VOX Amplification have always aligned themselves with musicians of equal legendary status. The very first VOX evangelist’s were The Shadows followed years later by The Beatles, Brian May of Queen, The Edge of U2 and many more famous artists. Their latest collaboration effort involves another legendary guitarist by the name of “Joe Satriani”, you’ve been living under a rock if you’ve never heard of him! Joe Satriani is easily one of the most successful guitar instrumentalists of all time and has garnered many awards and accolades over the years. This dynamite “VOX/Satriani” duo have invested a lot of time and R&D into this particular range of pedals and in the process their collaboration has spawned several new and exciting products. Their ultimate goal was to create a series of pedals that exhibit “boutique” tone qualities, yet have added functionalities and increased reliability.

The very first pedal to be released in the VOX/Satriani series is appropriately called the “Satchurator”. I originally discovered the existence of this pedal online and I immediately ordered one to add to my current guitar rig. At that time I was desperately in need of a high-gain distortion pedal of some description, as my current overdrive tones were not cutting it for certain songs. The timing of the VOX Satchurator release could not have been any more perfect for me, from what I could gather the Satchurator would be an ideal solution to my distortion dilemma.

The first positive impression most people would have about the Satchurator is that it looks really good! The pedals design build is equally impressive and is sure to last many years of touring and stage abuse. Joe is apparently a huge fan of the “Chicken Head” style knobs, particularly the white coloured ones which are much easier to see in darker environments. These knobs basically control the pedals gain, tone and volume. The pedal has an on/off foot-switch and a “more” foot-switch which boosts your over-all gain just that little bit extra. I’m pretty certain this function would have the seal of approval from bands such as “Spinal Tap”. A unique pad switch is also included which is very useful if you have a “wah” or other pedal in the front of your pedals signal chain.

This pedal is also no slouch in the tone department, it can effortlessly deliver smooth bluesy over-driven tones right through to searing high-gain distortions. This wide variety of tone variations can be achieved by simply increasing or decreasing the guitars volume control accordingly. I really love the warm tone that this pedal is able to produce when used in combination with my Fender Telecaster and Peavey Classic 30 amplifier. The Classic 30 has a nice internal over-drive channel but it could never achieve the same gain stages that the Satchurator can. This pedal has instantly given me a broader spectrum of tones and added versatility that I never had before. My only disappointment is that I have to wait for the other pedals in this range to be released!

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Posted in Electric Guitar, Guitar Effects, Reviews.