Finally arrived today after being delayed and that's never fun.
But first impressions as promised. The box is sturdy; this came in an Amazon box with some other things I ordered and the Amazon box was soaked due to something leaking all over it; luckily the FlyRig itself (and box) were unmolested. Whew.
When I first pulled it out, it's jarring how small it is. It is literally 1/2 as deep as a Tech 21 Character pedal and wide as three of them side-by-side. It's extremely small. The little pots are lit up when active and sturdy; the jacks and enclosure are first rate. As usual, Tech 21 understands how to create quality boxes. The size is remarkable for what this does.
The power supply is 12v @ 250mA. Mine measured out correctly in spec, I checked given some of the other new owners reporting issues.
Plugged in and had a go; it does everything it's supposed to do. I was a bit apprehensive given some of the less than stellar first reviews.
So I plugged into my Allen & Heath ZED R16 (firewire) and recorded the following direct with my 95 PRS Custom 22. Bridge humbucker is a Motor City Afwayu and the neck (for now) is a Seymour Duncan Jazz. I tried to play simple stuff with the volume knob up/down and show the different aspects.
Started with the Sansamp, then the Delay, then the Plexi and then the Hot. Settings should be visible in the photos; if not, I'll take a better photo.
Clip:
(*Note: you can download the full resolution FLAC format at SoundCloud if you prefer).
My thoughts:
It sounds good. Not going to set the world on fire and make everyone sell their amp; but everything it does, it does very well. I'm happy. This for exactly what I thought I was getting. The SansAmp section is very musical and has body. The Plexi rolls off well (*very important to me) and the added reverb and delay add depth and a sense of space that makes it feel bigger without making you sound buried in effects. The Hot adds a boost in front of the amp stages and works well but I like it at less than 1/2 up more as an added gain stage more than a Solo boost.
My goal was a small, efficient, simple dependable back up rig to my direct-to-FOH A rig. I've been using different stuff over the years in that role, defaulting to one of the first Tech 21 British Character pedals. So it's fitting that this fits that role well.
I'm pretty impressed given that it took me barely NO time to suss this out and find what I wanted from it. I've owned and used a lot of Tech 21 gear over the years; and it looks like I will be adding this to that list of gear too. It's a keeper. If you are in market for something analog (for the most part) and lacking menus - straight up grab-n-go backup or just a fast grab-n-go rig... this bears checking out. Highly recommended.
I'll do more over time and add some depth to this as a review; but that's it for now.
But first impressions as promised. The box is sturdy; this came in an Amazon box with some other things I ordered and the Amazon box was soaked due to something leaking all over it; luckily the FlyRig itself (and box) were unmolested. Whew.
When I first pulled it out, it's jarring how small it is. It is literally 1/2 as deep as a Tech 21 Character pedal and wide as three of them side-by-side. It's extremely small. The little pots are lit up when active and sturdy; the jacks and enclosure are first rate. As usual, Tech 21 understands how to create quality boxes. The size is remarkable for what this does.
The power supply is 12v @ 250mA. Mine measured out correctly in spec, I checked given some of the other new owners reporting issues.
Plugged in and had a go; it does everything it's supposed to do. I was a bit apprehensive given some of the less than stellar first reviews.
So I plugged into my Allen & Heath ZED R16 (firewire) and recorded the following direct with my 95 PRS Custom 22. Bridge humbucker is a Motor City Afwayu and the neck (for now) is a Seymour Duncan Jazz. I tried to play simple stuff with the volume knob up/down and show the different aspects.
Started with the Sansamp, then the Delay, then the Plexi and then the Hot. Settings should be visible in the photos; if not, I'll take a better photo.
Clip:
(*Note: you can download the full resolution FLAC format at SoundCloud if you prefer).
My thoughts:
It sounds good. Not going to set the world on fire and make everyone sell their amp; but everything it does, it does very well. I'm happy. This for exactly what I thought I was getting. The SansAmp section is very musical and has body. The Plexi rolls off well (*very important to me) and the added reverb and delay add depth and a sense of space that makes it feel bigger without making you sound buried in effects. The Hot adds a boost in front of the amp stages and works well but I like it at less than 1/2 up more as an added gain stage more than a Solo boost.
My goal was a small, efficient, simple dependable back up rig to my direct-to-FOH A rig. I've been using different stuff over the years in that role, defaulting to one of the first Tech 21 British Character pedals. So it's fitting that this fits that role well.
I'm pretty impressed given that it took me barely NO time to suss this out and find what I wanted from it. I've owned and used a lot of Tech 21 gear over the years; and it looks like I will be adding this to that list of gear too. It's a keeper. If you are in market for something analog (for the most part) and lacking menus - straight up grab-n-go backup or just a fast grab-n-go rig... this bears checking out. Highly recommended.
I'll do more over time and add some depth to this as a review; but that's it for now.