Prescription Electronics Experience

It's pretty standard. Until you get to the swell. W/O any instr.(mine came W/O a box or man. New from W.LA Music.) The trick is to set the Vol. at 10-11:00 Tone at 9-10:00 Sustain at 11-12:00 and then the MAGIC unfolds!!

OCTAVE IS AMONG TOP 2 or 3 EVER MADE. BAR NONE!! Fuzz is not lacking anything, However I prefer the '70.SWELL is the ExPeRiEnCe!?. No noise on batt.(Don't know the polarity on A.C. I dont use it.) Warmoth Strat or '67 SG+Monster+EXP+Vox Clyde+Mojo vibe+AD900 into G/T Solo 75 and Marshall W/ 25's= A MESS IN YOUR UNDERWEAR!!

Stomp button failed after 5-6 mo's.(it's almost a year old now)

Haven't yet called Rx. to fix mine (I can't bear not having around.) But he was cool when I called him for a manuel.

HENDRIX FANS MUST, I SAID MUST HAVE THIS IN THERE SET UP!

This pedal takes some getting used to. I am wary to be too harsh on its ease of use, however, because it does so much. It is hard to imagine a simpler configuration for such a versatile pedal.

It isn't exactly intuitive, but that is due more to the fact that the effect itself is extremely unique. If you are attempting to get a traditional sound out of this pedal then it would be more complicated than some other octave OR fuzz OR swell pedal.

I wouldn't recommend this pedal to someone who is looking to directly imitate a famous sound, even that of Jimi Hendrix. There are easier and cheaper ways.

My biggest ease of use complaint with the device is its lack of an AC jack. I have an older, uniquely painted version, and I am reluctant to modify it irreversably. Without an AC jack, it really doesn't fit in with my pedal chain.

I use this with a wide variety of guitars and amps. Humbuckers, single coils, solidbodies, hollow bodies. This works well with all of them.

Its sound quality is remarkable. It is very unique. It has an excellent fuzz that sounds unlike any other. If you turn the tone down nearly all the way, the pedal makes your guitar sound like an analog synth. Turn the tone up more and it sounds somewhere between a fuzz face and a Sola Tonebender.

The octave alone is the best octave fuzz I have heard. It sounds great on its own, doesn't need to be used with another fuzz or distortion. Plenty of gain, and the octave is audible no matter what note is played.

The swell mode is really interesting. Its an incredibly unique sound. If you are exceptionally skilled you can do an imitation of Hendrix's backwards octave fuzz solos. Getting that effect live is not an easy task, and this is probably the best pedal to accomplish it on stage. Not something everyone can do, however.

This is really something unique, however. It's not a traditional volume swell like a slow gear, nor is it a reverse. It is something different. It definitely sounds like it was inspired by Hendrix, but it is a genuinely new animal. As much as I would like to be the creative genius who uses this device to generate some sonic masterpiece, but I suspect it will be someone else. The potential is there however.

This is really a fantastic pedal for someone who is looking for something that is both unique AND musical.

This is well made. The paint falls off easily...the box should have been run through a toaster oven at least.

The jacks, switches and knobs are wired independantly from the circuit board...that is excellent, when you break something, you don't necessarily break the whole thing.

I have no personal knowledge of their support. Fortunately, the experience pedal has yet to require service.

A truly fantastic pedal. Unique, musical, and versatile.

It certainly requires more creativity than most rock musicians possess, however, that is not a slight to Prescription Electronics at all....it does however say something about todays musical talent.

Just an FYI in response to a previous post. I don't own this pedal but another reviewer didn't know why folks were trying to compare the swell to a reverse tape delay. I think probably becuase many read it at MusicToyz web site http://www.musictoyz.com/pres.htm: "The Experience also features the 'Swell ' mode which simulates a backwards tape effect."

This has been covered, but I'll reitterate. It's not a plug-n-play type of box like a plain old fuzz box might be. You need to familiarize yourself with what this effect can do, and with what each control does. Spend some time with it. Once you figure it out - it's a piece of cake. But, if all you're looking for is a simple fuzz face clone - you're barking up the wrong tree anyway - go get a fuzz face.

Here's the real reason I wanted to post a review. Some people have bashed this pedal as sounding horrible or only being suitable for death metal or nu-metal. I may be going out on a limb here, but I can pretty much guarantee that if you're into playing that music, than you wouldn't know what to do with this pedal.

That said, this pedal does everything that PE claims it does. It is a very over-the-top, psychedelic kind of sound - which is what the whole point of this pedal is. If that's not the kind of sound you're after, you've got no business buying this pedal. You have to tweak it and spend some time with it as I mentioned, but once you find that sweet spot (depending on your tastes) - it's outstanding. Very "hendrixy". I love the swell mode. I don't care what anyone else says. It adds a whole other element of surprise. I don't really understand the comparison to a reverse tape delay effect however - that's not what it is. It's a volume swell. Plain and simple. It's like quickly rocking a volume pedal with each attack of a note. But, if you typically play fast leads (shred) and articulation is your goal - I'll say it again - you're barking up the wrong tree. It's very sensitive to you're picking dynamics - which makes it a very personalized pedal. I like that. If you want to know what this pedal is capable of, think "Machine Gun" from Band of Gypsies or "Star spangled banner" from Woodstock. It's very "hairy" man. Very groovy!!! It's like a tube amp meltdown on acid. I love it. Exactly what I needed. A 10 because it inspires me to get freaky.

Well, mine is close to ten years old I suspect. It's got the old "tie-dye" paint job. Still going strong with no issues. I wouln't need a backup.

Don't know.

I'll give it an eight because this pedal can not be all things to all people. You either love it or hate it. I love it. It's a very unique pedal, but versatility is not it's thing. If you're looking for a plain, predictable, basic fuzz tone - look elsewhere. But, if what you're after is what I described in the sound rating - give it a shot, and spend some time tweaking. It just may inspire you to put on some purple shades and loose yourself in a wall of sound!

This pedal is very simple to use. The modes work like layers. Fuzz is the first, then octave, then swell. The manual explains it all. The first thing you need to know when using one of the older pedals (ones without LED lights) is to turn the volumes all the way down before you step on the switch. You can't tell if the unit is switched on until you turn on your amp. The manual says you can triple your gain, so if they are all the way up you will blow out you eardrums and speakers. Adjust accordingly.
You can get any fuzz sound you want out of this pedal, from deep bass to mosquito buzz. The octave effect is clear at all registers. I've never really used any other octave effect, but this one nails the Hendrix tone. The swell mode sounds like your amp is stroking out and blowing up. When you space out notes at one-second (or more) intervals it sounds like a tape-reverse effect. It's not something that will give you immediate results, so be patient and experiment. It rewards creativity and good taste.

I use strats, telecasters, SGs, and Les Paul copies through a Marshall Valvestate head and a cabinet with Sheffield speakers. I run the clean channel cranked all to hell. I run a line out to a 50-watt Marshall combo with the channel overdrive. I run this stereo with a Fender Bassman head and cabinet.
This unit sounds great with wah, swirling, Leslie-like chorus, and delay.
I run the fuzz channel with more bass end. This seems to accentuate the swell mode. I turn the octave all the way up.
This pedal has true bypass switches. You get no noise when it is off.

You could shoot this thing with a bazooka and I'll bet it would still be usable.
Hell yes I would use it without a backup. If it broke I would just crank the hell out of my amps and piss on them.

Never had to deal with the company.
I don't think it would be possible to upgrade this thing.

I play loud. Very loud.
I have been playing for ten years. I have more guitars and fuzzboxes than God above.
If it were stolen I would have to buy another. After I got out of jail for kicking the guy's ass who stole it, I would hold it gently in my arms forever.
I have all kinds of great and shitty pedals. This one is the best piece of equipment I own. I bought it on faith that it would be good. It got really good reviews when it was first made.
Of course, there are other great fuzzboxes. I don't have space to name them all. If you are some malcontent dickhead, you can probabaly find something wrong with this pedal. But I can't. Fuzzboxes have their place, so do octave effects and fucked-up noises. At least in my mind.
You might find something equal to this, but not better. Hendrix himself would get a hard-on from this piece of metal.

Got it used without a manual, but I figured it out I think. Easy to get a good Octave sound out of the pedal but the fuzz is kinda skanky.

It is a unique pedal of high craftsmanship and is well thought out but I just could not find a use or a reason to use the pedal as a standalone fuzz nor could I be bothered with the swell function as it required a different touch and technique on the guitar to even be fully realized. The poor pedals saving grace is it's fine octave mode sounds. It does do a great Jimi at the Fillmore East immitation! My buddy though was able to get some pretty far out, almost synthesizer tones from just the fuzz channel and he really likes the pedal. But it don't sound like any vintage fuzz or anything although it does do a kick ass In A Gadda Da Vidda or maybe some Black Sabbath Paranoid album stuff through a Marshall stack. Not convincingly but close enough.

Looks reliable, seems lightweight (aluminum?), I would like it better if the battery retaining clip wasn't attached to the circuit board though. It's a real tight fit on the battery, requiring more pulling and yanking to get the battery loose than I'd like considering it could bust the circuit board.

Overall I liked the octave part enough to prompt me to actually Pay for a Fulltone Octa-Fuzz. My pal who got such bizzare fuzz/synth sounds out of this thing bought it off me for a more than reasonable $50. If this pedal would do away with the silly *Swell* mode, get a good germanium fuzztone and maybe throw in something useful instead (since this company seems to be bent on throwing other things in that aint needed) like....tremolo, I'd buy one. Or keep the next free one that came my way.

After reading a review of this pedal in Guitar Player, I developed visions of sugar fuzz bombs in my head. Fast forward six months later to a visit to Make N' Music in Chicago. What do I see under the counter? A gorgeous swirl of blue, grey and red psychedelia. I couldn't believe my luck. Know in order to understand my excitement, you have to realize that this was just before the boutique craze was starting up (1995)and rarely did you see something out of the Boss/DOD/Ibanez pedal loop. I immediately asked to try the pedal out. The salesman gave me a brief prepping on the pedal functions and off I went. Delighted in the sonic anarchy I was creating, I eagerly plopped down my visa and the pedal was mine! The EXP came au' natural, no box, no manual, no nothin'! Since I read the GP review of the pedal and was further enlightened by the sales staff I knew what this pedal was supposed to do. Know if I plugged into the EXP with no knowledge of its functions, I could see where things might get a tad confusing and frustrating. Firstly, there is no LED to indicate pedal/function status. Three stomp switches are mounted on top of the unit which from left to right are labeled; fuzz, octave and swell. These modes operate in chained fashion, i.e. fuzz can operate all by its lonesome self, but the octave can only be operated with the fuzz activated and the swell works only with the fuzz and octave on. I could see where if this wasn't explained, I might mistakenly believe one of the modes to be defective. The front face of the unit has four knobs, which are labeled from left to right; vol., tone, tone, and swell. The first tone knob acts as a traditional tone control i.e. treble and bass balance. The second tone control acts as a fuzz gain. I know that Prescription eventually added an LED and changed one of tone knobs to read fuzz, but I'm telling you about my unit. Anyway, is the Experience pedal easy to use? Not if you haven't had the functions explained, but after playing with it a couple of times it becomes apparent which mode the unit is in and the tone knob redundancy mystery is old news. Any guitar player should be able to elicit usable sounds with the EXP in fuzz mode. While not as flexible as the fuzz mode, the octave setting will inject a new vocabulary of sounds and ideas. Lastly, although it takes a little practice to become familiar with the picking attack and decay, I found the swell setting to be highly intuitive.

I use this pedal with a 91' Charvel Surfcaster and a 65' Fender Jazzmaster thru a reissue 65' Fender Twin Reverb. With a firm stomp on this swirly beaut, my clean and gorgeous twin becomes a filthy fire spewing beast! I tried playing the EXP in conjunction with a wah, flange/phase, etc., but I found out that I prefer to play the EXP just by itself. Other effects played simultaneously seem to distract from the EXP's unique sounds. Before I purchased the EXP, I owned a DOD Classic Fuzz (great pedal for $35), which I've since sold to a friend. Since my EXP ownership I have bought a Lovetone Big Cheese and Ring Stinger. The EXP has the raunchiest and most clipped sound of the three. 60's/70's hard rock, Davie Allan and the Arrows, 90's Japanese Noisecore and Smash Mouth sounds can all be easily achieved with this pedal. I've heard many complaints about early octave pedals not tracking well, but this baby tracks perfectly at every note on my guitars. With the octave mode activated I can nail Adrian Belew's "Big Electric Cat". Also, by using the out of phase pickup setting on my Surfcaster and dialing in a heaping dollop of reverb......"In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" at my finger tips! You can also conjure up ring mod sound and interesting beat effects with two note chord and note bending. The EXP's octave is bit more clipped and fuzzy than My Ring Stinger's geranium transistor octave fuzz. Both octave fuzzes have their unique character. Before writing this review, I've read all of the prior reviews and am dog gone flabbergasted that some people find the swell mode unusable. This is my favorite mode! Hint - use classical finger vibrato and think out of the box (yeah I know that's a cliche but so what!) I can do all sorts of Are You Experienced/Revolver era psychedelia. I can also get the fuzz/synth/trumpet sounds which Robert Fripp was playing with in the early 80's. Roll the units treble off, dial in some reverb and glide into some minor penatonic scales for some gorgeous oriental exotica. Find a guitar with an out of phase pickup selection, dial in minimal fuzz, place the first tone knob at 12:00 and pick lightly near the bridge for sitarish sounds. Unlike the reviewer from Guitar Player, I can't get happening sounds from this unit if I roll off the guitar's volume knob. This trick works major magic with my Big Cheese.

The experience pedal seems very rugged and dependable. I have owned it for six years and have never had a problem with it. The unit is also very kind to batteries!

I've never dealt with Prescription Electronics, Inc.

I'm going to try to prevent another "I bought this pedal because Eric Johnson said that he used it, but I have no friggen' clue how a distinguished tone connoisseur like Mr. Johnson could get any use from this pedal, oh and Jimi sure as hell wouldn't find any use for this sonic turd!" posting. So my very important bit of advice for all prospective buyers is, "If you only play Blues/Blues Rock/Roots Rock than please DO NOT buy this pedal!" I love and play those styles of music (Hell, I'm going to see Chuck Berry and Ike Turner at the Chicago Blues Fest this week), but this ain't the pedal for those styles of music! Not all pedals fit all players! This doesn't mean that one style of music is superior to another, but just like you would put pepper on your potato, but not on your ice cream, each player should look at which flavors compliment their style. I have been subjected to countless occasions over the years where a talented guitar jammer has tried an effect which is incompatible with his/her style and instead of switching to a different style, they bash the effect! I've seen people jam Stevie Ray licks with the swell setting. It's sounding awful, but like the energizer bunny, they keep on going and going. Eventually they finish and set the guitar down, cross their arms and firmly state that the effect is no good! HUH?! This pedal is great! I've used the octave and swell settings in many creative and musical ways; psychadelia, ambient, post rock, exotica. I've never had a chance to hear another EXP pedal, so unless the quality control with these units is poor and some are just plain lemons, I don't understand how anyone can be upset with the octave and swell settings. This was my first boutique pedal purchase and I still love and this pedal. My swirly psychedelic Experience pedal has a unique sonic character and a great funky vibe, which I would definitely try and replace if it were ever to part with me.

It sounds AWESOME, but no question, there is a learning curve with this. The relation between the 3 buttons isn't real intuitive. I'm kind of afraid to use this too much live until I'm more comfortable with the setting.

KILLER PEDAL. I'm running an vintage Marshall JCM 800 custom moded by John Suhr with really sweet Mullard tubes into a Pacific 2x12 cabinet with EV's. For effects I use a Proco Rat, Fulltone DejaVibe, Cry Baby Wah, and Roland GP8 multi-effects unit.
The pedal can get too loud if you don't set it correctly, but once you get it down it sings. The octave stuff is by far the best I've heard (and I've been playing guitar for 20 years). The fuzz is a bit too muddy for me and I would only use that as a "special effect" but again, that octave stuff is killer. The swell is really interesting and I will use that when recording here and there, but I probably wouldn't use it live since it can get noisy and tough to replicate time and time again.

I only have the pedal 2 weeks and so far it has worked fine.

I haven't spoken with the company, but from the looks of their web site (fuzzbox.com) they are very small. Probably some guy in his basement builds this stuff.

I play the same kind of music that everybody else plays, alternative rock ya da ya da ya da. To narrow it down, I'm a huge Jeff Buckley fan. I also like everything else from Kings X to Pat Martino.

This pedal requires tweaking to use properly. I have spent a fair amount of time with it and every guitar and effect combination requires adjustment. Although this should be obvious, it is evident that many people don't get it. The knobs are there for a reason. Use them.

There are lots of tones available with patient adjustment. The rating reflects the fact that the pedal is probably generally mis-understood for starters, and the fact that the interaction of the controls is crucial to getting the pedal to do what it does.

The pedal can be fairly noisy as is expected from many fuzz boxes. Poor quality guitar cables, physical location and numerus other factors can contribute to unwanted noise (like radio stations) being introduced into the signal. This is not unique to the Experience pedal obviously, but extra care needs to be taken to ensure a clean signal. The noise seems most noticable when the fuzz (volume) is high and the tone control is toward the treble end of the scale. This characteristic is common to most fuzz boxes with volume and tone controls it seems.

The fuzz can be set to clean up with the guitar volume, which is great. The tone control is very usable and can be adjusted to go from clean-ish synth-like lower register tones to over the top screech and scratch.

The octave up is extremely good and tracks flawlessly. It seems to work in lower registers better than any I have used although the best octave up still occurs around and above the 12th fret.

The swell effect is sometimes difficult to dial in. It requires a combination of guitar volume, swell level and sustain settings in addition to pick attack in order to use effectively. But once you get it nailed, it is a very cool effect. It is obvious that those who aren't getting it have not tried, because it works great when you have spent the time to figure it out.

Back to the fuzz, it can be set to be fairly subtle (to the point where you can get an almost clean sound by rolling off the guitar volume) to outrageous. In between there are sweet spots for each guitar. Hendrixy tones are definitely in there with any of the single coil equipped guitar I have tried (mostly use my Tom Anderson Classic). The fuzz can be set for fat or brittle and most things in between with proper adjustment of the volume, guitar volume and the tone and sustain controls. Again, obviously some people are not actually using the controls or they would have observed this too.

The unit seems to be reasonably well built, but the knobs look like they need to be treated carefully. No idea how well it will stand up to constant use just yet. I exactly don't throw my pedals around anyway.

The mechanical and electrically reliability are not really know to my at this time, but the reliability of getting the same tones consistently is a variable since the pedal requires some careful adjustment to get things just right. This chaos factor can actually be fun and interesting but maybe not for everyone if you are trying to get the precise same thing happening every time.

No idea here. I doubt I'll ever try and use it.

It would be nice if the swell and octave could be used separately. Sometimes it is difficult to tell what mode the pedal is in until you actually engage it. Better indicators would be a great value here. The external power jack is a great feature, one that every serious pedal should have.

The pedal is not the sort of thing that is always on, but it is always in the signal chain.

The bypass acts weird soemtimes and I am not yet sure why. Every now and then (but not always) when the effect is disengaged the clean signal volume fades in rater than immediately switching over. This leads me to believe that the pedal is not a real hard-wired true bypass.

For what the pedal is, it is great and unique. Overall it is not my favorite pedal, but that is a matter of personal preference, and there's nothing I would replace it with.

Again, I cannot emphasize enough, if you ca't get a decent sound out of the box, either fuzzes are not for you or you haven't tried hard enough.

The fuzz is pretty easy to use, but the swell is difficult to get any good or usable sound from it. The manual is a sheet of paper with some settings on it. You have to spend some time experimenting to learn how to use it. I've had it for 3 years and still haven't found any use for the swell which really is not a backwards guitar sound, it's more of a clipped volume pedal sound.

I play an Amer. Strat > Crybaby > Marshall 602 60watt combo, with chorus and echo in the effects loop. I have put the Experience pedal at various locations in my setup, but it doesn't seem to matter. The fuzz sound is alright if you want to play Korn or Slayer or Danzig type "music". It has a heavy bass tone to it that is reminiscent of early Black Sabbath. I find nothing in this pedal close to Hendrix's sound, with the exception of playing it fully cranked with a chorus pedal to get a Star Spangled Banner Woodstock world war effect. It definitely is not a Robin Trower sound. There is nothing smooth about this pedal. It is over-the-top screaming noisy fuzz and every time I play with it I wind up playing that way.
The octave can only be used with the fuzz on and the swell has to have the fuzz and octave both on. This pretty much limits the sounds you can get from it. For the amount of money it costs it should have been set up to allow these effects to function independently.

So far it has worked without a problem. I would never gig with it, although I play with it at practice sometimes when I am bored.

I've been play for 30 years, mostly blues and hard rock. This might be a good pedal for Death Metal. I was expecting "Hendrix-in-a-Box", but this pedal does not deliver what it claims. One of the reasons I bought this pedal was because of the claim that Eric Johnson liked it, which now shocks me because of the quality of his tone.
There is no such thing as "Hendrix-in-a-Box". If you want to get his sound, use the stuff he used - Vox Wah or Crybaby, Fuzz Face, Big Muff, UniVibe, Marshall.