Menatone Fish Factory

Very simple and easy-to-use pedal.

Awesome. If you're a good player and have quite good stuff, you'll get every sound you need from this baby. From light and transparent overdrive to beautiful mid-enhanced lead tones. Lots of tone on your hands. No plastic sounds like Fulltones (personal opinion dear Mike...). But the Fish will never forgive your playing errors....!!

No problems till now.

Never called Menatone.

I play rock-blues and traditional rock (both USA & UK style). I'm using it mainly as overdrive/mid-drive lead, and it's wonderful.
I got a BB preamp (awesome pedal, guys) and Tonebone trimode for leads. I think the Fish will always be in my board. A keeper, for sure.
(by the way my guitars are strats and PRS', Bogner, VOX, Fender and Jubilee Marshall amps).

very simple, there's volume, tone, and gain for each of the two sides (red and blue). 2 stomp-switches: one bypass for each, and you can also run the two simultaneously. one in one out and a power jack, any idiot can figure this thing out, nothing complicated at all. i know i've seen a couple out there that have extra flipswitches for comp/cut i think, but mine is just the vol, tone, gain version.

i love the sound you get out of this pedal and like any good overdrive, the sounds vary greatly depending on what guitar you plug in.

i use either my '72 deluxe tele (humbuckers) or '62 jazzmaster along with some home-made effects, diamond memory lane, akai e2 headrush, sib echodrive (i like delay, ok...), foxrox octron, other goodies, stereo'd into my '62 marshall bluesbreaker and a little fender blues jr.

with the humbuckers, the red snapper really shines, very clear and bright, but with a full body and bottom. could definitley be used as a clean booster w/tone control. when i use the jazz i LOVE the blue collar side, the jazzmaster is such a thin sounding guitar, but when you put it through this pedal it's so thick and juicy and if you throw on both channels you can even start getting into fuzz world. i've heard people compare this pedal to the tube-screamer but IMO this offers more clarity and definition and without sacrifice of full body, if that makes any sense. the tube screamer always seemed to lose a little of the actual guitar sound to me. this pedal is definitley not for the chunk/shred masters, there is a noticeable mid-hump here. it's my favorite of it's type, although maybe not as lush and creamy as the fulldrive 2. if you're not afraid of a little bite, get this instead. oh and it's handwired and true bypass and blah blah all the good audiophile specs...

i've been playing with this thing for over a year and have not had one problem. also it's diecast aluminum, so good luck breaking it.

i've never had to deal with brian, although i hear he is kind of hard to get a hold of.

i play rock and pop, some on the experimental/ambient side, nothing really heavy or hard. i'd compare some of our guitar sounds to radiohead, mute math, faraquet. this is the only od pedal i used in the studio (give a listen to hear it in action... http://edisonglass.com).

Two Channel Overdrive Unit
Vol Tone Gain Gain Tone Vol Two switches. You can run the red side the blue side or both together which gives maximum overdrive.
Volume matching between channels is easy. Point to Point wired with true bypass.

I use a variety of gear Strat Tele SG ES335.. I play through a Fender 5E3 Tweed clone and a 1982 Mesa Mark IIB. This pedal is really nice to dial into different amps and guitars. I use the red side for adding a touch of grit to the mix very transparent. However you can run the gain high for a very nice more overdriven sound. I love this channel for its transparency. The blue side is a bit darker more like my MIJ Boss SD1 but with more tonal options as well. I can get the SD1 sound and more with the tone and gain controls. This pedal is extreemly versitile. Can also use one channel( I would recommend the Red) for clean boost.

Well built pedal with high quality switches and pots. The circuit board and internal layout is a work of art. No problems to date and I assume its reliable based on the way its built.

Never dealt with them. The website looks informative.

A great pedal for classic rock.

very easy to work with. Definitely none of the crap you see bieng manufactured these days. This pedal is downright amazing.

I have a 2003 Fender American Deluxe strat and a Peavey heritage 2x12 tube amp and it flows beautifully with this pedal. The best thing about it is that you dont have to have your amp up loud and you turn the independent volumes up just a tad and the pedal makes your guitar scream!!!!! Im so in love!!!!!!!!! The volumes are extremely senstitive. I have a yellow line6 distortion modeler and the main problem is that I maxed out the volume on that pedal and I had to go buy a seperate boost pedal to boost my signal. I went on ebay and bought a modded tube screamer and they worked alright for a while, but when I sat down and tried it out at Willies Am. Guitars, St paul, Mn. 15 minutes later, I knew it had to be mine.

I believe I can depend on it. The casing is very durable. I would gig without it only because I still have my other pedals and I can get a similar sound, but definitely not the same.

Never had any concerns or problems

This Is a great all around pedal, but a magnificent blues pedal. If your looking to get that crazy punchy SRV/HENDRIX overdrive aggresion out of your tube amp, you need to look no further. There is precise care taken on the inside because the whole pedal is handwired. They actually used a blank circuitboard that had grids and went to town putting chips and regulators and capacitors together. Upon further review of the inside of the pedal, I found that it uses 2 processor chips (4558 brown mod) that are found in the original tube screamers and the modded tube screamer that I bought off of ebay. These chips are made to work better with tube amps. I am 25 and I have been playing for sixteen years and I have had or tried most of processors out there and I am proud to say that I need little more than this pedal to be happy and if I need another one, It will probably come from menatone

Very easy to use. Can get very good sounds out of it within minutes of plugging it in. Love the fact that both channels have their on volume control. An actual two channel overdrive with two volume controls. Nice. Thanks Menatone.

Quick rundown of the gear used. 1997, 60's Relic Strat that's been customized by George at Acme Guitars (thanks George), Boss tuner, Budda Wha, Fish Factory, OCD, Choralflange, Ibanez delay, Fat Boost into an old two channel Mesa Recto 100 watt head (modified) and into a Mesa Recto 2x12. This is just what I used at this gig. Gear used varies greatly depending on avenue etc. Anyway enough of that, the sounds....

Red side or the Red Snapper side. This side is called the "Blackface" overdrive sound. I used it most of the night because it gave me most everything I was looking for. What does that mean? Well, we do everything from Buddy Holly to Green Day to Beatles to Weezer to John Fogerty to Dwight Yoakem to The Monkees to... you get the picture. I need everthing from a clean, Fendery sound to a hot-rodded Marshall sound. On Buddy Holly stuff, turned the gain down, tone at about 2:00 and rolled the volume up, nice boost with a hint of gain. Find the right pickup setting and you're there. Next song, Eagles. Left it set where it was, rolled the guitar volume down a touch, stepped on the Choralflange, there was the sound I needed for that song. Later, Hot Rod Heart by John Fogerty. Needed more overdrive. Rolled the gain up to 3:00, tone to 12:00, volume down, bridge pickup, nice fat, chunky sound. Used it along with the Fatboost by changing both gains, volumes, and tones on both pedals and they worked great together.

Blue side or the Blue Collar side. I've heard this side compared to a TS-9 on steriods. Maybe. I didn't hear the mid push normally associated with that sound. This side has more gain and the tone acts a little differently that on the Red side. Again, worked very well with the volume control on the guitar. Worked equally as well with the Fatboost. Very good lead sounds by pickup selection the gain at hand with this side of the pedal. Didn't get lost in the mix as some heavier overdrive/distortion pedals do. Didn't need to grab more volume to be heard. Very cool.

Spent some time working the tone controls on the amp to dial in sounds before taking it to the gig. Time well spent. Great pedals only make great tones to begin with sound much better. I don't like to use volume by itself to be heard. I like to use great tone and volume to be heard.

The only thing that I needed the OCD all night was for the Hot Marshall sound, ex. Green Day etc. This pedal does not do that sound as well but, that's cool. I didn't expect that.

Another cool thing as I mentioned earlier. Both sides have their own volume control and can be used together or seperately.

Used it on 2 gigs and a bunch of band practices and no issues at all. Don't think I will have any issues. I fell Menatone will stand behind the product.

Emailed the address on the web site about 18 volt power supplies and recieved a quick response. Spoke to Matt at Eddie's Guitars in St. Louis, where I got my Fish Factory, thanks again Matt, and he spoke very well about all Menatone products.

As mentioned earlier, liked every sound I was getting with the Fish Factory. I will be using it in the studio to record our next CD with. I have too many overdrive pedals and was looking for something to be more versatle and make me want to take it to the next gig and use. This pedal will be my light and medium overdrive for the forseeable future. I just like what I was able to do with it. Couldn't find a bad sound out of it. Been playing professionaly for 30 years and through much trial and error, ex. buying the wrong things, etc. know how to use my gear as a tool to reproduce the sounds that I am looking for. My gear has to deliever and earn my trust and I will use it at every gig. This pedal will earn it's way. I agree with some of the earlier reviews about this pedal. Read those too, I did and everyone says very good things about the Fish Factory. Thanks Menatone for a "musical" overdrive pedal.

No manual. Not too tough once you see what he's done. The knobs on the "Blue side" are the same as the controls for the Blue Collar. The knobs on the "Red side" are the same as those for the Red Snapper. One difference from the originals are the switches. The presence knob of the Collar became a switch and he added a cut switch to the Red side so one can reduce the sharpness a bit.

Strat into a dynacomp into a wah into "the Fish [Factory]" into an arsenal of other pedals and finally into a Road King. I love the sound of the Collar. I was able to find great tone right away. It's thick, uncompressed, and as pleasant to the ear. I've heard it refered to as a "TS-9 on steroids". The Red side has a very sweet tone. I leave it on for hendrixy chord work and I can get some great blues solos with it. I hardly turn it off and I miss it when I do.

Built like a tank. Sturdy.

I called in a few times. Very informative.

I play everything - or at least I try to. This is a great studio pedal IMHO because it has so much flexability. I play mostly Rock and Blues, but I delve into Jazz and R&B stuff quite a bit as well. This pedal can add a nice kick to beef up jazz lines and enough grit for the heaviest rock solo (maybe not metal?). I've been at it about 12 years and have owned a variety of distortion pedals. This one I won't leave home without. I'd have to save up if it were stolen, but I'd get another one.

So, so flexible, a million sounds, but all good.

Look, the man has outdone himself again. Let's face it, overdrives and distortions are always a trade off. What cuts live can sound grainy and harsh in the studio. What sounds smooth in the studio can sound miserably mushy and overcompressed live. Then you want to be able to get your sound at any volume, and make your amp do as much of the work as possible, and go from a gnarly bit of spit on your own amps power tube distortion, to full on saturated plexi, but with dynamics and top end intact and blah blah blah....

well guess what, i don't think you could get closer to all that than with this box. i certainly haven't tried anything that does and i've tried a whole lot. oh yeah, this thing can do a beautiful clean boost on the red channel too. unbelievable. btw, i play mostly funk, soul, some jazz and rock with a tele through a deluxe reverb reissue. this is flat out the most musical, versatile od/distortion i've seen. all his pedals are good, and are distinguished by maintaining lots of dynamics and senstivity, but this one just combines SO much in one package. the od/distortion for those who hate most od/distortion pedals. i could go on, but i want to go play with my fish factory.

very well built like all mena's pedals.

hear he's great but keeps a low profile. i picture a guy in an apartment with components and boxes all over the place. i almost like him more for the fact he's not all over the place promoting himself, he's building pedals to help us make beautiful sounds.

worth every penny. if you like character, flexibility and dynamics in your pedals, this guy is it. he must have a great ear and a very good knowledge of the circuitry involved.

Very easy to use.I already have the Red Snapper but it will take no more than 5 minutes to get a good setting for both sides of the pedal.

Fender custom shop '57 Stratocaster,1959 Telecaster,'62 Jazzmaster,Gibson Historic '59 Les Paul and a Les Paul Special with Fralin's P-90s plugged in a Marshall Bluesbreaker,'65 Fender Deluxe reverb,'65 Twin reverb,Vox AC30TB.Just the bet overdrive IMO! It's like it's your amp being overdriven and not like a pedal.The "blue" side is very much like a Plexi.The "red" side is great foe blues or rock and roll,when you want just a little crunch and keeps your guitar tone as sparkling as without using a pedal.

I had the Red Snapper for a few months and never had any problems so far

Not having a website to refer on is not very helpful,but,should I need help,I will call directly Brian Mena.I saw his phone number somewhere in another review.

I play 60'sRock and Roll,Blues,Beatles,CSN.
I have been playing for 33 years. I have many fine guitars and amps and I am currently building my pedalboard with various boutique pedals.The only other overdrive pedal that comes close to this is probably the Blackstone Mosfet overdrive.All the others,including Fulltone FD2Rat, they change your tone,with way too much compression.If I want compression I'll add it myself with a Keeley compressor