V1 Bottle Rocket Opinions?

[nosajwp]

How do you guys like it? How is it for overdriving an amp that is already breaking up? How is it as a stand-alone overdrive sound when used with a totally clean amp? When used by itself, does it's sound compare to any amplifiers out there (Mark-ish, Marshally, etc)? Does it lend itself well to being boosted in front for even more gain? How is it's touch responsiveness?

 

[nosajwp]

Anyone?

 

[austinrocks]

can not speak for the V1 Bottle Rocket, my Mesa V-Twin is a great pedal and I would recommend getting one if you can find it, its great with a clean amp, and does the Mark tones, the blues selection is really close to the marshalls tones,

 

[nosajwp]

Anyone else have an opinion?

 

[scottywompas]

I use my bottle rocket in front of a clean fender bandmaster. I usually have the gain about half way. It's a good ZZtop crunchy sound. It can get a little mushy in the higher gain ranges. It sounds the least boogie-ish of any mesa product. It has it's own voice. I usually goose it with a booster to get a little more sustain for my solo's. It does take up a lot of real estate on a pedal board but it's worth it to me.

Scott

 

[nosajwp]

Anyone else? I'm thinking of getting one of these to use with my Heartbreaker for more versatility.

 

[nosajwp]

Just checking to get opinions on the Bottle Rocket again...

 

[MusicManJP6]

I've been curious about the V1 and V-twin as well. If it does Mark tones rather than Recto tones then i'll pass. My DC-3 is close enough to a Mark for my tastes...

 

[gdog]

I have one and it is a great tube screamer type preamp. It is not that metal saturation though.
G

 

[nacho_grande]

I also have a V1 and I am quite happy with it. As mentioned above, it has ZZ-Top kinda crunchy tones and more gain if you'd like to crank the gain up.

 

[94Tremoverb]

I think it sounds very like a Dual Caliber series. It has that dark quality to it. I agree about it not sounding like most other Mesas (ie Mark/Rectifier).

I used one for a while when I had a Dual Caliber, as an amp-substitute for when I didn't want to take my own one, into whatever clean amp was provided. It sounded fantastic through Fenders particularly - in fact one of the *best* lower-volume tones I got was the V1 through a Fender Princeton Chorus (yes, the little solid-state 2x10 thing). It doesn't sound as good as a boost for a dirty amp - it gets too muddy.

I switched to the V-Twin after I changed my main amp to the Tremoverb though, because it's closer to the Rectifier sound.

 

[ewpvic]

Just my (new to me) Bottle Rocket this past weekend in front of my DC5. Still needs a bit of tweaking but overall was exactly what I wanted for crunch on my clean channel. Probably experiment with tubes next.

 

[MasterTrax]

Used properly, it is one of the best OD pedals of all time IMO. I use it in front of an already huffing amp with gain set low and output set high. That's the key to good tone with the V1 without mud. Sounds great with my Mesa Rocket 44 and my Marshall JMP 2203 100 watt head. Lead tones to die for.

Re: swapping tubes, I have a lot of tubes and I've tried many in the V1 including 1950's RCA, GE, Mullard and Amperex. None sounded nearly as good as the stock Sovteks.

The key to the V1 is remembering that it is an OD and boost pedal, not a distortion box.

 

[O==00==O]

When I tried one it was the first batch of them and it was through one side of a 2:90 with a Recto Horiz 2x12. But, like others have said it's nothing like any of the other boogie sounds, even different than anything in the Tri-Axis. The closest thing I can think of would be a Big Muff Pi pedal crossed with a Caliber lead channel. It's dark, huge, low-end heavy and fuzzy - but not quite an official fuzz. It's also worth mentioning that the Bottle Rocket and the V-Twin are completely different sounding. The V-Twin has nice mids that really crunch, and the BR has smooth, scooped mids. Both have transistors in them, but the BR sounds more transistory.

 

[94Tremoverb]

No, the V-1/Bottle Rocket does not have any transistors in it - it's a pure tube unit. (Even the only diodes are the rectifier, the LED and a couple in the switching relay control.)

The V-Twin is a tube/solid-state hybrid with IC gain stages in the signal path and solid state diode clipping on the Blues and Solo channel.

I agree about them being very different-sounding, but not at all about the V-1 being more smooth or scooped, or more 'transistory' - if anything, the other way round... which is not to say I don't like the V-Twin. I like them both, but for different purposes. The V-1 is a much more aggressive plain overdrive/distortion that works well into a normal guitar amp, the V-Twin is a more refined-sounding full preamp/amp simulator that works better into a PA, power amp or at most a very clean guitar amp.