which is typical, but that’s
(one of the places) where
the Clean control is useful.
By rolling knob up, the
guitar’s body comes back
in, as does additional
presence. By tweaking the
Tone and Clean controls,
there are a lot more EQ
options than would be
found on a typical three-
knob Screamer, Tube or
Super.
Flipping the toggle to the
Up position opens up the
sound but, again, the Clean
control can help fill in the
blanks, rounding out the
lows or bringing in a little
additional presence without
have to crank the treble
(and cut the bass) via the
Tone control. Obviously,
this is how a Clean blend
works in any pedal, but I
don’t think I’ve played one
that works so seamlessly
with the distortion; in my
experience, Clean blends
tends to sound like they’re
introducing a parallel signal
that seems . . . inauthentic,
for lack of a better word—
when used judiciously (not
to say sparingly), that’s not
the case here. On the flip
side, if you max out the
Clean (defeating the other
three controls), you get
a gorgeous sweetening
effect. Yes, the Moonshine
could be an “always on”
pedal.
Of course, you’re probably
reading this review
because you want an
overdrive, so how does
the Moonshine do in the
crunch department? As
noted, with Proof in the
down position it’s very Tube
Screamer-y, but there’s
something livelier about it,
more 3-D, crunchier, but
still rounded—the sustain
is more . . . exciting. With
Proof in the “up” position,
the distortion is more
typically “amp-like”—dare
I say Marshall-y? Lots of
people think you need to
run a Tube Screamer into
a cooking amp; I’m not
one of those people, but I
got great results cranking
the output (which didn’t
boost the volume as much
as you might think—a
useful quality in this case),
bringing up the Drive to
add drive and compression,
then using Clean and Tone
to fine tune the ensuing
distortion. With this
approach, I was able to
maintain more of my base
tone by introducing fewer
of the Screamer’s gain
characteristics.
JHS makes a point of saying
that the Moonshine isn’t a
transparent overdrive, but
with the range of controls
the pedal offers, it comes
pretty darn close.
WHAT WE LIKE
The Moonshine offers a
lot of control over a very
distinct, classic voicing.
CONCERNS
None.
ToneReport.com
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