Menatone Blue Collar

It can not get any easier i think, gain, tone, presence, volume, al you need.

Best sound i had so far in 20 years. I have it on almost all the time and i set the overdrive with my volume control on my sheraton works fantastic.

This pedal works best with a tube amp thats just a little overdriven.
turn the gain up until it gives you the drive you want, turn up the volume on this pedal so that your tube amp gets a boost. the rest is just setting the tone as you like.

I believe this pedal does not sound good on its own, without a tube amp, but that,s the same with tube screamer pedals. Works very simular to a tube screamer but you can get much more tone out of this pedal.

Np problems so far, it's a simple pedal so the only thing that can brake is the footswitch, never happend so far (2 years).

Not needed, i do al my repairs myself and this pedal has never stopped working so far.
I only send menatone an email for some info, next day i had an answer.

Pretty straight forward to use. Your basic vol. - tone - presence - distortion dials.

OK, here is the whole reason for writing this (my first) review. I bought one of these on ebay (the newer verson) due to all of the hype here on Harmony Central. It was also highly recommended to me from a rep at Anvil case company, so I gave in. I am actually quite satisfied with my tone, but like all pursuing guitar tone freaks am always on the holy grail quest. After using it with a fresh battery and a 9-volt wall wart thru my Bogner Shiva, Fuchs OD 100 and my Marshall Jubille 100 watt head and Marshall Jubilee 50 watt combo, I have to agree with the naysayers of the reviews given here! This thing is ok, but simply doesn't deliver anywhere near the tone, bottom end punch or overdrive that any one of my amps can deliver on their own. I am a pro-player and have the money to experiment a little. So I bought another older version of this pedal on ebay , thinking that maybe it was better or mine was somehow inadequate. I gave it the same treatment and tweaked, pushed and pulled this pedal every which way I could and got the exact same opinion of this pedal. Fact is, if you have a good amp and understand it and how to get tone you simply do not need a pedal to try and duplicate that sound! Boutique amps especially do not need botique overdrive pedals! Maybe a boost pedal to get your message across playing leads due to a poor soundman not paying attention, and your other obvious arsonal of tone color toys. I am sure Brian is a great guy, but I have heard many Boss overdrives of varying types blow this thing out of the water for half the price, especially the older made in Japan models. I am giving the super low score here to balance out some of these Brian Mena infactuated reviews.

No problems I know of, won't keep long enough to find out.

From what I have read here on the reviews it would seem Brian is indeed a stand up guy and a Public relations and customer supprt whiz!

I am a player and songwriter of blues layden rock, rock/latin/blues, pop rock and some jazz fusion. I have been playing for 30 + years and have owned tons of gear. This pedal does absolutely nothing for me. If I needed a pedal built like a tank that looks cool to make a cheap or midlevel amp sound better, this pedal could be an option if purchased right. Quite frankly, the tone freak wannabe's really need to simply educate themselves on a good amp, do some research on great tubes and the kind best suited for their amp to make them sing, have a good well made guitar with solid pick-ups and finally concentrate on their playing to make that tone their own. Remember, the proof is in the pudding - not in the name.

The pedal I have is hand wired and signed on the inside by Brian. I think it says #580 and is dated 5-11-04.

I'd say this pedal falls between a Tubescreamer and a vintage Marshall type distortion. It doesn't have the mid-frequency hard attack of a Tubescreamer or similar style pedal. It doesn't sustain like a Tubescreamer either so leads could be a tad choppy without a compressor in front of it. It's everything a tubescreamer needs to be on full and powerchords. The TS style pedals can't pull a rhythm together like the Blue Collar can. The BC is very full and brilliant with chords. It uses that TS-808 infamous JRC chip, but you wouldn't suspect it. This pedal proves that there's a lot more to the sound than just a silly op-amp. There are no areas of the frequency range where it thin or heavy, it's very well balanced. EXCELLENT tone. It's not a ten because it hasn't made me sell all my other pedals.

I've never had a problem with it. Although I believe the LED may shine nicely even if the battery isn't powerful enough to run the pedal. May lead to a confusing diagnostic adventure.

I play in a cover band. At home I just love playing blues and country. It's a tad harsh for country, but if you eq it right, you can get to about 98% of what you're probably looking for. For the cover band, it works very well.

...

amp i'm using is a music man rd fifty with two 6l6's, so it's in the fender school. it gives my clean amp sound beautiful overdrive. thanks.

peace

looks tough. i never step on it.

leave him alone

a gift from god

As easy as any other overdrive pedal. this is also for what is I guess, the older four-knob version (gain / tone / presence / volume).

My set up (for now, like everyone else) is a G&L Legacy/strat to a pair of Peavey classic 50's (the 4-10" and the Blues Classic 1-15") and a veritable retail outlet's-worth of pedals. Lately, I've been using multiple overdrive/distortion pedals, each for a different job: one to maintain the G&L/strat/SRV at the same volume as clean but just more overdriven (Fulltone OCD); another to get a similar sound but louder to enable me to get up & over a full and very loud band for solos/parts (Barber LTD) etc.

But for me, the Blue Collar gets a 10 for its ability to get a completely different - but still completely usable and finally, musical - lead sound out of the dreaded strat bridge pickup but without being overly shrill (the usual problem) or overly dark and muddy (the usual 'solution'). It is on the darker side tonally, but for the stock strat-style bridge pickup, it comes across as wonderfully fat and full and again, useful. Maybe more importantly, it seems to have this...lag, I guess, and I mean that in the best possible way, that smooths out the picking attack, in a really cool way. Not lag as in processing lagtime for digital stuff but more like that beautiful quality some tube amps get with some guitars.

Again, the way I'm using at least, I'm not putting it in the 'my guitar but more drive' category, although it could be run that way too. I'm using more in a 'I already have a strat-y drive covered a couple different ways and this gives me a completely different but equally 'authentic' sound to use. I don't know enough to say that it makes my strat bridge p.u. sound like a humbucker into a bluesbreaker amp, but it does actually make mine 'feel' like the clapton bluesbreaker 'album', if that makes sense. That sound on the album being a complex mixture of the player, amp, guitar etc. AND 40-year-old recording techniques, the Blue Collar gives me that experience out of my amp.

Yikes, for a first review, I've really prattled on here, kids.

(see below)

I bought this used at a great local store, had a month or two and the pres. knob got weird and after a little bit, the pedal stopped working (would pass signal even when engaged but no gain, and knobs had no effect).

I sent it Brian at Menatone and he repaired it for postage cost, even though I'd bought it used. Just great, great service and truly appreciated.

I've been hitting Harmony Central for about 6 or 7 years, never left a review until now and part of that is that I really love this pedal. And part of it is Brian's cool helpful service.

If my Proustian description under 'sound' above sounds like something you're looking for or are dealing with (great full lead sound from single coil bridge pickup), I highly recommend the Blue Collar.

I have the older 4 knob version. It is very straightforward and sounds can easily be dialed in quickly.

I have had this pedal for a while and have played it through numerous amps and guitars. It sounded great through everything I have played it with! I currently use this pedal with a tophat club royale and a 73 Gibson SG. THis pedal IS my sound! Rich, full, and tons of tone!

This pedal is built like a tank! Mine was made in 1999. Never had any problems with it until I just recently plugged in a 15volt power supply and fried an internal chip. Read the customer support for more info.

I dealt with Brian Mena directly and he was great! I told him about the 15volt mistake and he sent me a replacement chip (just unplugged the old and plugged in the new) in the mail that fixed the issue. Excellent Support!!

There are tons of overdrive pedals on the market and I have tried many of them but nothing delivers like the blue collar! This pedal will put a halt to your endless searching for the right overdrive. Highly recommended!!

Easy to use. Mine is the older 3 knob-on top w/ one below-version.

I use emg loaded guitars a few pedals into hi-gain amps or a small rack (hot-rodded marshall, soldano, etc.). The reason I like this pedal so well is that it can go from very mild (tubescreamer-ish) to a very "stiff" boost/overdrive (mxr distortion+). I needed a very strong boost to boost the tones that are already being driven. I tried all the boost pedals I could find and this one was the stongest. It can be very "throaty" sounding.
I was once at an open-jam and all that they had was a '65 Twin reissue and a Boss Blues-driver. I walked in w/my les paul and my menatone (I didn't use the blues driver)and made it through the set. It made the twin sound similar to a lower gain plexi.

I will/do consider it reliable.

I've never had to deal with Menatone. I assuming that they are exceptional.

The only overdrive pedals I won't get rid of are my boss superoverdrive and the menatone. I've been playing for 16-17 years and know what tone is. If it came up missing I would eventually replace it with another. I would recommend this pedal to everyone simply due to it's wide range of tone/drive.

This pedal has 4 knobs. It's the old 3 and 1 config, not four in a row. Volume, Drive, Tone, Presence. Musical in all but the most stupid positions such as, tone all the way down, presence on 11. Couldn't be easier to use, plug in and play something.

I have three guitars, an american standard tele, an american deluxe strat, and a gibson les paul with duncan 59's. I run into fender hot rod series amps. I run through a budda wah, a maxon od808, fulltone distortion pro, ibanez cp-9 compressor, BLUE COLLAR, ernie ball volume pedal, line 6 dl-4. This pedal is the best pedal I own. It sounds great into every amp I've played into. Enough drive to get classic rock sounds, and really cool as an extra gain boost for solos. Go check this pedal out. Extraordinarily transparent, every person who plays it falls in love with it. You owe it to yourself to try it.

I never gig without a backup, but this pedal seems solid inside and out. Steel chasis. Everything is bolted down really well. You could probably beat somebody to death with this pedal and still have it work for the gig. I won't rate this because I haven't really tested the reliability.

never dealt with CS

I've been playing for five years. I go to MI in Los Angeles. I play mainly rock, blues, and a little fusion. If somebody stole this pedal, I would definitely buy another. I might buy another anyway and just run them into each other for a little more drive or boost. This is the best sounding pedal I've ever bought. Thank you Brian Mena.

4 knobs, one footswitch, no instructions needed!!!!

I dont know if this is an older version or the latest, the knobs are all on one row, "I see theres other BC with the 4th knob on the 2nd row"? Anyway, this pedal is one of about 30 OD/Distortion pedals I currently own, and i must say it is a killer pedal that really compliments the gear I'm using and your playing abilities theres no hiding behind any fog with this pedal!!! I use a 50 watt 1971 Marshall bluesbreaker and a 1967 Fender Super reverb, 67 Tele, 69 SG, and other Vintage strats, and its awesome with ether one I use it with!!!!!! A true "OD" pedal worth any collection!!

Its Reliability is as solid as its sounds!!!!

dont need it yet....

my bands website: www.jonnylaw.us (blues-rock)
I have used this pedal for about a year now and its the best one I've had to date. My band has opened up for Derek Trucks and Johnny Winter a couple of times and I was getting a killer tone to my peace of mind & the liking of some others, I had compliments from lots of people and that means a lot!!

easy to get great sounds..only three knobs. This Was Tim Vopicella's pedal and he has a killer track on the Chapin Guitars website using this particular pedal. Ever since i heard it i've been thinking about getting one. Then Tim's orig. pedal came up for sale and i grabbed it!

Wow plexi in a box. I had a howie before but never was able to get into it. This is fun. My Vintage channel on my Zwengel just kills with this pedal. Violin tones come to mind ..i guess think of your favorite gambale tone or Vopicella...if you've heard of him. He's superb buy his CD's from Chapin guitars if you can't find them.

i just bought it but it is built like a tank. Steel housing. Steel footswitch. Bet it would be hard to break even on purpose.

Well never had a problem but menatone has their phone number listed below so i'm sure he'd fix it.

I'd say this is great for fusion but also gets into Eric johnson, van halen any plexi tone you can think of. I have a Roccaforte custom 80 so i know what a great marshall sounds like. This gives you those Scofield/Gambale/volpicella etc. violin tone in a box.
it's very very good