- compressor limiter

- At first the setup can seem a little tricky and you'll need to read the manual (and even the online manual of the constructor website, where you can find some settings) to understand the use of the setting "response", but that's the only difficulty

Beautiful !
The Carl Martin compressor is well known for being one of the best "non-rack" compressor... Once you try it you understand why

- a great bunch of effects

- Présets configuration is really easy. There's is also an EZ edit for even more quickness.
- The LCD screen and the effect chain diagram are well designed: in one look you see the active effects

- classic effects are ok, but it seemed to me that they sounded différent than the boss pédals.
- you can also find some "exotic" effects like the feedbacker, accoustic simulator etc. Some of them are cheap and some are really interesting (like the accoustic simulator used with the pickup simulator)
- Hated the "tube heads distorsions simulators", sounded thin and lifeless to me (Probably my fault: at that time i connected the GT3 in front of a transistor amp but didn't set the 3 band EQ as the manual advice)

***WARNING: THE FOLLOWING (RATED G, FOR GENERAL AUDIENCE) REVIEW APPLIES FOR THE BLACK RUSSIAN-MADE ELECTRO HARMONIX BIG MUFF (THAT ON THE PICTURE ABOVE), NOT THE EARLIER (USUALLY MORE EXPENSIVE) TANK-GREEN MODEL WHICH MAY SOUND DIFFERENT***

This analog stompbox is something in-between a distortion and a fuzz. The controls are Volume, Tone and Sustain (which also controls the amount of distortion). No D.C. in, and the input and output jacks are reversed compared with ALL other pedals that I've ever seen or owned... Please note that although some units (like mine) were provided with a true-bypass switch, not all were... This model is no longer produced, replaced by the U.S. Big Muff which is said to sound a bit cleaner.

Well, three mere knobs... could be worse, couldn't it?

It took me some time to get used to this very dark, grainy, almost experimental kind of sounds. I rarely use it alone, most of the time I have it follow a cheap overdrive which gives the Big Muff the mid frequencies that it lacks, and the whole provides for one HUGE distorsion sound...

The way the tone knob shapes the sound is a bit surprising as you get in no time from an almost total lack of treble to a shrieking sound. This pedal is rather versatile as it goes easily from punk to vintage rock to a growling metal sound (needless to say that in the latter case you definitely shouldn't expect a sharp-edged sound -- hey, that's a FUZZ).

This is an analog, single-channel amp simulator in a pedal. Apart from the basic (self-explicit) Level, High, Low and Drive controls, you have three 3-position switches to help you shape your tone:
- Amp: determines which kind of amp will be emulated. Possibilities include Tweed (Fender), British (Marshall-ish sounds) and California (for Mesa-esque tones).
- Mod: choose between Clean, Hi-Gain and Hot Rod.
- Mic: Since this pedal includes a cab simulation, you can choose how your virtual mic would be placed, choose between Classic, Center (close miking at the center of the loudspeaker) or Off-axis (close miking once again but this time with the mic at the edge of the speakercone).

Beware: contrarily to the GT2's celebrated predecessor, the Sansamp Classic (or the original SansAmp for, the lucky -few- ones who have one) the cab sim on this model can NOT de deactivated: the GT2 was NOT designed as a "normal" distortion box, but aimed at being plugged directly in a mixing board/recorder/soundcard (NOT an amp), as a sort of DI box --which by the way makes it all the more a shame that no XLR output is provided in addition to the 1/4 jack, doesn't it?
With the poweramp stage and the cab being emulated, an effect loop (even one with an insert like on Marshall's original Guv'nor) also would have been welcome...

The manual is clear, yet it will take you a little while to get through all the possible configurations, but everything is rather simple to understand... And if you just can't, well, consider yourself lucky not to have spent more in a real amp.

I can hardly compare these simulations with the original amps but they all sound good to me. I use it with a Mexican Fender Fat Strat and occasionally with a cheap mic (but the GT2 can be used with a bass too).

I don't like the British (Marshall) settings too much as it's a bit too much in the high-mids, but the Celifornia (Mesa) mode is perfect in my opinion as far as distortion is concerned. Both provide powerful sounds although none tend to range on the modern side (it's OK to play ACDC, Guns N' Roses, Nirvana or early Metallica, but don't expect modern heavy or nü metal sounds). Oh, and by the way, turn your guitar's volume knob WAY down if you expect any clean sound from either of these two modes -- even with single coils...
The Tweed (Fender) emulation is in my opinion one of the strongest points in this unit. Not only does it give a great clean sound, but it also reacts surprisingly well to virtually any distortion pedal placed ahead of it (I tried with a Big Muff, a Boss DF-2, a cheap Belcat OD, a Metal Muff and a Zoom Tri-Metal), which can make up for the lack of a second channel.
The cab sims sound average to good, sometimes a bit muddy, but at least from one setting to another you definitely can hear a difference.

The GT2 does respect the dynamics in your sound and contrarily to many other amp simulators its organic sound WILL give you the sensations that you'd feel playing on a REAL amp -- even if you play it with headphones!!! In high-gain settings there tends to be a certain hiss but a good noise reducer (ISP's Decimator for instance) will do the trick.

These are really good strings, I've used them on my Fender Fat Strat for a while now (3 or 4 years approximately) and from the start I've been impressed by how they sound better and live longer than the Dean Markley and d'Addario that I used before. Even new they don't have that excessive brightness in sound that some other brands provide, and the sound doesn't seem to deteriorate significantly with time (provided a little care, of course -- I use GHS' Fast Fret regularly). I couldn't expect better...

This product is used to both clean and lubricate the strings. It also takes care of the fretboard's wood. Use it first before playing to ensure noiseless slides, and then at the end of your show/rehearsal to keep the strings free from any moisture-related degradation which could occure.

I've used exclusively this brand on my pedalboard for a few months now. The sound is clear, all frequencies seem to be correctly rendered, the patches are adjustable and resizable at need with no necesity to ever solder anything -- what more could we ask!? Signal carried through George L's cables sounds WAY better than Yellow Cables and Fastline, a bit ahead compared with Planet Waves, and no obvious difference can be heard when compared with Monster Cables. For a studio/home studio installation it seems like the perfect cable, still unsure whether it would pass the test of playing on stage with it though (shielding seems a bit unsufficient for this -- but this is the price to pay for such a clear signal sound for recording)...

The Small Clone is a monaural analog chorus pedal with only one knob and one (two-position) switch. Seems rather sturdy, although the (non-true bypass) switch on mine is kind of messed up (it is almost detached from the metal case, still works though). Uses 9V battery or can be plugged using an adequate 3.5 jack AC adapter.

I bought it used so there was no manual provided with it. The pdf available on Electro-Harmonix's website seems pretty useless though, unless you've never seen a stompbox in your whole life and/or don't trust your ears to set up that kind of basic pedals.

Used with a Fender Fat Strat through a SansAmp GT-2 with the Small Clone in between (although most people use it in their amp's effect loop that is after the preamp). In both clean and distorted sounds, this pedal brings both warmth (a REAL LOT of) and clarity to any clean sound, while it will smoothen the harshest distortion. I love the way it sounds, very reminiscent of Nirvana's Nevermind (remember the vintage Small Clone was one of Cobain's favorites before he turned to the Polychorus). With the depth switch drawn in the upper position, the chorus sound is noticeably detuned, which may remind of some 80s-90s experimental rock bands such as Sonic Youth -- thus not very easy to use in most context... With extreme settings of the "rate" knob the effect is a little more on the Leslie side. Contrarily to what I've read here and there I haven't noticed a drop in volume when this pedal is active -- maybe it's different in an effect loop?