MusicRadar Verdict
A reasonably-priced low-gain drive pedal with a fat sound and the option of something leaner.
Pros
- +
Good value.
Cons
- -
Very little.
MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test.
Where the Golden Brownie does the high-gain-amp-in-a-box thing, the Tube Squasher falls squarely into the low- to medium-gain overdrive category.
What you are getting here is a smooth valve-like overdrive that responds organically to your playing dynamics, as well as plenty of extra gain to drive your amp while you are at it.
The sound is delivered via a familiar array of drive, level and tone knobs, but there's also a toggle switch for two quite different modes.
One setting offers the sound with 'nowt taken out' - full and fat in the bottom end - while the other filters out some bass for a tauter low end that lends itself nicely to chordal rhythm playing.
The Tone control's range has been wisely chosen to focus on the upper mid presence so you can dial in a tone to best suit your amp's voicing. There are no extremes of bright or dull here, just an emphasis on mellowing or sweetening your tone to enhance the music.
"It’s a piece of music software history": ReCycle gets recycled as Reason Studios makes the classic sample editor available as a free download
“The verse tricks you into thinking that it’s in a certain key and has this ‘simplistic’ musical language, but then it flips”: Charli XCX’s Brat collaborator Jon Shave on how they created Sympathy Is A Knife
“I’ve seen a million faces and I’ve rocked them all!”: Was Bon Jovi’s 1989 acoustic performance really the inspiration for MTV Unplugged?
