Product: Sound Sculpture Switchblade 8
Price Paid: US $750.00
Submitted
02/01/2002
at
12:35am
by
fab
Ease of Use
:
9
Very easy to use just name your in's and out's and start routing your signal. I had never used a midi piece of gear, I only had pedals and tube amps and I got this thing up and running in 10 min's.
Sound Quality
:
10
Very transparent, the gold in's and out's are really quiet and because you only run through the things you need for each patch your signal chain is the shortest possible which is always a good thing. I used it to switch between three amps and various stomp box effects, it even switches channels on your amps for you. You can have your guitar run through amp A with three effects through it's effects loop, and switch to amp B with two completly different effects with the tap of one toe, this is and amazing piece of gear it's like having Bob Bradshaw make you your dream switching system but costs thousands less. any midi switcher works with it, you can also cross fade between patches via continous controll (you can use a volume or expression pedal in conjunction with your midi board). And it uses a regular plug for power like your amp and not a cheap adaptor which break down all the time.
Reliability
:
10
I never really had a problem with it yet, it's 2 years old and in a rack so for it to be damaged would be unlikely.
Customer Support
:
10
I purchased it over the web and had never heard of the company before, I must have e-mailed them ten times over a period of 2 months and they answered every question promptly. Their website is very informative so if you are looking to purchace one check out their site and e-mail them if you have any questions.
Overall Rating
:
10
This is a great piece of gear, if you have a few effects and a couple of amps that you really need in your set up this unit is a must, even if you simply want to rack mount your floor pedals and want to program patches with a single amp it would be worth it, unless you like tap dancing during a gig. It keeps your set up very neat, since all you stuff is in a rack. This thing gives you the convineince of midi rack gear(which I hate becaause to me those preamps and effects sound like crap) but you get to use your favorite analog pedals and tube amps and retain a real guitar sound. The only thing is you need to invest in buying a midi foot switch and a couple more cables all in all with a decent midi controller and good shielded cables your looking at spendin over $1,000 CLOSER TO $1,200 but it is well worth it.
