A few months back, I had heard some buzz about Joe Satriani teaming with Vox to come up with some new pedals, and just recently caught wind of the first pedal from this partnership called the “Satchurator.” When I first read about it, I was thinking to myself, “Now this is cool…” I’ve known about Satch being a pedal freak for awhile, so I figured that having his input into a new pedal would be worth a look; and based on my few hours of research, and listening to samples and watching videos (I’ll insert a couple below), this pedal is worth more than just a look. It looks like I’m gonna get it!
Okay, just what I need… yet another drive/distortion pedal. But there’s something very very cool about the sound that this pedal produces, and from my perspective, it has nothing to do with trying to sound like Satch (even though people say that this is Joe’s tone in a box). For instance, I’d rarely, if ever crank the gain full. My stuff is more on the bluesy side of things, and the distortion this pedal produces can be really thick at higher gain levels from what I’ve heard. Nah, this is a different brand of distortion altogether. It’s not as mid-rangy as a Tube Screamer, but it’s also a little thicker than an OCD – it’s kind of hard to describe.
Of course, I’ll have to do a test drive before I actually buy it, but it sure looks like a winner to me. Let’s look at the features (from Vox):
- Analog distortion pedal designed under the complete supervision of Joe Satriani
Controls for Gain, Tone and Volume - ‘More’ gain boost switch enables two footswitchable distortion sounds in one pedal. This gain boost is dramatic when gain knob is set low, and is a subtle solo boost when gain knob is set to maximum.
- ‘Pad’ switch pads down input to allow for high gain pedals (such as modern wahs) placed before Satchurator. Up is pad ‘ON’. Down is pad ‘OFF’ for full Satchurator effect.
- High gain, low noise design provides vintage to modern distortion sounds
- Dynamic circuit is highly responsive to rolling off the guitar’s volume and preserves the guitar’s high end when the volume is rolled off. (NOTE: This means it cleans up nicely when you lower your guitar’s volume – SLICK)
- Cream chicken-head knobs for precise positioning and high visibility on dark stages
Now get this: THIS BOX IS STREET PRICED AT $129.00!!! Holy Simolians, Batman! That’s incredibly affordable! I am totally blown away by the price of this pedal! I’d kind of come to expect paying a steep price for something from Vox (can you say “Virage?”), but this just blows me away. Anyway, here a couple of videos I found while surfing:
Guitar World Review
Vox Demo
And from Joe himself…
Guitar Gear 