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Exar Tourbox Thread

I hope the U.S. Postal Service hasn't gone bankrupt by the time this box makes it's way around! Coming up on a year with a mere handful of audio clips and photos. At least the reviews are consistent... :hmm:

Come on TB, pics & clips, pics & clips!!! :)
 
Exar.jpg


So I didn't do any recordings, but here are some random findings:

-The switches suck. If they last, great, but they are far too easy to turn on/off inadvertently, and seem like a cheap tack-on compared to the rest of the pedal.

-Other than said crapswitch, they have excellent build quality, and a very nice design, in particular the battery access. Heavy is good, heavy is reliable. If it doesn't work, you can always hit them with it.

-The chorus is sorta bland, but might stand out in a mix since it has a metallic quality to it. I'm not really impressed with this one though.

-The distortion is quite good, at first I thought "meh" but I coaxed some good cutting tones out of it, and some decent heaving earth aural torture as well. The EQ is pretty nice, works on the overall tone instead just the dirt. Reminds me of an Xotic BB but with a blend.

-Octave thingy is still the god damn cheese. Everyone who used it seemed to really enjoy it, once I heard it click on it would stay on for 10 minutes or so. Very solid pedal, I would totally buy one of these if I had any money.
 
i have a confession...when i repacked the pedals and shipped them back out, i wiped a booger on one of them. i will not tell you which one or where, but one of them has the sound of jimsnot.

:D
 
I'm going to post my impressions of each pedal individually, rather than a group thing at the end of my turn...

Moby Dick - I spent the weekend with this on a lot, and I'm really impressed...I was/am able to dial in exactly what I want from a chorus (subtle layering on top of my tone...if that makes sense). Given the controls on the pedal, I'd say that the versatility factor is high; the construction, aside from the already-mentioned foot switch, is first-rate. One question I do have is on the rubber foot vs velcro...I haven't tried it (since the pedal isn't mine), but I'm guessing that the foot can be successfully removed and velcro applied directly to the metal case in general, but if someone somehow ended up velcroing the battery door and then later repositioned the pedal, the velcro might actually pull the door out of the case itself. Oh yeah...bonus points for the warranty it comes with!

In general, I like this pedal a lot and could easily see adding it to my collection (and may just end up doing so).

Next up will be the distortion, in a day or so.

Also, I intend to finish my turn with all three by the end of this week and will have the box back in circulation either Friday or Monday (at the latest).
 
I said I was going to do the distortion next, but...

Octavium - First off, know that this is only the second octave pedal I've spend any real time with, and I've pretty much decided that it isn't an effect I will have need of. That said, this one has the same quality construction as the other two pedals (aside from the already-mentioned foot switch); one octave-up and two octave-down settings, and tone controls for both dry and the two octave-downs.

It seemed to track just fine, and the adjustment options are nice to have. Dead silent when not on. Beyond that tho, I'm not really sure what to say...it does its thing well AFAICT. It's just not a thing I'm really into.


The distortion review will be up this weekend, and the pedals will move on to TheMutt on Monday.
 
The tourbox is out of here, and (per Bongo's request) on the way to scotch.

One thing I found at the post office...the whole tourbox itself will fit into a 12x12x5 flat-rate box, which saved me $4.00 in shipping costs - the rest of y'all may want to look into that option (this also explains why scotch will be unpacking a double-boxed package).

I still need to put together a review of the distortion (later tonight or tomorrow), but in general I'm really impressed with Exar's build quality, ease of use, adjustability, and other good stuff like that there. The Moby Dick chorus is on my short-list of chorus's (chorii?) to shop for. Thanks loads to Cyrus for arranging the tourbox!