DRIVE TO THE MOON
There are three knobs; for Volume, Tone and Drive. Then there’s a two-position ‘Proof’ switch designed to give you everything from a low-gain ‘slight breakup’ feel like a tube amp all the way up to heavy overdrive verging on actual distortion. The higher gain settings are found at the ‘switch down’ setting, with enhanced saturation and sustain and lots of midrange. In the ‘switch up’ position you’ll get more open- sounding, slightly mid-scooped, lower-gain crunchy tones with more volume and headroom, particularly great for either getting a more organic, ampy feel from digital devices or for putting the hurt on a tube preamp. The Moonshine uses an internal 9v to 18v charge pump that allows it to run on normal 9v but converting it internally to 18v for extra headroom, added low-end and more overall punch.
IN THE LIGHT OF THE MOON
trick, no problem. There may be a little less high end than many players might be comfortable with though. In the ‘switch down’ mode you’ll de nitely get more gain, more compression and more saturation. It’s not as punchy, making it better for super-fast playing because it’ll even out your dynamics. It also makes for a thicker, more ‘wall of sound’ rhythm chunk tone. To be totally honest it just feels like a better pedal with the switch in the up position: the ‘down’ mode squelches a little of the uniqueness out of your sound. It’s nice to have the two options, and the additional saturation may please some players who aren’t con dent in their technique, but if you can handle the additional clarity of the up mode you’ll be doing your tone a big favour.
SHINE ON
This is a nice versatile unit, whether you use overdrive as its own sound source, or to goose an overdriven amp, but one of the two modes feels more re ned and useful than the other. In the ‘switch up’ mode you’ll get a wider, deeper sense of dynamics. There’s still some sweetness to the midrange and an enhanced degree of responsiveness: you can do the amp-style ‘turn the guitar volume down to get less gain
