Tech 21 XXL

Four knobs, no sweat.

I got this to replace an old Big Muff that I had years ago. I always like the Robert Fripp style fuzz with infintely compressed sustain, and it does a fair job at that. It's capapble of more than that, but this pedal really does not have a clean/boost setting as such. Even with Level and Drive backed off, it starts out at a pretty high level of distortion and goes up from there. Turning down your guitar's volume can clean it up a bit, or give you a farty tone, depending on how you've set it. The Tone control is the best of the four knobs, ranging from ice pick highs to softer sounds. I'm surprised by all the people here who say they can't hear/feel the Warp -- it's not a dramatic difference, but it's there. I usually leave it at mid-settings anyway, which defeats the Warp and yields the sharpest fuzz. Plenty of gain on tap.

Battery life had been very good using alkalines. I'll have to try the suggestion by one poster here of using non-alkaline batteries for a better tone. I know this may sound like crackpot stuff, but Mike Fuller of Fulltone says the same thing. As for reliability, see below.

The XXL does not have a true bypass, and I was hearing some of the distorted tones bleeding into the dry signal when switched-off. So I sent it to as techie to put in a true bypass -- he couldn't because it uses inaccessible electronic switching, so I sent it off to Tech 21 to ask about the bleeding. Much to my surprise, they were very receptive, found the problem, corrected it promptly and actually seemed appreciative of the fact that I turned them on to a flaw that they had run tinot once before, but didn't know if it was a one-time thing or not. I came away with the clear impression that they were determined to solve the problem at the production level.

Yeah, I'd buy it again. It's a very good unit of its kind, keeping in mind that it is a heavy distortion unit, not an overdrive unit for gain boost or a mild, chunky edge. You'd need another pedal for that. Compared to a Boss Metal Zone and few others -- this seemed the best at the time, and my opinion hasn't changed.

This has been rated very well by guitar player magazines and I have to agree with them. For a 100.00 you can get an awesome crunch, fuzz, or full blown distortion. THis puts most other fuzz and distortion pedals to shame!. A sepcial feature called Warp filters odd and even harmonics and gives the sound a different tonality. Loud or soft this will still break the windows! Sounds great in a solid state or tube amp and with any guitar.

Sound quality is excellent. It's noisy in the sense that it is a distortion and can get lots of feedback or no feedback. EXCELLENT SOUND!!!!

I cna depend on it. I would use it in a show along with a Boss DS-2. THe Tech 21 XXL is for full distortion and loud distorion and the DS-2 i use for a fuzz box. Lasts long on a 9V Battery

Never had to deal with the company since the product is so well made!

Yes. If mine broke I would proably buy one but I'm interested in lots of fuxx pedals so I'd buy others and If I didnt like them I'd but the Tech 21 XXL. I love how you an range from Fuzz to Distortion. Yes I compared it with a DOD Supra Distortion (sucky pedal), BOSS DS-2 (Almost as good as), Boss OD-2 (XXL puts the 0D2 to shame.) It should have a switch to make siwtching from fuzz to distortion easier. Yes it helps me make beautiful undistinguished noise! I LOVE THIS PEDAL!

There's not much to set up on this one - this little devil goes from very distorted to totally blasting - some nice sounds, but not much range. If your guitar can handle being turned back from full volume without losing tone, you can start to get real control over the sound that way.

VERY IMPORTANT - this is a fine pedal for getting valve-type distortion with a solid state amp. Through a tube amp, it SUCKS. I had an excellent sound through a small solid-state Fender amp; now I play through a tube Peavey Classic, and the distortion has an over-compressed sound - no attack, some notes disappear altogether.

Didn't own it long enough to know...

Again, had no operation problems, so didn't need to deal with them. I bought a demo unit, with no manual, but it's simple enough to operate, so no customer support was necessary. The tip I found here about the warp control helped though...

I would absolutely but it again - and recommend it - for use with a solid-state amp. Through tubes, never. I would give it overall a 9/2 rating - 9 through solid-state (smooth, rich distortion, no probem), 2 through tubes (virtually unplayable).

The overdrive is pretty good. I'd say close to a TS-9 with more gain. The warp knob is very subtle as seems almost to do nothing but I could notice differences at opposite extreme settings.

Not really noisy. Actually it gets a bit too much gain even at the lowest setting and feeds back a little bit. Probably best suited for use with a clean amp.

The box seems sturdy but the footswitch seems kinda cheap. The box sounds kinda hollow when stepped on. I'd gig without backup.

Never dealt with the company.

Everybody is complaining about this pedal cause the warp knob is so subtle. My opinion is that everybody was expecting too much by not understanding what even and odd harmomics are and sound like. True the ads make it sound like the thing is gonna totally change when you turn the knob, and it doesn't, but it is still a good sounding pedal nonetheless. The tone control and gain range and overdrive is more versatile in my opinion than an Ibanez TS-9 and would make an excellent substitute.

After I took the unit home, I plugged in my guitar and my amp to really hear the effect. I too thought that the warp knob did absolutely nothing, until I put a really cheap eveready carbon battery in it. It really made the warp knob do something. Any rotation below the arrows made the thing totally bass heavy, and turning up the tone above 9 O'clock really made it sound fuzz like. If you turn the warp above the arrows, crank the drive, and turn the tone below 7 o'clock it really gives a heavy compressed tone. I know it's a pain in the ass to find a drained battery to get the tone, but maybe you can find an adjustable dc supply to power the effect.

In the ads, they claim to have overdrive, fuzz, and other distortions by manipulating the even/odd harmonic structure. BS!! I tweeked the knobs for hours trying to get a fuzz sound, or even a cool distortion with no luck.

There are 4 knobs on it. None of them do much, especially the WARP knob. The only thing the WARP knob did was turn, but did nothing to change the sound of the lousy distortion.

Well, so far it hasn't shorted out, but I don't use it much.

I have never dealt with the manufacturer, although I should have called to complain about how the lie in their ads about what the pedal does.

Whatever you do, DO NOT BUY THIS PEDAL, IT SUCKS!!! If you want fuzz, get a Big Muff Pi made by Sovtek or a Boss Hyper Fuzz. If you want cool distortion try out some Boss and DOD pedals, they won't let you down.

I read a great review for the XXL in Guitar Gear, but I found it lacking. The Warp knob seemed to do nothing. I tried two units and talked to a couple of the people at the guitar store - they agreed - any effect the Warp knob has is completely indiscernable.

Yeah it sounds sort of tube like. It's a smooth distortion medium high gain. But I was not excited. Dull tone. Also the warp control does absolutely nothing. I know the hype says it alters the harmonic structure. I turned it from one extreme to the other- nothing. I asked my friend if he could tell when I was turning it. He couldn't. Maybe this was a dud unit.