Duncan Lava Box - anyone try one?/MXR Blue Box content

[11 Gauge]

I'm skeptical - any time I see a stompbox advertised as 'an amp in a box,' I get turned off. Also I see the term MOSFET in there, which I know is one of those terms-of-the-year, somehow equating mosfets with tubes.

But I do know that some of these SD stompers have been getting good reviews. How about this one? Anyone try one?

If it gets the thumbs down, I'm probably gonna snag a MXR Blue Box (I'm a fuzz pedal nut - I like even the ones that (almost) no one else likes. I hope they are still built the same way - bad tracking and all.

[abraxas]

Originally Posted by 11 Gauge

I'm skeptical - any time I see a stompbox advertised as 'an amp in a box,' I get turned off. Also I see the term MOSFET in there, which I know is one of those terms-of-the-year, somehow equating mosfets with tubes.

But I do know that some of these SD stompers have been getting good reviews. How about this one? Anyone try one?

If it gets the thumbs down, I'm probably gonna snag a MXR Blue Box (I'm a fuzz pedal nut - I like even the ones that (almost) no one else likes. I hope they are still built the same way - bad tracking and all.

Ok, I've got a Lava Box.

It's not a "do all" overdrive/dist. box, it's not even a fuzz. The more I'm using it, the more I see it as a "gain processor".

It doesn't do well with my Univalve, but it may be with my current selection of preamp tubes. But on a neutral, clean amp channel, it really has a lot of character(s).

[Tim Bowen]

No experience with the Lava Box. I've owned and played several "octave-up" boxes that are based on Tychobrae and FOXX circuit designs - Addrock Electric Smile, Prescription Electronics Experience, Dano French Toast, Fulltone OctaFuzz, others.

For that whale fart, sub octave thing, the MXR Blue Box is tough to beat. At least in the studio. I fell in love with the sound after hearing Jimmy Page's ride on Fool in the Rain. Good luck on getting the thing to cut live. I've recorded with the MXR on occasion, and I'll agree, the "bad tracking" is part of the charm. However, for the life of me, I simply could not get the thing to work (read: not get buried) in a live setting through a pushed tube amp, and I even tried placing a clean boost with tons of headroom after it, to no avail. Too compressed and mushy to cut with my rhythm sections. I've read that Sonic Youth uses Blue Boxes at shows, but how they do it is beyond me... maybe they're using 150 watt amps, I don't know.

It's a one trick pony sound for me, but if I were serious enough about it to allocate a spot on the board for it, I'd be taking a hard look at this one:

http://www.foxroxelectronics.com/

[11 Gauge]

Thanks, guys. That's the feedback I needed, especially hearing that the Blue Box 'disappears' live. Never had a fuzz do that to me, but never had a Blue Box, either.