So I got this package from Greece the other day, and inside were two pedals from Crazy Tube Circuits. The first one I grabbed was the Ziggy. Crazy Tube Circuits states that it "was designed to capture the sound of two distinct British amps of the past, that you can hear on most rock recordings. With its unique gain control you can choose between a dirty top boost and an old school british crunch." Ok, so you can read between the lines. We've got two famous British amps in a box with a mix knob basically. Cool concept, but does it walk the walk? I plugged in my Fender American Deluxe V-neck Strat with SCN's into the Ziggy, then my pedalboard, then my Fender Blues Deluxe. So according to the instructions supplied with the pedal, left of noon (on the gain knob) will put me in a range that is reminiscent of the Top Boost channels of an AC-30, and right of noon gives me a dark crunch like a JTM-45. Now I have indeed played through both of those amps before at friends' houses, but I do not own either one so a direct comparison was not possible. The pedal was quiet as I turned it on and got familiar with the knobs. I started with the gain at 9, which should put me in the AC-30 realm...and it did. It did have that familiar vibe, but was just missing that final click. That is when I fiddled with the Tone knob, which doesn't behave like a typical tone knob would. I gave it a clockwise turn and from my Fender, an AC-30 came to life. A quick review of the instructions explained that the Tone knob reacts more like a presence control. I spent the next — who knows how long — trying different guitar volumes and finger/pick attack. The pedal was quite responsive to the varying dynamics, particularly attack. It was quite fun getting such a big reaction from my attack. It then dawned on me that there was another amp still lurking inside this pedal that I had yet to dial in. I spun the gain 180° to 3 o' clock and got down and dirty with it. The British crunch definitely filled the room and changed the mood. I again played with the attack and still found all the dynamics that had impressed me earlier. If you are looking for some British "amp-in-a-box" pedals, you can kill two birds with one stone in the Ziggy.
So now we have the other pedal that was included in this sampler tourbox, the Vyagra Boost. I'm not sure where these names come from, but I don't find this one fitting. Not that Ziggy meant anything, but "Vyagra" is obviously implying something. Anyway, despite the cheesy name, I was excited to plug in after enjoying the previous CTC pedal. This one states that "it is a unique full range clean boost featuring a bypassable parametric eq section. The heart of this pedal is a high quality mosfet opamp that enhances your tone." Also stated is that you can use it has a high quality buffer. So, to get to the part I was most interested in, the eq, I first had to turn on the pedal, thus engaging the boost. Considering I have three pedals on my board that can already give me clean boosts, one in particular a dedicated booster with 3 types, I was not all that interested in the boost function. So, I did not spend much time investigating any nuances it provided other than confirming things got louder. Onto the parametric eq section, we have two controls: Frequency and Cut/Boost. You might have noticed in my photo above that there are three knobs but four labels. The middle knob is the Cut—Boost knob. Turn CCW for the cut, CW for the boost. A quick way to hear the frequency you are dialing in (or out) is to spin the C/B knob fully CW and then slowly adjust the Frequency knob. It reacts similarly to a fixed wah pot. At first I found it fun but a bit gimmicky, not a subtle change by any means...at least with my settings. But the more I started experimenting and backing off the extreme settings and/or changing the frequencies, the more I began really getting sucked into this pedal. I then started using the Vyagra to tweak my pedalboard. Dialing in some of my favorite tones from my collection of pedals on my board, I would then engage the Vyagra and tweak new tones out of my favorites. I really loved the options that were opening up in front of me. I think this is a wonderful tool to have on your board as once again, you get a great two-in-one pedal — Parametric EQ and a Boost.
Overall I was quite impressed with both of these pedals. They require more than a few minutes of just plug & play time to fully appreciate the capabilities. The build quality felt substantially good, the design/layout was also nice, the names are the only fault I could find and that's got to be the most irrelevant tidbit in regards to the purpose of a pedal. I have been downsizing my board after years and years of obsessive hoarding and GAS, and these two pedals are not helping one bit. These are versatile tools and good building blocks for a great pedalboard. I would love to have either or better yet, both.
