Prescription Electronics Experience

like any other effect,If you are playing in your bedroom it`s easy to set up"read the manual"If you are using it live,experiment where you have it in the effects chain.This is an EFFECT,not a TONE pedal

It does what it is suppose to do.A strat works great with the hendrix kind of stuff,try kicking in in once and a while with a Paul,you will turn some heads

no problems.Take care of it.It can break.Would you throw your cordless phone in a suitcase and sling it around?All effects are some what fragile.

I have been playing guitar forever,I play rock,blues,etc.If I lost it I would buy again,My Fulltone octafuzz could never take it`s place.One thing I want to add.All of these state of the art effects are no better than the Cables you use.Always buy Good cables.There is no such thing as a Good cheap cable.A microphonic cable can turn a pedal into a nightmare,A bad cheap cable could make a 59 les paul sound like an epiphone copy.BUY GOOD CABLES.Whirlwind cables are great.I don`t mean buy the most expensive cables you can get,Try one out shake it around,turn the gain up on the amp.Does it make noise?Don`t buy it.((% of all the problems I and many of my friends have had with pedals and guitars were because of a bad cable...So Let It Be Written,So Let It Be Done

It takes some time to get used to it.But its time well spend.

This is without an doubt the most intereting effect I own.Especially the interaction with the amp and other effects is nice.Try to use it with a wha-wha pedal either before or after the effect(I`m using an Jimi Hendrix special)in the swell mode,you will get some musical and otherwordly tones from it. I bougt this device because I wanted the cool gated "prodigy" sound,but I discovered a myriad strange and beutiful sounds. I'm currently using it with a telecaster and a Mesa mk 2 amp and some other effects,but it does interesting things to all the other equipment i own aswell(Try connecting it to a drum machine for example)

You can not depend on it.The experience pedal is sounding different from day to day(which is great).And somtimes the stompswitches refuses to work(which can be a bit annoying).

I have not talked to the dealer yet about the problems with the stompswitches so I don`t know.

If you'd like to sound a bit different,try this. In addition to the special effects it has a good basic fuzz sound. Highly recommended a 9 because of the small problems

I used to hate people who flamed products, but now I understand. This is not easy to use. There is no variable setting for the fuzz or octave. It is either on or off, loud or louder. The instructions are minimally helpful. The box has an external power supply jack, but no voltage/polarity indications. And of course the infamous "swell" which sounded so cool on the manufacturer's web site, is supremely difficult to setup. (I haven't got figured yet).

I'm playing this with a Strat/Hot Rails through a Carvin Vintage Tube amp. The Experience fuzz is very solid state "transistory" sounding and, as noted, not controllable. The octave sounds kinda interesting, but can only be used with the fuzz. In fact, the effects are not independent - to use the octave you have to have fuzz on, to use swell you have to have octave and fuzz on. My unit is very noisy. I get some hum with the fuzz on (even turned down)and not playing anything, or even with strings muted. Overall this is seriously disappointing given the hype, the wav files on their web site, and the price. This is not an "Experience" you want to have.

As an former metalhead, I wouldn't even use this jamming along with with old records. Today, as a sonic Youth, Fugazi, Crystal Method listener, I

This box is absolutely the worsed thing to try and adjust I have ever seen. You can spend more time trying to get a usable sound out of it than programming a complex digital multi-effect unit. An absolute nightmare! A good fuzz setting makes for a bad octave tone and the swell (reverse) mode is a demon all to itself. There are some great ideas here but the pedal will drive you crazy trying to master it and I'm no beginner to dealing with effects.

The much acclaimed Experience pedal has a fuzz, octave (up) voice, and a "god it would be nice if it worked" swell mode which simulates backwards enveloping with a little picking technique. This unit has some interesting ideas but when it comes to trying to get a usable effect out of it, forget it. I have tried just about every combination of equipment I have to work this nightmare into my rig but I just can't get it stable enough to use in a band situation. Who wants to step on a pedal you got a great sound out of during set-up checks and then have your sound wash out into a blast of shorting out "gritchy" shit! The fuzz is OK for a fuzz, a ton of distortion, it peaks in saturation 3/4 up. The tone has good range from bass to high treble fizzle. The octave tracks resonably well for single note work as do most of these things. The Swell mode has a cool reverse effect you can get by using the neck pickup and using a little picking technique to enhance the envelop effect. BUT it is just cannot be controlled or repeated with any certainy. The slightest change to any control sends the unit off into "help my amp is blowing up sound". This pedal would be really cool if it could be controlled better. I have tried buffering the unit with tube preamps and everything under the sun including various guitars and amp types. If Jimi had one of these pedals he would have beat the hell out of it with his guitar! As I said this pedal has some great cool ideas but its just not controlable for live use. Maybe for studio or practice tinkering. An interesting note, the LED's on my unit would pulse in intensity to each note you played, it seemed too intentional to be a malfunction and it was pretty cool to watch, damn if it just tracked as well as its LED's! Perhaps the company should consider trying to isolate the swell effect this would be a great pedal if you could get it under control.

Very unreliable, very unstable. My fuzz bypass switch started to miss after the second day. You just can't depend on this unit to deliver the same sound twice.

I am seriously thinking about trying to return this unit. I haven't contacted them yet nor am I sure who I can get my money back from. I mail ordered it through one of the catalog companies.

I am totally amazed at the sound Charlie Sexton got from this box on his Under The Wishing Tree CD (Neighborhood), really cool. He must have worked with the box for days. Eric Johnson noted the fuzz and octave as being good which puzzles me because Eric is so critical of sound, why would he like this sort of fuzz? I can't recommend buying this pedal unless you just want something to tinker with. It's almost like playing a game with this unit, an experienced player (23 years playing) can exhaust themselves trying to tame this beast. It's more of a novelty than a main effect runner. As far as sound goes my Carvin Tube Simulator circuits on my SX200D's as well as my Ibanez Tube King and Boss Metal Zone have far better musical distortions. If this is a great fuzz pedal then I will stay with the former. It's a nice toy but don't attempt to integrate this unit into your live rig. I had great expectations for this pedal but I was quite frustrated in trying to use it.

i give teh ease of use an 8, because you have to be a pretty "experienced" fuzz user to get the sound your going for.

i use a strat with lindy fralin pickups and a blackface super reverb. the eperince sounds awesome through this rig and i play at very low volumes. even so, the experience's fuzz face sound is huge and very even top to bottom. the octave effect is also great. i've owned a roger mayer octavia and his classic fuzz units. the experience sounds much bigger and badder than those. the octave effect works everywhere on the guitar, as opposed to just frets 10-17 as on the octavia. put an overdrive pedal behind the experience (with octave) and you get an exremely smooth octave with great sustain and a swell into feedback tone that's cool. the thing with this pedal is that you really need to use a crabon-zinc battery for it to sound the best; that kind of battery gives a nice warm fuzz with a much better envelope than an alkaline. i think this is why some reviewers think this thing is harsh or gritchy at times (i.e. they're using alkaline batteries). the swell effect is ok, i'm still trying to figure out how to get those awesome backwards sounds, like the soundbyte at their website (fuzzbox.com).

i give it an 8 b/c my swell footswitch sometimes works when i step on it and sometimes doesn't unless i step twice.

called the company twice and they were very friendly and informative. i may call them about fixing my swell footswitch.

i've played many different fuzz boxes. this one is my favorite. i also love the fact that i can have a fuzz and an octave in one unit. the less wires an boxes in my rig the better the sound. i'm currently recording with this unit and i can sound like i'm screaming at high volumes with my fender on 1 1/2!!!! the engineer just loves this!

I am adding to my earlier comments, now that I have spent more time fiddling with the thing. I used to like it; now I love it and don't think I would ever let it go. Random thoughts: (1) It is very bass-heavy, so if you don't want too much bass, look elsewhere. (2) A good way to use the "swell" mode is to have all the knobs on full except tone, which is all the way to the left. This cuts down on the excessive treble. Used before a flanger, this is really trippy. (3) The pedal is much more responsive to the volume knob of my guitar than I had thought. All I needed was a fresh battery in the Experience, it turns out. If I turn the guit volume down, I can get really nice crunchy sounds that are not as nasal and not as bassy as turned all the way up. If you turn your guitar low enough and strum lightly, you can even get a nice chimey sound, kinda cleanish. (4) Someone mentioned the Foxx Tone Machine down below; yes, this is an exact copy of the Foxx, plus the additional swell circuit, which was not part of the Foxx. (5) I love Hendrix and do not happen to hear Jimi's sound in this box--just MHO. To me it's much more of a Smashing Pumpkins' "Siamese Dream" sound--but different from that, too. (6) Cranking the Experience into a cranked preamp really makes the sound smooth and creamy. Otherwise the sound is kinda gritchy, in a way I like.

Not easy at all, for a fuzzbox, because it has 4 very interactive controls and it takes quite a while to learn how they all affect each other. I've had it for quite a while and am still learning. (I have the older model, with the swirly paint job and no LEDs.)

Mostly using with Peavey Classic 20, 5150, PRS CE, and Japanese Strat. You MUST use this fuzzbox/octaver with a tube amp, not solid state. Sounds way too harsh on transistors. Using my PRS and Classic 20, I can easily get the sound of Presidents of the USA's "Mach 5," or "Chreub Rock" by the Pumpkins. It can make my Classic 20, a very small amp, sound like the huge 5150 (though with less volume). It really adds bass to the mix; it makes a tiny speaker sound HUGE in ways most effects can't. It takes a lot of tweaking. The controls all interact and the learning curve is steep. It's not easy to just dial in the tone you want. I have found one tone I like and pretty much stay with it. The octave/swell feature is really cool at low volumes if you're just horsing around in the house and want to sound like Jimi at Woodstock. Sounds like an amp blowing up--even at very low amp volumes, you feel like you're playing to an entire stadium and your rig is about to explode. You can really get that "Star Spangled Banner" tone. The Experience pedal is supposedly a good studio pedal, as it adds so much bottom end--it's a good way to sound cranked without actually cranking. Seems to do a good impression of an old Big Muff Pi, with a few of its own tricks up its sleeve. The octave and swell, though fun, seem somewhat gimmicky and are better suited to experimenting and horsing around than to stage work. A good way to get out of a rut. The fuzz is always over the top. Backing off on guitar's volume pot does little to clean up sound--sound just sounds muddy and flubby. Gotta play full throttle. Good for single-note leads and power chords, otherwise too muddy. There are many limitations to the sound--it's not versatile like my Daddy-O (an entirely different type of pedal, anyway). But if you want a HUGE sound, something like absolute THUNDER coming out of your amp, this cannot be beat. And it sound absolutely enormous at very low volumes.

Seems dependable. Batteries last forever.

Excellent for over-the-top fuzz, as in Pumpkins "Siamese Dream," Bush's "Everything Zen," and Pres. USA "Mach 5." No way to do nice, easy, warm distortion. HUGE sound. Very expensive. If stolen or lost, I would miss it, but would probably look into cheaper alternatives--e.g. Big Muff Pi, much cheaper. I love it because it sounds like God's amplifier; hate it because it's tough to find perfect setting. It helps make huge riffs.

7 This pedal tends to have a very extreme side to it. Wild fuzz. but it took me about me a while to find settings that felt good. Someone said Hendrix in a box,I agree!!

Great Hendrix pedal,seems to have octave below on the FUZZ by itself very fat!! I'm playing it through a stereo rig w/Fender Vibrolux and Mesa Boogie. pretty quiet compared to the anarchy that it produces. I recommend backing the settings back tone1-6 tone2-5 swell-5. I love tone Hendrix got on Electric Ladyland album. This pedal is made to revive those memories. Tends to bend my playing towards that style. But hey, there was only one Jimi..... I thought the octave effect is too extreme only good for screaming stuff.

N/A

This pedal is alot of FUN!! Very unique w/very wide paramaters. I've always been a fan of San Francisco psychedelic style Guitarists Garcia,I include Hendrix,Jorma,etc. And this pedal can serve those styles (in my humble opinion} pretty well. I love the Fuzz, I wish it had dedicated mix knob for the octave.could make it more practical. But it is what it is and barring it quits on me tommorow I will include it in my pedal chain . I love it!!

It's very easy to get a good sound out of this unit. The manual is decent,but the most exciting results are achieved by tinkering and tweaking it. I must admit it sounds best with a vintage Marshall, but any tube amp will do. Experiment with your own gear to get the best tone possible.

Mine is an older unit with the swirled paint job and no LEDs, and it's actually pretty quiet. I bought a couple of new ones, and they just didn't sound right. After returning them rather discouraged, I found the older one at a local music store. It was a bit more pricey than the newer ones ($225) but was well worth it.The fuzz is ungodly. I love Weezer and this gets Rivers' tone perfectly. I know he uses an original Big Muff, but this comes very close. The octave mode is particularly nasty. GREAT lead tones cranked. The swell modeis somewhat limited in its applications but is great fun and personally, leads me to experiment with other playing techniques and styles. It spits pretty bad, but I won't complain. It's just too cool.

I dropped it out of my car once unloading, and it didn't even scratch the paint job. Extremely stout little box.You can literally STOMP on this thing without any fear of it breaking. I would most certainly feel comfortable using one of the older units without a backup, but if youbuy anewer one, I would reccomend purchasing a backup. It seems to be pretty light on batteries, though some others reviewed on this page seem to lean to the contrary, but does include a DC outlet as an alternate option.

I've never dealt with them on the phone or otherwise. I must admit though, it is rather difficult to find dealers. They don't advertise much either.

I would most definitely buy it again. If I ever find one of the originals (red swirl paint job) I hope I have tha funds to pick it up. I just love the fuzz.I chose thispedal over the others just because it sounded better. I lean more toward the hand made pedals, so this was a natural purhase for me. If at all possible, buy an older model with the swirled paint job. They're a whole lot more reliable.

The pedal is fairly easy to use, there are 4 knobs, volume , tone, fuzz, and swell. There are also 3 foot switches. One operates the fuzz, the second the octave, and the third operates the swell. It might sound confusing, but you get used to it pretty quickly.

It,s a fuzz and octave pedal, so it's going to be a little noisy. My only problem is that it really doesn,t sound like a fuzz face, it,s a little too nasaly to get the Hendrix sound, not as deep as the sound Jimi gets on the live recordings.

I don,t think I could personally depend on, because about three weeks after I bought it the foot switches that activate the fuzz and octave modes went out. They didn't outright fail, they just didn't work all the time. It gave a new meaning to the word "stomp box". Anyway a word to the wise save your receipts, I ahd to take it and get it fixed.

Don't know

I don,t think I would, It's not a bad pedal, the Octave sounds good, the fuzz isn,t as fat or smooth as I'd like it to be. I'll keep it and use it as an octave pedal.