Difficult to dial-in pedals

My answer for this one is the Atomic Bass Box. I was stupid excited when it first came out, so I finally ordered one when my finances and their inventory intersected. After a week of testing it went right back on the market.

It has the added complexity of being able to change the parameters of the controls through a software interface, so somehow I was able to screw things up even further when I changed what the knobs do.

After a factory reset I got the knobs to a point where I got a sound that I could at least compare to the SCR-DI, but then I was turned off by the layer of software between me and my sound. It felt artificial. And I just couldn't get past that.

 

The old DOD FX25 filter has an amazingly fat, juicy sound, but I found there was only a very narrow section of the Sensitivity control where it would actually sweep, and not just stay completely open or closed.

 

I gotta put the Way Huge Swollen Pickle out there as one of the hardest pedals to dial in I've ever owned. Some of the knob labels don't immediately make sense, and the manual doesn't do a great job of explaining what they all do. That's kind of problematic since there are 7 knobs on thing, 5 on the front and two internal pots. Everything interacts with each other so there's a lot of interplay you have to be aware of when you're fiddling around with it. If that weren't bad enough, the knobs on mine are pretty low friction, so they have a tendency to get moved around when it's my case. I had it for years before I decided to really dig into it, but now that I get it, I get a ton of utility out of it. Very flexible and versatile fuzz, but man, is it a pain sometimes.

 

Great pedal, but takes a while to dial in with capacitor option and it's sensitive nature.

 

EHX Blurst. I know that there are cool things to be found. Some days I like it and others I want to forget about it.

 

Mojo Hand Wonder Filter.

Every time I got close to a sound I really liked, it ended up being just too much, or just not "there."

 

Never tried one, but the Lovetone Meatball is supposed to be a bit of a challenge.