Product: SIB Nick Nitro
Price Paid: US $60
Submitted
06/25/2004
at
10:14am
by
james
Ease of Use
:
10
Extremely easy to use. there are two fuzzes or stages. one side gives a creamy fuzz that cleans up well with the volume on your guitar, the other is an octave effect. the octave effect can be used without fuzz so you can play clean octave sounds if you want. I didn't get a manual for it, but I don't think you would need one.
Sound Quality
:
10
I have gone through many fuzzes, as I'm sure most guitarists do and I really like this one. It's not as biting as the Mosrite fuzz but can still provide some nice retro fuzzes if you wish. It is very responsive to the dynamics of your playing and the volume of the guitar, which give the pedal a lot of versatility. The octave part sounds less 'mechanical' than the octafuzz I think, a bit smoother, although playing on the neck pickup at the 12th fret yields some really nice, magical tones - a la hendrix - can also get some weird metallic alien sounds too. gotta love that
I play a strat through a nick nitro into fulldrive into a Boss DD-20. The nick is true bypass and sounds great. I know, however, that fuzz is a very personal thing so you may want to try it out first to see if it's for you, but for the price there's no need to wait.
Reliability
:
10
This thing is built like a tank, true bypass, quality jacks. it really feels substantial, although it doesn't take up much space on the pedal board. I also like the fact that all the jacks are at the top of the pedal instead of the sides. I just don't get why there are so many pedals with jacks on the sides, it really takes up so much more real estate on the pedal board this way. I feel like I can totally depend on this, and would not need a backup at a gig.
Customer Support
:
5
haven't dealt with them. their website isn't very helpful
Overall Rating
:
10
overall, this is a great pedal at a great price that is quality made and very versatile. I have tried the octafuzz, the ultimate octave and the UFO by homebrew, all nice pedals no doubt, but all have some fatal flaw, like a dramatic pause when switching on the octave section, or the inability to to play octave without the fuzz on, the nick nitro, in my mind, solves all these problems.
