Amazon Basics Compressor Guitar Pedal, Fully Analog Circuit, Silver

I'm here reviewing this because of Josh Scott of JHS pedals. In a recent (Mar 2022) JHS video on YT about classic Marshall pedals (search for 'Marshall's Greatest Pedals'), he held up the AmazonBasics Distortion in a segment about clone pedals of the v1 Marshall Guv'nor pedal--he then made a lame joke about Jeff Bezos and quickly put the pedal away. It's an interesting suggestion--that this pedal may be a clone of an original Marshall Guv'nor--although he didn't exactly come right out and say it. I know the early Marshall pedals have a solid reputation. Much of the interest in OG Marshall pedals came from the fact that John Mayer had a v1 Marshall Bluesbreaker on his pedal board in the Continuum era. That set off a feverish market for Bluesbreakers that continues to this day. The Bluesbreaker wasn't the only Marshall pedal made notable by a famous player--Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood used a v1 Marshall Shredmaster on his pedal board in the mid to late 90s, and Gary Moore used a v1 Guv'nor through a Marshall full stack as far back as 1990. Anyone who really knows about the v1 Marshall Guv'nor knows that it's recognized as the first 'Marshall in a box' pedal--a pedal trying to emulate the sound of classic Marshall amplifiers--and it forever changed the course of the guitar pedal industry. The sad thing is, Marshall discontinued that original pedal line many years ago, and since then, the company has made no efforts to reintroduce the original circuits to the market. The v2 Guv'nor pedal has been around much longer than its predecessor, although most observers view the v2 Guv'nor as lesser to the original. That's why this particular pedal is very interesting--what if it's a clone of an original Marshall Guv'nor circuit? If it's faithful to the original, the AmazonBasics Distortion would be a very cool pedal indeed. At this price, there was no reason for me to put off the purchase--it's an absolute no-brainer. Ethically it's justifiable, as well--it's not ripping off any company's trademarks, and Marshall doesn't even produce the circuit anymore. The real proof is in the pudding--how does this pedal sound? My expectations were very low. I was more than ready for the possibility that this cheap pedal was going to suck really hard. But the fact is, the pedal is honestly quite good. It does do a range of Marshall-style sounds, from JTM to something of a JMP and even a variation of a JCM. The voicing of the pedal is very well chosen--it's a really good crunch sound that will do a lot of kinds of hard rock and classic rock. The EQ is also well done--it's not too middy, and it has enough bass and plenty of treble on tap. I'm really enjoying this pedal. In fact, I'm having trouble finding something the pedal doesn't do at least pretty well. Even at maximum gain, it's a reasonably tolerable and even usable sound. For me it's money well spent. Even with all the 'Marshall in a box' pedals I own, the AmazonBasics Distortion has earned a rightful place in my collection. I am amazed. The only thing left is to learn more about the original Marshall Guv'nor pedal and find out just how close this pedal really is to that legendary sound. Whether it's spot on to a v1 Guv'nor isn't even necessary--this is a good Marshall style pedal, and I'm happy I got it. Thanks to Josh Scott for his offhanded recommendation.

This is by far the best distortion pedal you will find in the price range and in my opinion it can even outperform some pedals that ask for a higher price. If you're just starting to put together a pedal effects array on a limited budget it's the way to go because it does it's job very well and saves you money for other pedals to round out the effects chain and those other pedals, like a compressor and a 3 notch EQ, will further enhance this pedal's quality. Is this a great pedal? No... after having the budget to afford S tier equipment you won't be using it because it simply doesn't have the frequency response, contouring, and propogation that hits the ultimate sweet spot when you're playing with distortion... but then again do any solid state products really hit the spot? The debate continues I guess. I also find that getting the sound you like the best from this pedal has a lot to do with where you use it in your effects chain, but this also varies. With certain riffs, it sounds better to me before a compressor and for others it's better after compression, so if you've got at least one pedal already or are buying a starter set of pedals, make sure to test this out at every stage of the effect chain. Also, this pedal has a true pass-through bypass that goes directly from input to output, so your clean sound will be pristine and unaffected by the impedance and high-pass or low-pass filtering caused by being coupled to capacitive and inductive passive components. If you're broke and the built in boost on your amp is a disappointment, and lets be honest... they're all disappointing if they're affordable, BUY THIS PEDAL because it plays like a pedal in the $100 tier.

Basic compressor. If you’re just looking to even out your volume it will do the trick. Not great if you’re adding it to a row of pedals though.

I bought this just four days before a gig. I had been using a relatively new pedal board and while I had gotten away with have a "kill" switch when monkeying with instruments or changing them. I found that I really wanted a tuner pedal both to tune but more importantly to kill the signal chain when necessary. Most of my favorite brands tuner pedals cost $$$ and I didn't want to make that kind of investment. The amazon basics pedal was cost effective so I gave it a shot - it was a good bet. The pedal is robust with a durable case, the switch is solid, the tuner display is very clear and big. It is a pretty solid tuner just a little more bounce than I would like (as compared to a Snark super tight for example) but it was effective. The only thing I didn't live was the display color - the red indicator is a little muted for me but that is just personal preference. Very happy with this purchase.

If you’re looking for a compression pedal that is transparent and just cuts the transient highs and lows in an audio signal then look elsewhere. It’s really more of a drive pedal. It adds a lot of noise. If you stack it up with another drive, boost, fuzz, or distortion pedal then you’ll need to by a good gate. I jumped at the price point which, considering it now, makes perfect sense. I was looking for the type of compression that the MXR studio compressor delivers. This little pedal is not that.

NICE MINI COMPRESSOR.... DOES THE JOB......DIRT CHEAP...

Incredible for the price - works fantastic and comes in a strong and durable enclosure.

Para el precio es lo mejor. Sin dudarlo.

I use a rather precious Daion acoustic guitar to which I have fitted a Fishman Neo-D single wound pickup. That pickup produces a truly pathetically weak signal that Fishman ought to be ashamed of. Others have made the same observation. I have been looking for some years now for an affordable preamplifier to use with this guitar. Most preamplifiers sold today are made for fitting into the guitar (and usually for awful piezo pickups). There is no way I am cutting up this guitar to fit a pre-amp. I have therefore been looking for an affordable in-line or "stomp-box" type of pre-amplifier for a while now. Suitable in-line pre-amplifiers I have seen to date are simply too expensive for my appetite at far in excess of $130 and often much much more. Some less expensive ones are unacceptably noisy, producing irritating hiss that destroys an acoustic session. I saw this rather odd little device from AmazonBasics and thought it worth a try at the price point. I can report that, with the "Drive" (Gain) knob turned to maximum, the "Treble" turned to maximum and the "Bass" turned to 3/4 the device operates as a superb little pre-amplifier with high enough gain and low enough noise to do "quiet acoustic" music. I was even able to remove the equaliser from the train of devices. At this point, I am playing the guitar via this box straight into a Mackie 1202-VLZPRO mixer and I'm very happy with what I am getting. I was not anticipating a good result at this price, but I am suitably surprised. All in all, this was a very good purchase for me. I would imagine that it will develop distortion if used with more powerful pickups, such as double-wound humbucker pickups. It is sold for that "boosting" role, but it is fundamentally just a little amplifier with significant gain and some very limited tone controls. Its "stomp button" is seriously suspect though and clicks loudly like metal-on-metal. I do not aim to use that button much. It can stay permanently "on" for my use. Amazon should tell the manufacturer to fix that up, though.

Llego bien empacado y Funcionando perfecto. Lo compré para el bajo eléctrico y le va muy bien. El sonido ganó presencia

Compré el afinador y el precio está excelente, se siente de buena calidad y es suficientemente pequeño como para caber en una pedalera compacta. La luz es lo suficientemente brillante y silencia la señal cuando lo estás usando. Lo único que no me gustó es que no es muy preciso, en especial con la tercera cuerda, cuesta trabajo que la detecte y el afinador salta mucho, por lo cual no se sabe si debes de apretar o soltar la cuerda. Funciona bastante bien para afinación E estándar (la normal), pero con algo más grave como Drop D empieza a ser ya bastante impreciso y realmente no llegas a afinar bien la guitarra, llega al punto al que es mejor afinar la sexta cuerda a oído. Así que para otro tipo de afinaciones buscaría otro afinador con más precisión.