Menatone "Top Boost in a Can". Opinions?

teddy_boy · Post by **teddy_boy** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 1:18 am

Hi guys,

Has anybody tried one of these pedals. I'm thinking of buying one to use with my Rick 620, LP Standard and AV'62RI Strat. My amp, a Monster El Mariachi 15W, is already Class A so do you think this will go over the "top"(lol)?

I'm looking to have the Monster set on a clean tone, add a touch of dirt with a Crowther Hot Cake (which I already have. It's great!) and add more grind with the Menatone. In addition, the TBIAC has two channels (normal and brilliant) of which the other can be set to further boost the signal for soloing etc.

Sounds great on paper. Anybody tried it in real life?

Cheers

Tom

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:47 am

Even better on the floor:

A Tonelab SE. set it and forget it. Fewer cables. More options.

Lemme work on those TB settings a bit.

teddy_boy · Post by **teddy_boy** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 9:01 am

Hi Paul,

I've done the multi-effects thing and have now got back into pedals! I love to tweak and more than that, I dig being in the fully analog world.

Plus pedals look cool!!

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 9:25 am

Well, Tom, we all have our preferences.

And I can tell you've never used a Tonelab.

"Multi-effects" does not really describe it.

I do not believe that pedals are "fully analogue".

Pedals look messy. So we mount them to a pedal board.

The SE is the coolest looking, best-sounding superhero pedalboard made today; available on the 'Bay for around $350.00 used, or sometimes even less. Even GC's gottem pretty cheep.

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 9:59 am

"Pedals look messy. So we mount them to a pedal board."

Sometimes two, Paul.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:03 pm

All you need now is a little Christmas village to go with them.

"Doc at the Power Station!"

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:54 pm

Crikey, John!! It almost looks like you're down there talking to them!!

"There's a good little compressor.... be nice to daddy!"

winston · Post by **winston** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 5:04 pm

John,

That's a severe pedal fetish you've got going there. LOL

EVH does not even use that many! Do you ever play your guitar "dry"?

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 5:26 pm

How many feet you got anyway?

Or, have you trained your toes?

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 5:46 pm

Howard, unfortunatley, in that shot, I was having technical difficulties (Who would have guessed?!) and I was testing out each pedal to see where the culprit bad patch cable was. So it was more of desperate plea: "PLEASE! THE SHOW STARTS IN THIRTY SECONDS! WHERE ARE YOU, BAD PATCH CABLE? SHOW YOURSELF!!!"

Brian, playing the guitar "dry" is simply not my style. The closest I ever get to that is at least with reverb, and as of recently, the Janglebox, usually when i'm just strumming chords.

That pic was from about a year ago - i'm not nearly using that many pedals anymore (Down to one board, about eight pedals), but in that band I was doing everything from ambient soundscapes to punk - it was 100% improv, on stage as well as in the studio. Fun times.

Paul, I never was very good with my feet. They always seemed too busy eating donuts and drinking beer to learn the art of stompbox tap-dancing:

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 5:55 pm

I see that you've redone the lounge again, too, John...

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 5:57 pm

Musta been a top batch of hooch, John!!

teddy_boy · Post by **teddy_boy** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:52 pm

Looking good John,

I like pedals, they have character. Ok, they are messy, but so is my hair. It's a part of my style.

I actually use quite a small setup live: Crybaby ->Boss TU-2->Crowther Hotcake->Vintage Rat(or the Top Boost)-> Roger Mayer Voodoo-vibe jr.->Electro-Harmonix Memory Man-> Monster El Mariachi

I'm not an expert on what is totally analogue and what is not, but I'm sure I don't fancy something counting ones and zeros in an attempt to sound like an amp that was built 40 years ago. That's just my preference, but I know everybody has theirs too and I'm not saying they could sound good too.

Anyway, back to something interesting! Should we start a new thread on setups or has that been done before already? It would be great to know what you guys are playing through! My setup is above...

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:01 pm

Nice setup, Thomas. The Memory Man was my main delay for a very long time. How do you like the Voodoo Vibe? I haven't had good luck with 'vibe pedals (Dunlop was terribly shoddy, but was nice when it worked - not often. Microvibe is much too subtle.)

kog · Post by **kog** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:21 pm

Uh, those, uhm, shoes? How do you know which pedal you're hitting?