Prescription Electronics Experience

Former reviews on this category are interesting. This unit is very easy to use, in fact, that's probably the difficulty. Three modes; fuzz, octave, and swell. Each operation dependant on the other. Fuzz first, octave, then swell. Fuzz is the only mode that operates by itself. The fuzz works great especially if you turn up the bass on your amp and tone it down on the pedal. The octave tracks well and screams in unison with the fuzz and other overdrives and/or a wah. The swell is super cool and builds to a crescendo depending on pick attack. Simulates more of volume pedal than a backwards motion. In fact, it doesn't sound backwards at all. Nevertheless, a very easy pedal to operate. I think reviewers are confusing reliability and quality with ease of operation. This unit is poorly manufactured with cheap switches, inputs etc. I'll give you the lowdown on this later.

The unit sounds great through my Strat and Bassman reissue. Easily conjures up many Hendrix and Trower tones. The octave adds plenty of spice to solos and the swell just accentuates that tone. The unit is only practical for searing high gain solos. Nothing tame or clean here. Again, the footswitches and overall fragility of this unit detracts from its potential. My unit will go in and out between modes and will sometimes not engage when a switch is hit. Evidently, other reveiwers commenting about this company's whole product line have made this observation. This wouldn't be so bad except that most of these PE products are well over a $100.00. More like $150.00 or more. It's hard to rate what would be a neat sounding unit if it wasn't for the unprecedented lack of quality control. That's the problem with these mom and pop operations is they start out with a good idea but can't keep up and consumers end up suffering as the manufacturer climbs the learning curve.

This category is easy to slam this unit. Obviously, you cannot depend on this product to perform consistently. It's simply to fragile. That does not mean that every unit is faulty or will break but based on the volume of comments by other reviewers it's obvious this product has quality problems. Other reveiwers even indicate the manufacturer helped them out by upgrading switches on units. The manufacturer has definitely changed his tune on this approach, however, and will ding you for $50.00 starting just to talk to him about what is inherently faulty.

Manufacturer was helpful indicating where I could send the money and unit for repair but after that forget it. In fact, if you call him more than once he will flat out refuse to repair the unit. He told me to not send the unit to him for repair and that I could just forget it.

If you buy these products you are definitely taking a chance. You may not even be able to return the unit for repair down the road if you don't approach this manufacturer just right. Jekyll and Hyde.

Not the easiest of all pedals to use. For each of the three effects in it, you have to change the settings to achieve the right sound. Not very practical.

I think the sound of this pedal sucks!!!
It's great if your'e into Dimbag or Korn or something like that. But other than that, there are little Hendrix tones in this sucker. The main dissapointment that I had was that it wouldn't work with any of my other effects. I had to put all my effects into an effects loop and just use this pedal as my main unit. That is not very practical. Also it doesn't matter what kind of guitar or amp you have, it destroyes the signal so bad that you couldent tell the difference anyway.

No and no.

Don't know.

Fof my style, I don't like it. I'm selling it to by a MXR Distortion+.

The Prescription Electronics Experience pedal has quite a number of ways in which it can be tweaked. There are 4 knobs to turn to do it's magic, and this can get quite complicated to get all 3 effects of the Experience to work well individually. For example, to use the "Swell" feature, (a "backwards guitar" effect) you have to set the 4 knobs to a certain setting and all 3 footswitches must be activated. This is a hinderance because once setting the "Swell" effect, you have to re-configure the knobs for the the "Fuzz" and "Octave" effects to be used individually. This is one of the more complicated stomp-boxes I've owned - it really needs to be tweaked to get the most out of it.
I think most users would be lost without the manual to understand the 3 indivdual effects and how to set them. I know I was. I owned the latest purple-coloured model with 3 LED's. The LED's are a really good upgrade because it would be hard to determine which effect is on without them. I would definately prefer to own the latest model rather than the original "psychadelic-swirl" paint job models that didn't include any LED's. I would have to give the "Ease of Use" rating for the Experience a very low "5".

I should preface the "Sound Quality" rating with my opinion on what "Fuzz" sounds I prefer. The first fuzz-box I owned was a modified Jim Dunlop Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face re-issue. The "mod" was an added "tone" control to change the amount of treble/bass in the effect. I love the smooth fuzz sound of germanium transistors. After purchasing the Fuzz Face, I decided to try the Experience out to see if it would be worth the "upgrade". I was very disapointed. The fuzz circuit was silicon-transistor based and the fuzz sound wasn't as warm as the germanium-loaded Fuzz Face sound I was used to. The sound for a silicon-transistor based fuzz is really good - it just wasn't what I was looking for. The fuzz is more reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix's "later" fuzz-type sounds. (Jimi used germanium-loaded fuzzes early on in his career but later replaced them with silicon-transistor fuzzes because he could place them anywhere in the signal chain between his guitar and amp without any technical problems) The "Octave" effect is the star of the show as far as I'm concerned. I believe this
is the same "Octave-Up" circuit as used in the Foxx Tone Machine from the 60's. The tracking on this thing is PERFECT - and it has a great tone! Even Guitar Player magazine noted that this is one of the best Octave-tracking devices they've heard. It's phenomenal. It sounds so cool. It works best higher up on the neck. I was disappointed with the "Fuzz" on the Experience, but I was BLOWN AWAY by the "Octave" effect. The "Swell" effect is one that differs from almost all other stomboxes on the market. This effect emulates a "backwards guitar" sound which is a REALLY cool concept, but it is quite difficult to master. As mentioned earlier, all footswitches have to be in the "On" position to use the "Swell" effect - you can't use it indepedently of the other effects, which sucks because you can't set the tone and level for the other effects individually.

I only owned the Experience for a few days and returned it because I
was disappointed with the "Fuzz" sound. Prescription Electronics pedals are built TOUGH and I think they could withstand some heavy punishment. I have given a "N/A" rating for the "Reliability" rating because I didn't own it long enough to give a fair opinion.

I never contacted Prescription directly for any Customer Support
because I didn't need it, so I will give a "N/A" rating for the
"Customer Support" section.

Although I was disappointed with the "Fuzz" sound in the Experience, I was incredibly excited to hear that Prescription produced another "Fuzz/Octave-Up" stomp-box with germanium-transitors called the "Face Lift". I bought the Face Lift and it is EVERYTHING I wanted in a "Fuzz/Octave-Up" stomp-box and more! (You can read my review for the "Face Lift as well) But for those who love silicon-loaded fuzz, this box must be heaven. I love the "Octave" (I believe this is the same circuit used in the "Face Lift") and "Swell" effects. It's too bad that the 3 effects can't be used independently.
Overall, I believe this is one of the best stomp-box EVER created!!! I really think it's an ingenious design and many Hendrix fans must be in their element with the Experience. True-bypass, hand-wired, and 3-effects in one box - incredible!!! :-)

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This is not a "plug and play" pedal, nor is it for the faint of heart. Its four controls are HIGHLY interactive, and it responds very differently to different guitars and amps. This is, no doubt, why the reviews posted here are so apparently contradictory. The manual is brief, but gives all the essential information (It is a pedal, after all) necessary to get you started. The section on using the swell mode is particularly useful, as that is the trickiest feature. My unit is the newest version--yellow with red graphics--so my comments are only applicable to it, not necessarily the purple or swirl-colored versions. I have worked with it quite a bit, so I'm familiar with its personality, and therefore it is "easy to use." There was a fairly steep learning curve getting to this point though, so I have to give it a 5.

I've used the Experience with a 68 Les Paul Custom, an old Strat, and an 80's Tele, played through several amps (Marshall, ADA, Fender, etc.), and it sounded very different with every combination. My particular pedal is not noisy, even when cranked.

I've only had it for a few months--though I've used it a lot--and it has worked fine so far. I don't have backups for any of my pedals, particularly the expensive ones:-)

Jack is very helpful and friendly, but I haven't needed to have my pedal repaired, so...

I have numerous fuzz and distortion pedals, and I've tried most of what is available, including many vintage models. The Experience is one of my favorites because it has lots of personality and its own unique voice. I have grown very attached to it in the short time I've had it, and look upon it with fondness. It isn't cheap or easy, but it's worth the trouble.

a bit difficult to make the swell mode work good but over all
as easy as any dist box

with strat & fender amps quite silent great fuzz with lots of bass the
octave is th e closest sound to Jimis band of gypsies lp.

Bad switches .. humidity makes them stick,, gotta keep spraying them with de[ox[it then they work for a good amount of time.

N-a

Good for getting Henderson type strat sound with tribal tech
The octave sound is excellent as a fuzz much better than the Fuzz Face,

This pedal can be quite easy to use if you have the one with the LED's on it. Mine doesn't unfortunately. The average first-time Experience user might have difficulty with this pedal especially if they are not familiar with octaving and swell effects. I don't understand why companies that manufacture pedals would dismiss putting a status indicator LED on their products. Anyway, this pedal consists of your average fuzz/distortion layout with volume/tone/fuzz and an on/off switch; with another two switches for the octave and swell effects and another knob that controls the amount of swell. Since mine doesn't have LED's, it is very difficult to know which effect is on and which is not. Also the way the knobs interact with each other is really quite bizarre, you really have to tweak with ALL the knobs to get a certain octave or swell effect.

I use this pedal with a Les Paul-Experience-MXR Phase 90-Fender deVille 2X12 setup. I usually use a Dunlop 535Q wah but could not get a wah sound at all with the Experience following the wah.
This pedal is very quiet, unless you max out the volume control.
And now, how does this thing sound? I spent a good two hours zoning on it when I plugged it in for the first time, and this was through an absolute P.O.S. Crate practice bass amp that happened to be lying around. The fuzz is absolutely beautiful. Smooth with tons of bass, like a Foxx tone Machine(P.E. cloned the circuit(!!!)) The octave is, well, not only beautiful but right on target for Hendrixian madness. The swell effect is really responsive to your playing, but this is what makes it really cool. It really reminds me of Pete Cosey on Miles Davis' live albums Agharta, Pangaea and Dark Magus. Sick sick tone. The more you tweak the knobs the more varied sounds you get out of it.

This pedal seems to be pretty sturdy, but I've only had it two months and used it at only one gig. A backup would cost another 200 bones or so. I don't know......

I haven't dealt.....

Live I only use this for the octave and swell, for moog-like lines and the mosquito-like backwards psychedelic-trippy-whoa-acid sounds. And for this particular application, it does a damn fine job, and then some. I don't like to use the fuzz live because you'd be bent over twiddling the damn knobs all night, resetting it for fuzz, or octave/swell. The fuzz settings don't work very well for the swell, at least on my Experience. I bought this pedal because-

1. I wanted an octave(up) effect.

2. It blows away the other octavers like Dunlop's and the Voodoo Proctavia, IMHO and it also has the swell.

3. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than a Foxx tone Machine, Tycobrahe Octavia and Boss Slow Gear purchased at the same time. (about 1200 bones)

4. I didn't want to slave away trying to clone those three devices mentioned above together in one box, the novice pedal-tweaker that I am.

The only thing I wish this pedal had was LED's. Would make a big difference. (I'm thinking of doing this mod myself.)
This thing definitely helps turn heads.

Easy to get a good sound...good is subjective though...this thing sounds INTENSE...not to sweet...but I don't want another boring blues tone. The one page manual is pretty good. It says it can blow your amp and speakers...it has a TON of output. It is pretty easy to get a unique tone from this little fuzzbox.

I use a Jerry Jones or ASAT Classic semi-hollow into it and then into an Aqua Puss and a Supe-Trem and a Top Hat King Royalle. It works very well with all my other stuff. Sounds great into my '64 Vibro Champ too.

I don't know...I had a C.O.B. that I sold to get this...it never gave me any problems.

called them once and never got a response. I am sure they are good guys though.

I wanted a NASTY and over-the-top tone to kick in once and a while and this is just the thing. The octave is GREAT and so is the swell. Not a generic traditional tone...more BIG MUFF than Fuzz Face...very HUGE sounding. The best octave I have come across.

Again if you want to get some avant-guard tone this is the one.

Well the fist thing you definately need is patience! I would think for the average guitarist, the biggest problem would be on how to use and combine all and each effect musically. It took me a good 30 minutes to get the sound I was looking for out of it. I ended my search recently for an older MINT physcedelic vanilla/sherbert swirl version(Thanks EVO!). Fuzz & Octave are easy to use, but the most difficult is the swell effect. I found an easy technique to expedite this. Close your eyes and THINK and LISTEN to Jimi Hendrix's "Are you Experienced?". My personal setting are as follows: Volume>4 Tone>5 Fuzz>10 Swell>4 Leds are VERY needed, sometimes I can't tell if I have it on octave or swell because they sound almost identical! I don't use the swell very much so I won't make a big fuss. I don't know why my year version doesn't come with a AC adapter input? Oh well, time to buy batteries by the bulk at Costco. Manual is alright, didn't need it though. Patience is needed more that a manual.

Overall sound quality is excellent. Fuzz tone is similar to a Fulltone 70' but with a little more bottom end and gain. Octave is excellent, pure musical tones. Swell effect is AWESOME and very accurate. This pedal is incredibly quiet, but does pop a little upon switching. My set up is as follows: 57're-issueFenderStrat.-> FulltoneC.Wah-> EXPERIENCEPEDAL-> ChandlerTubeDriver-> FulltoneFulldrive2-> T.C.SCF-> E.H.Mem.Man-> AlesisMV4-> FurmanPow.Cond.-> 77'FenderTwinRev./Soldano2x12cab. Monster/Spectraflex cables. My set up is somewhat noisy, but 98% of it is from my single coil pickups, other than that noise or no noise its all musical to me! I also read that shy fella Eric Johnson, used the experience pedal alot on the "Venus Isle" cd. Listen to the solo on #3 "All about you". The first couple bars he uses the Experience Pedal(fuzz only), awesome technique!

This pedal is made of excellent hand made quality. My true bypassing switches are heavy-duty! The housing is a durable dicast aluminum/metal? Sherbert-swirl finish is excellent! The knobs are kinda located in a weird spot, and unless your drunk off your ass, you shouldn't have the problem of stepping on them. I wouldn't tests its durability because it would be difficult to replace, since they don't make this version anymore. No problems at all.....

These guys are very prompt and friendly. I called them in Portland,OR and needed a manual and they had one sent to me at work via fax in seconds! They also answered all my questions with the utmost confidence. It was cool how the sales rep. talked about Eric Johnson's opinions on the Exp.Pedal. I got off the phone a happy man!

My overall rating for MY version is going to be a 8 because of its lacking of leds and a AC adapter input, other than that it would be a 10 in my opinion. I've been playing for 20 yrs now and I can say this IS one of my favorite pedals next to my TS808 and Fulltone69 amoung others. If it were lost or stolen it would be VERY difficult to find another like this one. I've seen this version at a Portland guitar show for 350.00! Probably would get another one, used though. I don't believe in paying NEW prices. I love its Eric Johnson/Jimi Hendrix tone. A very different tone all in all. I would reccomend it greatly for its coolness and awesome musical tone!

This pedal is not the easiest to use right off the bat, but I don't think it's nearly as difficult as some of the other reviews suggest. I found sounds I loved right away. The part that some people haven't figured out is that the two tone controls are very interrelated especially in the "Swell" mode. These controls are key to making the "swell" effect sound good. For anyone having difficulty, the "backwards" guitar effect is easy to acheive in the swell mode by setting the following: Fuzz control: 10 o'clock, Tone #1 at 11:00, Tone #2 at 1:00 and swell volume 10:00. The key is keeping the 1st tone control rolled back a little bit. I have not tried this pedal on a gig yet but I don't think it will be a problem. I wish it had status LEDs, I think the later models have them.

Sounds is ecellent, the octave tracking is the best out there, period. The fuzz is very good too, but there is no way to turn down the amount of fuzz, only the volume. At time I wish there another knob to control the gain... however at less the full gain the octave part probably wouldn't work as well. I love the sound of this thing! It gets all kinds of wacky sounds, some musical, some sick.

It looks extremely well built. I worry a little about the knobs being placed right on the front side that faces your foot. Also the 3 switches are pretty close together, I'll see if that's a problem live or not. I 'm going to rate it a nine because it looks so well made. My pedal is an older one that has different switches, I think the newer ones with the black switch tips might be less heavy-duty. I had one of these type of switches break on another of my pedals.

The guy has a good rep, haven't dealt with him yet.

I play a wide variety of stuff with a few different bands, and also do some home recording. I will only use this pedal for a couple of songs live probably, some 60s and 70s era rock & funk, but I can imagine all kinds of wild things I could do in the studio with it. This thing can really make some cool sounds, especially the swell/octave mode. The only thing I don't entirely like is that to make the swell mode work good, you have to roll off some highs on the fuzztone, so that the fuzz is kind of darker ant thicker sounding than I'd always like. So if you were wanting to switch between modes that might be a problem. For the money I paid second hand for this box, I'll give it a ten, if I was buying it new for $200 maybe a nine.

read the directions first! if you do so you will be rewarded. the experience is not a plug in and play pedal. once you memerize a few of the sample settings the rest is easy(especialy the swell mode).

the sound of this thing is superb in either mode. this is the best octave unit i have played. it remains distinct through out the entire range of the guitar. the swell mode can be a pain but it is worth the effort i promise. there is no clean octave,when the pedal is on so is the fuzz. the octave can be foot switched in and out as can the swell mode. lows can be tight or floppy take your pick. the eq has a long sweep. highs are crispy to "blunted" for the lack of a better term.the swell mode is hard to discribe---backwards guitar is the best i can do.the attack of the note is lopped off and the note swells in volume and then decays slowly or quickly depending how the unit is set. i use this pedal to deconstruct my sound- apocolyptic sounds-screams-farts-gurgles-it's all there. i rate it a 9.tone is subjective folks.

here's the rub. i am on my third experience. #1 had a cracked PC board and a bum switch.#2 had another bum switch.both problems caused the pedal cut in and out or not come on at all.#3 is perfect no problems just a truly unique sound. DO NOT LET THIS MAKE YOU LEARY OF THIS PEDAL! prescription took care of me ASAP. they even called me on a sunday.i was shipped a hand wired unit(#3) in 5 days. the previous problems have been taken care of.

couldn't have been better. very nice people who care about there product.

if your lookin' for a tube screamer or clone there of go elsewhere. if you want to be unique look no further. a little secret-try different pedals in front of and after the experience. this can be very rewarding. i have up with some truly bizarre almost other worldly sounds. this one is a keeper.