Stax Holy War Guitar Pedal, Analong Heavy Guitar Effect Pedals, Metal Distortion Pedal

GREAT little circuit. Analog, swooshy , deep sounding for such an inexpensive, budget pedal. I’m delighted with pretty much every aspect, it is low noise, zero issues such as popping noises or loud switches, no problems at all with hiss or hum, it’s just silent. There is no volume drop when activated. Just a very decent phaser that works as it should. Sounds nice for VH heavy tones too, turn the rate way down for that. The graphics and artwork are a little boring looking, I’d like to see them use cool icons like JHS pedals does, or better artwork, but we buy it to sound good, not look good. Very happy with my Stax phaser so far!

If you’re looking for that stoner rock fuzz, this little pedal sounds amazing for the price!

I was using the 1 spot daisy chain and it worked for me to a point and then i started to get noise in the signal. I started shopping for an isolated power source. I did not expect the Stax to do the job for the price but, For the price I decided to take a chance. Instead, it was easy to use and so far has been noiseless. I've got a TU-2 Tuner, TS-7 Tubescreamer, 5150 distortion, MXR Phase 90, EVH Flanger, Digitech Delay, and Boss RC-5 Looper plugged in and love it.

Pleasantly surprised by the sound of the ac stax acoustic sim. Found that the settings in my pic give me the most realistic acoustic sound : standard setting, body at aprx 2 o'clock, presence 4-5 o'clock. Note this doesn't take a battery so you'll need a 9v adapter. For $30 - fun to jam with when I don't feel like swapping guitars. Not sure about a live use. I'm sure you could fool some no guitarists though.

This pedal packs a mighty punch to be so small and simple. Partnered with a compressor or solo through the chain into the amp, it’s guaranteed to hit the sweet spot for your plexi-like sound. Highly recommended

Phasers are one of my fave effects, and they really do come in many flavors. After comparing with the MXR Script Phase 90 and the EHX Small Stone, I find that the Stax mini compares closest to the MXR Phase 90 (my long time favorite), and pays homage to the MXR with the distinct adobe orange color in the graphics. It is ever so slightly more subtle than the MXR, allowing slightly more of the guitar's dry signal into the mix than the MXR does. The Stax unit features a color switch that selects between "vintage" and "modern" tones. Normally I think this would maybe choose between an 8 stage phaser and a 12 stage phaser (or other combination), but to my ears the "vintage mode" simulated the Phase 90 while the "modern mode" added some gain to the signal, giving the phaser a little overdrive under it, much like the early Boss CH-1 Super Chorus does. The Stax Phaser is all metal construction; switches feel solid, and the rate potentiometer feels nice and smooth with the proper resistance. Internals are printed circuit; not surprising as phaser is a common circuit and easily reproducible. The compact size and inexpensive price make this an attractive phaser for the budget-conscious Weekend Warrior. The subtlety of the effect (mentioned in first paragraph) will have me replacing my MXR on my bass pedal board with this Stax unit, as the MXR can sometimes have slightly too much wash for my bass rig. As a pedal nerd, one thing I really appreciate is that designers of the Stax Phaser knew to pay homage to the proper color of the 70s phaser. I have had other mini phaser circuits in the past, and it was irritating to glance down and have trouble spotting the phaser because it was entirely the wrong color. In my mind, based on experience, phasers are ORANGE. They are THIS orange. They are not silver. Or grey. Or blue. They are ORANGE. And this unit knows this. Overall this is a good value for the budget-conscious player.

So the good stuff. It is a great sounding Plexi in a box that does an amazing job of replicating Marshall tones in a tiny package. It sounds good going into the front of a clean amp, it sounds good as an amp sim with a cab sim going direct, and it sounds good in the return of an effects loop as a pre amp. It plays nice with other pedals, loves a clean boost, can go into JCM 800 territory gain wise, and has a bright and normal modes activated by a switch. Great glassy mid range roar, and the tone control is useful thru the whole range, and to my ears adds upper mids along with treble, and cuts low end when turned to the right, and does just the opposite going left. Loves my strat and my ES 339 so both single coils and humbuckers, it cuts right thru the mix. The only issue I have, and lots of mini drive pedals in this price range have this issue, is it is extremely loud, lots of headroom, which is great, but this comes on instantly when you turn the level control, at 7 o’clock it’s way louder than the clean signal, so it’s tough to get unison volume from the amp and pedal, especially going into the front end of a tube amp. I just use a clean boost to raise the clean channel to match, but still it takes awhile to find the sweet spot..

IF YOUR LOOKING FOR A CHEAP PEDAL ITS A MUST HAVE