps all the tone of the Thinline.
Its a combination of the Marshall amp with the Shredmaster that seems to work the best, don't ask me why.

Its made of what appears to be sheet metal, and my only backup is the poor overdrive on the Valvestate.

Again, I don't think its likely to break any time soon.

I play mainly post-rock and math-rock. I've been playing about 5-6 years, live for about 4. I've owned a few distortions over the year, but this is my favourite by miles. Nothing else comes close to the wall you can make; get off stage and listen to it through a PA and it sounds incredible, not hissy or tinny like some distortions do.
For the simple fact that I can stomp on it and instantly turn the gentle, flowing part of my post-rock stuff into the hard, heavy part, I give it a 9.

I don't remeber , but I believe it was pretty much easy to use. the complains are about other thangs

All right , past gear review advertisement: I owned this pedal for ONE DAY UR 2 ( I swear ) of 1996 and I do not know what happened. I tried it on the guitar store, sounded OK, good ( altought not that fantastic, but good ) distortion. Then I bought and was pretty happy " hey I have a Marshall Pedal, wow " . Then I plugged it with my guitar on my (then ) crappy amp, and all the " wonderful " distortions and high gain guitar sounds just dissapeared. I tought that I wasn't using it correctly, but then I adjusted the gain on the maximum and nothing happened, still mild distortion that wouldn't be useful even for alternative stuff. So , after being HUGHELY dissapointed by this PIECE OF SHIT I traded it the other day for another really CRAP pedal, but this one was even worse. I don't know why it sounded so great on the store tho. my guitar was functioning 100 % and I assum that the pedal was not broken.

THIAS PEDAL IS A PIECE OF FECAL MATTER HOW CAN IT BE RELIABLE ?

THIS IS PROBABLY THE WORST PIECE OF GEAR I HAVE EVER OWNED AND THANKFULLY , IT WAS JUST 1 DAY OR 2 BACK IN 1996. I think that it sounded so bad that maybe this pedal was actually damaged from factory. I don't know. maybe I am criticizing a good pedal that happened to come with factory defects when I bought it. ALL I KNOW IS THAT IT SOUNDED LIKE A WORTHLESS PIECE OF JUNK.