Menatone Fargen/VOS

This pedal definitely takes some time to get familiar with. With the master, volume, and gain there are lots of possibilities. Depending on the amp, the cut knob can come in very useful. But again, it takes some tinkering with to dial it in.

Sound is really, really smooth - very impressive. It's not a high gain pedal but does low to medium exceptionally well. While the Tim and King of Tone can get a bit "grainy," the VOS is like the name implies - velvet. Sounds nice through both my Twin and Rectoverb. While the pedal has lots of options that take some time, those options also allow you to dial the pedal in - not really a bad sound here.

Solid. No question or issues here.

Don't really know - haven't had to ever use it...so I guess that's a good thing!

Been through lots of pedals and the VOS works really well. I got my used so very pleased with the overall value. Menatone makes great pedals and would buy again if anything happened.

You need to be patient with this pedal. The pedal has a highly interactive tone section (Cut, Treble, Mid, Bass) that requires a great deal of tweaking to find the sound you want. It's worth it!! Initially I found it to be too midrangey, but once I cranked up the treble and turned down the Cut knob (not really needed in my opinion) it comes alive! It has 2 channels. The right side is a clean boost. The left side has volume, master and gain - just like an amp! The boost is outstanding - one of the best I've ever tried! The overdrive channel is very dynamic. Again, you'll need to be patient messing with the master and gain. You'll be rewarded for your patience!

This pedal was a colaborative effort between Brian Mena of Menatone and Ben Fargen of Fargen Amplification. The story is that Ben approached Brian about building a pedal that would allow anyone with a Fender-type amp to capture the sound of his VOS amplifier - sort of a Marshall meets Dumble kind of thing. He suceeded in my opinion! (think SRV on his last album). Once again, you'll need to put in the time doing some tweaking but it's well worth it. There are some tremendous sounds in this pedal. You can use the boost or gain channels independently or together to get serious over the top gain. It sounds good at bedroom volumes but it really comes alive when you get your amp working a bit. I've tried it with a Strat, Tele and Les Paul and it works great with all of them.

I'm going to assume it'll be very reliable. All of my prior experience with Menatone pedals have been great. No problems. They're built like tanks.

Ben Fargen was very helpful before the sale. Menatone is a first class company. Both companies have oustanding reputations with customer support.

I've been playing for over 30 years. I play mostly blues and blues/rock. This pedal handles these chores easily. I've owned just about every overdrive, distortion and fuzz pedal out there at some point or another. Most come, stay awhile, and then I move them and try something else. This one, so far, appears to be a keeper. It's very pricey. But it took the place of a boost pedal and an overdrive pedal that I was using so I guess it's worth it (2 pedals in one). Give it a try!