MUSCLE POWER

Another overdrive brain melter from Boss, but this time designed with chord playing in mind. The bright orange PW-2 Power Driver comes in the familiar Boss cast alloy pedal format, powered via a 9 Volt PP3 battery, which is tucked beneath the bypass pedal. A red LED shows when the effect is active and clashes delightfully with the lurid orange coachwork. Changing the battery is a fingers-only job, and the supplied battery is already fitted. Plugging in the guitar jack lead switches on the battery.

In addition to the usual Drive and Level controls are two tone-shaping knobs, charmingly called Fat and Muscle! Fat, quite predictably, adds more weight and bottom end to the sound, while Gristle — sorry — Muscle seems to add a mid-range bite, but not too sharp or honky. Indeed, this seems to be a relatively polite, '70s type of overdrive sound that actually works quite nicely for lead as well as power chords. Because you don't get that 'scooped out' stack sound from this box, it's better suited to classic rock sounds — more 'Alright Now' or 'Smoke on the Water' than Steve Vai.

By adjusting Fat and Muscle, you can create a wide range of tonalities, but nothing too obviously coloured — it's either warm and powerful or middly and projecting. At low overdrive settings, it cleans up reasonably well for blues or R&B styles, but it works rather better in this respect if it's used with an amp that already has a small amount of overdrive available. This way, the Power Driver pushes the amp up a gear for soloing or mega power chords. The circuitry is very quiet — due to the use of discrete components according to the designers. On balance. I'd say this is a good pedal to have if you own a tube combo that's a little short on gain, such as a Fender Blues Deluxe, but even in its own right, it turns in a very respectable overdrive performance.

Further Information

PW-2 £79 inc VAT.

Roland (UK) Limited, (Contact Details)

TWIN LEVELS

DI boxes are rarely glamorous items, but it would be difficult to manage without them in the world of live sound. The main purpose of a DI box is to match levels, impedance or both, and simultaneously provide isolation against ground loops. This can be done using active circuitry or transformers. Although active types provide the highest input impedances for use with electric guitars and basses, transformers still offer the most reliable isolation between circuits where the grounds may be at different potentials.

EMO are one of the top names in DI boxes and transformer isolation/splitter units, and their Dual DI box, E525, comprises two identical channels of transformer isolation with a choice of three input types. The outputs are on conventionally balanced XLRs, and each channel has an Earth Lift switch for isolating the input ground from the output ground.

As expected, the unit can accept line-level inputs of up to 20dB in level, but there's also a -20dB instrument input, mainly for the benefit of keyboard players. This is particularly useful as many of the keyboards used by touring bands have surprisingly unprofessional output stages — indeed, a balanced keyboard output is a rare sight. The instrument input is connected by two parallel sockets, allowing signals to be looped through the DI box on their way to an on-stage amplifier. Another useful inclusion is a loudspeaker input, also featuring dual sockets. This can handle signal levels up to +42dB, allowing backline to be DI'd directly from the extension loudspeaker socket. All inputs are on conventional quarter-inch jacks.

I've used quite a number of EMO products and always found them to be tough, easy to use, and good sounding. With its cast metal case, metal switches, and high quality transformers, the Dual DI is no exception, and I'm happy to report that the sound quality is superb. What's more, the cost is sensible, especially when you consider that you have two channels that can be used to handle either a stereo signal or two independent mono ones. Having instrument, line, and speaker inputs makes this a very flexible box for a touring PA operator, whereas the gigging keyboard player could find it invaluable in clearing up hum problems or providing a clean, hum-free feed into the main PA. A very useful DI box that's likely to serve you well for a great many years.

Further Information

E525 £113 inc VAT.

EMO Systems Limited, (Contact Details)