In past I had mentioned wanting to do a pickup swap in my MIJ. I just can’t get the 80’s metal crunch I am looking for to cover a lot of what I play (when I’m not playing blues). Problem is of late I have found some really sweet tones I like a lot from my stock pickups and hate to lose that. My distortion box (Boss Metal Zone) is not too bad for new metal or adding a bit of extra gain to spice things up just a bit but for the most part it is to digital/compress/scooped sounding to reproduce a 80’ Marshall crunch type of high gain distortion. Now only half heartedly wanting to go hum-bucker on the strat because I want to keep the clean twang too, I have been GASING for a pedal that will suit my needs. I found a demo on a pedal called (the Crunch Box), made by MI Audio that sounds like it is gonna’ fit the bill of what I’m looking for. Problem is I have not played one in person because nobody around here carries the thing for me to hear in person….
I was wondering if anyone here has one, used one, or heard it live in person and could give their opinion. I know personal opinions very, and what you like may not be what I like. I just want an over all opinion on build quality and really want to know if you think it sounds more analog, like an all tube amp than digital sounding like a lot of pedals.
Here is a demo of the pedal, the first part is being used with a Strat and from the video at least to me sounds really good (and true to the tone I’m looking for) …….Let me know what you think

http://www.proguitarshop.com/product.ph ... goryID=154

Thanks
Bill

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(80’s Hair Metal) = A snapshot in time before Grunge ruined Rock & Roll forever!!!!

I don't own one, but I have played through an MI Tube Zone Overdrive, and it was smokin'.

I believe the Tube Zone is pretty much the same OD circuit as the Crunch Box, just with more EQ-shaping controls to get the character of the overdrive more precisely dialed-in with your guitar and amp. The Tube Zone might be more flexible, but I would expect the Crunch Box to sound just as good.

One of the guys that I collab with from Africa uses a Crunch Box. Here is a sample of him playing a Strat through it :

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=5891117

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SlapChop… I took a look at the Tone zone and I’m not sure by hearing it that the OD circuits are the same as the crunch box. I could be wrong but I do know; the two pedals don’t sound alike. The Tone Zone is overly compressed and sounds much the same as my Boss Metal Zone. Very cool but not as tight of a sound as I am looking for at the moment..any thing else you might recommend to try out while I’m testing gear this coming weekend.

Mike:… Thanks for the sound clip of the crunch box. That sounded amazing very close to the sound I’m looking for. I sure wish I could find one around here to demo…I'm really gasing for one now. I may look around a bit as well to see if I can find something close to that sound in any other pedals as well with more EQ settings….

Cheers
Bill

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(80’s Hair Metal) = A snapshot in time before Grunge ruined Rock & Roll forever!!!!

The Tube Zone and Crunch Box OD Circuits are not the same, the only similarities are the control scheme and the multiple clipping gain stages. The Crunch Box is actually based on the blues pro overdrive (another MI pedal), but with increased mid/presence to give it that "Marshall on 'roids" kinda deal. I tried one out myself on the recommendation of the tech I always go to, wouldn't mind having one to say the least. ^^ I didn't buy it because I already had the tube zone and that (for now) has fulfilled my OD needs.

Definitely try one out though, this thread kinda makes me want to go play it again ^^

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