The Snarling Dog's Black Dog is an overdrive pedal. Its built like a homemade pedal and not not mass produced ones, with a 2 piece sheet metal angled box, generic push button, and classic chicken beak knobs for volume and gain. It also has a switch for "attack control" that lets you choose "snarl" or "bite". Fun, fun. But the coolest thing about this pedal is the dog's face staring back at you whose eyes light up red when you switch on the unit.

Its pretty simple to operate; no eq, just a volume and gain knob, and attack switch.

I like this pedal, it has a very classic sound to me. Its got more bark to it than my TS9 tube screamer, though not as much sustain. I find it perfect for nailing that AC/DC sound.
I eventually get a bit bored and it feels kind of like a one-trick-pony since I can't get creamy sustain for soling like I do from the TS9, and its not quite as warm.
But, since it has true bypass, where you can turn it off and its like its not even there (why can't more pedal makers spend the time to do that>!) then I like to keep it right there in my signal chain for that classic british bark once in a while.

The DOD Grunge pedal is a bit misnamed, it can maybe create a "grunge" sound for you if you play with it, but it is mostly a pedal for metal lovers.
Its a fairly typical distortion box, 1/4" input and output, red led, ac adapter input, in a sturdy metal casing with a cheap plastic stomp button and battery cover like all DOD boxes, when will they ever learn not to use plastic? It has 4 knobs; "loud", "low", "high", and "grunge" (which means 'gain' in DOD-land for this pedal anyway). Its pretty simple to use.

I was a bit suprised at how much control the "low" and "high" knobs give you. You can't just max this thing out and rock out like some guitarists are tempted to do, but you will equally lose out by just leaving the EQ at 12 o'clock. You can add a ton of thick low end to your palm muting riffing with the "low" knob without it getting muddy as quickly as I would expect, and the 2 eq knobs seem a bit interactive. It adds a lot of versatility to this pedal.

This pedal will probably elicit a 'love it or hate it' reaction from most guitarists. I do like the meaty crunch of it and the amount of gain possible, but it does start to sound a bit "synthetic" to my ears and never really sounds "warm". Its a very raw, grating distortion. It might be cool to play Pantera riffs, and detune to play newer metal, but..... I would never play prettier music like indie rock or even screamo with it. Its just to nasally and over the top. I go to this pedal when I want super aggressive distortion for metal type playing. I have the sense to reach for my Tube Screamer when I want creamy overdrive/distortion for lead/soling, and my Snarling Dogs Black Dog when I want a more classic sound.

I hate the sound of it with the gain turned down, its not very versatile in that regard either.

The TS9 Tube Screamer is an analog distortion/overdrive unit. Mine was made in Japan, and it has the characteristic green paint, 1/4" input and output jacks, red led light, and ac adaptor input, all in a rugged metal case good for stompin' on.

Its a super simple pedal to operate, just 3 knobs; "drive", "tone", and "level" so its pretty self explanatory. Having a single tone knob rather than seperate "high" and "low" makes it easier to achieve a more "transparent" sound from the TS9 since you can just park it right at 12 o'clock.

In itself, the TS9 only makes one sound, but is good at it. Its not a super hi gain distortion, but will give you a stinging lead tone for soloing and plenty of balanced, sweet sustain depending on what guitar you are using. I play most an Ibanez Ghostrider which is built like a Les Paul with mahogany body / maple top and set neck.
Its not a thick, beefy overdrive, but its not thin or buzzy. Its sort of a sweet, middle of the road, mild distorion, or even just a gentle overdrive if you dial it in low. Its fairly versatile in its range, but its character remains the same through its spectrum from mild overdrive from medium to hi gain distortion.
One thing I like to do with my TS9 is use it as a boost to push a tube amp like my small Epiphone Valve Special into greater breakup.
I also get really cool results by purposely dialing in distorted sounds from the TS9 and then backing off the volume on my guitar to clean it up, like going from the solos in "Black Magic Woman" to the verses which are obviously cleaner, or just to get a clean sound with more sustain than usual.

First off let me just say that I don't consider myself an "advanced" player. I've been playing for about 20 years, I'm self taught so that means it took me longer than usual to learn to play. I'm mainly a strummer and simple picker. Having said that, on with this:
Made in Korea. (Meh, at least it's not made in China) :-)
20 frets, the last fret is accessible by advanced players but anything past the 13th fret I found difficult.
Nice pickup (TKN4 I believe but not 100% sure) with 3 band equalizer, volume control, notch filter control with on/off button, mid contour on/off and EQ on/off buttons.
Standard acoustic guitar neck, just normal stuff here.
All around this guitar feels solid and well made.

Neck does have a nice feel. Top frets are accessible. I like the shape, it's a great guitar for strummers especially. The dreadnought body is nice to hug and just pound away on.
This was my second guitar, my first was a Yamaha FG410 acoustic. Compared to my first guitar, this EG530C was a dream to play and MUCH easier on the hand.

It's a bit difficult to play standing up but most acoustics with the large body will be I guess. I do not like that it has a pin for the strap on the body bottom but no second pin. This means you have to "jurry rig" a tie for the left side of the strap at the top of the neck. Not a "really" big deal, but a bit of an annoyance.

One can get a really nice sound out of this guitar in any number of ways; however, one can also get a "not very great" sound too. You just have to play around with the EQ on the guitar and whatever you're plugging it into and you definitely CAN get a very nice sound from this baby. Anyone saying different is just being a bit unfair and lazy in my humble opinion.

I like to play folk/rock so this guitar has always given me the kind of sound I like.
I use this guitar mainly through a PA system at church, unplugged and plugged into my BR-600 digital recording studio. In all these situations, this guitar has been more that satisfactory.

I find the best settings for this guitar through the PA system is bass and treble set slightly above flat and mid range left at flat (or in the middle).
This guitar can sound a bit "tinny" when plugged into recording devices (depending on the device of coarse) but this can easily be overcome by playing with the EQ on the Guitar and with control/effects from recording device. This guitar sounds amazing through chorus pedals/effects by the way.

I've heard people complain about the sound of this guitar unplugged but I think it's because they just didn't age it properly. My guitar has a nice sound, a little bright on the high strings but overall a very nice sounding guitar. I let it stand in front of my TV and stereo when not in use, always have. This allows the wood to age and pick up all the tones while it's aging. If you only play country chords on a guitar, eventually, rock chords will not sound as sweet as the country chords. So, in my opinion, the best way to age a guitar is to let it "feel" and "absorb" all the tones possible, even when not playing it.

VHT 50/12.. 50 Class A/AB watt tube combo, Graphic e.q. (bypassable),3 band e.q., Series/parallel effects loop,4 button footswitch.. ready for the stage. 2 channels.. clean and lead. Lots of gain available here. EL34 tubes, 3 12ax7's.. Boost,Edge and Bright switches (for BOTH channels)... literally a TON of tone shaping options and interface. This is a very professional,versatile piece of gear. 2 Eminence P-50 speakers. Tube reverb.
As far as bells and whistles go... I really do not know of anything more someone could ask of an analog tube combo... There are all these modeling combos that do loads of things... but this is the real deal. These are the tones they try to emulate.

Simple. Hmmm.. yes, and no. This is a combo amp... but you really do have a lot of different knobs you will need to turn to get where you want. The controls are extremely interactive.. to the point where you need to be careful in your adjustments, as you might be closer than you think, and over-adjust.. so...be careful!
Manual. Huh. I think it was a sheet of paper. It mentioned a presence control.. which this amp actually does NOT have. Yeah, the manual does not really help.
I give this a "7".. It is pretty complicated for a tube amp. Like I said.. lots of bells and whistles.

Sadly, I don't own this amp anymore.. But it DID suit my style... thinking about getting another one. Yes, I am a doofus regarding equipment. Should have kept it, but got rid of it on a whim. Lots of gain. Nice, barking modded Hiwatt tone.. somewhere between that and a Marshall. Used to run my Keeley TS9 in front of it. Nice searing harmonic ripping, screaming gain. Wow.It does have a real flamethrowing type characteristic when you run a Tubescreamer in front of it. And scoop out the mids on the graphic e.q. NOT a mesa tone.. or what you hear from every band out there on Clear channel radio stations. It is definitely it's own animal. Telling this story is starting to hurt.

The clean tone reminds me of Vox AC30 clean fatness.. not really a "Twin" type tone.. but it may have been the speakers as well... The P50's seemed to really have a mid heavy character to them. Still a very good tone.. very alive and breathy. Class A mode.. does not get squishy. It just seemed to get grainy.. Maybe I should have cranked it louder..
Used this with Les Pauls, Strats.. different guitars. It definitely notes the differences between every guitar.

Using this pickup for 2 years now. I dislike this for cleans.. as it is quite sterile and lacking in personality. It is not bad, per se... it can certainly be clean, but has no quack or other desirable single coil characteristics in clean or distorted mode for that matter.. this pickup seemed to be designed for one thing... to have gain heaped upon it and not get muddy.. even with the signal loaded, trebles up basses up. this can handle extreme amounts of gain. Retains clarity.. and begins to sing as you increase your gain. Very odd philosophy behind this. You totally use your amps gain.. this is very low output. The opposite idea behind say, an EMG 81. The signal hitting the amp is weak.. but this lets you dime your rig without your sound turning to mush. You would need to lower your gain on your amp if using hot pickups as opposed to being able to crank it. I have used lots of pickups.. this has changed my overall approach to my sound. I like using other devices to achieve my gain now.. and use pickups like this and the EJ Custom. Add all the distortion I want and no slop. Just a detailed warm sound with lots of heat. I can get metal sounds... but with character. Becomes more fluid/flutey as you add more gain.
I think this is an insane value for the price. If you can't get a great heavy sound out of this.. get rid of your amp. Or maybe get a guitar that is not made of concrete. Get a wooden one.
I will always have a guitar with this pickup in it. I give it a "9" because I need it for my tone. It allows me to achieve heavy heavy sounds.. but not at the expense of detail.

This is a clean boost pedal.. 1/4" true bypass.. I'm assuming this is an analog effect.. (durrr) Definitely NOT rackable... bulletproof construction.

Uh..1 button. 1 Knob. Wow. No manual necessary. Anyone can do this. It is a clean boost.. especially on cleans.. really enhances distortion if used in front of a dirty amp.

Mmm..really clean. True bypass pedal.. really quiet. Great deal for 80 bucks. Does not add artifacts, fuzz or anything else truly.. it WILL enhance distortion because it is fattening up your signal. Adds LOADS of beef to my Strat with a Dimarzio HS-3 stacked humbucker in the bridge. Using this and a Keeley TS9 in front of a Voodoo Lab Preamp absolutely SCREAMS. People cannot believe the metal tone I get with a Strat with single coils. I can get that grind from Godsmack "Keep Away".. with an even heavier/fatter lead tone.. knock off the pedals, flip to the neck pickup and and I have nasty blues... hit my clean channel and I can comp Stevie Ray Vaughn. So.. using it as a pickup booster for humbucker tones can make your Strat even more versatile. To really get this as a clean volume boost on a dirty amp..You have to run it in the effects loop. My rig does not have one.. so.. I just use it for signal fattening. Either is good.. it is a very clean effect.
More on the issue of volume boost versus gain boost. In the front end of a dirty amp this will NOT give you enough db gain to use as a boost for solos. In front of a clean amp, then yeah.. it will noticeably bump it up. With distortion you MUST run it in the loop.. (between your preamp and poweramp stages) to get a usable real solo boost. If you are just looking to increase your distortion or fatten your signal, run it into the front end.
Use this with the Strat mostly, but also with Les Pauls, Tele's, other humbucker guitars if I want to go over the top. I use this with one particular Yamaha electric with JB's in the bridgee..and I get a really close approximation to Eric Johnson's old tone (shockingly enough. It gets that chunky Fuzz Face meets Plexi fatness).
Nothing I hate about it! (except that it adds some noise.. but way less than even my Keeley TS9...

4 12ax7 tubes..PCB.. 3 channels.. Clean, dirty... and more dirty. Shared eq, separate volume on rhythm/lead channels (good to set lead boost) These two channels are very,very close.. Powerful signal..can push poweramps pretty hard. Direct out/XLR direct out, 1/4 outs.. NO effects loop. (Yuck) Mid boost button for distortion channels, bright switches for all 3 channels.
No effects. This is strictly tone shaping and gain.

Very simple. Knob turners dream. Buttons reeeeally easy to push. A monkey could figure this out. Getting a good sound.. well, you have to know what you like. This amp has a fair amount of complex mids... I don't know if you can dial these out completely like you could with a Boogie Recto for example. The eq is very responsive..I find myself dialing back the trebles overall since I am always striving for the smoothest sounds possible.. (while having loads of gain) The manual is easy...I think it is like... 3 pages.

It does suit my style. The sound overall is smooth.. creamy.. and still heavy heavy. I can play metal.. dial back my volume to hard rock-ville.. add some slight overdrive on the front end and it screams. Using Les Pauls, Strats, Tele's, a few other types with this. Carvin T100 poweramp, Digitech GSP2101 for effects.
Overall, I would say the character of this amp is somewhere between a Soldano and Marshall tone.. A bit smoother than the typical Marshall tone.. ( I play next to my rhythm players Marshall TSL stack) but with just as much attack. (and more character)
I need to run the gamut of tones for my originals. From crystal clean to molten gain. I run this thru parametric e.q.'s.. loads of effects.. and it retains its character.
The gain channels are the standouts here. Searing, yet smooth, detailed, but with enough hair on it to let you know it's heavy. The clean channel... uh. Hmmm. Honestly, this is rather 2 dimensional. The least exciting part of the amp, but with a parametric you can get a good approximation of Twin tones. If you are using effects, it is certainly more than adequate. It is not a "bad" tone... just not as good as the distortion channel counterparts.