Godspeed64
Active member
Rocktron Sonic Glory
List : $115
When beginning one’s journey to the world of single effects pedal, names such as BOSS, Electro-Harmonix, MXR, Digitech and Ibanez are commonly mentioned. Effects giant Rocktron may produce affordable yet quality products but are easily overlooked. The Sonic Glory may not be a flagship pedal, but definitely a good one to look at.
Construction/Features
The Sonic Glory is encased in a sturdy aluminium chassis, masked by a groovy purple paintjob. The rugged construction would indeed please gigging musicians, knowing that their stompboxes won’t die on them in the middle of a performance. Rocktron has also been thoughtful enough to provide a battery access at the bottom of the pedal; no hassle with unscrewing the bass plate here.
However, the size of the stompbox is roughly the size of one-and-a-half MXR sized enclosure, thus consuming a lot of place for the avid pedal users. Also, a side located PSU access may be troublesome to some, especially for those without angled daisy chains.
Rating : 75%
Tone
The Sonic Glory is meant to be a mild overdrive unit, expecting more than that is simply asking too much. However, do not be afraid, this pedal excels at what it offers.
The three knobs offered here shows the downright simplicity of the pedal; it is hard to achieve a bad tone with this device. What you get here is a very tubescreamer-like tone, but with less of the mid-hump the TS is revered for. Push the tone to the max, and you get a cranky OD (not a favoured setting in the reviewer’s opinion), roll it off a little and you get a smooth OD worthy of Blues fanatics. The pedal is also quite transparent, and single notes ring clear, making it equally usable for rhythm and lead purposes. This makes it a suitable OD for humbucker users who may find certain ODs to sound muddy through anything but single coils.
As a booster, this pedal shines. The reviewer found a unique chemistry between this pedal and the Jimi Hendrix System Classic Fuzz, boosting the fuzz to produce a thick, creamy tone perfect for Santana leads. The Sonic Glory adds a slight amount of gain, and gives the mid and treble frequencies boost you need.
Tone test equipment:
Guitars: Epiphone G-400 Faded (modded to MightyMite Vintage Buckers), Gibson SG Standard, Silvertone SS-11 Revolver
Pedals: Jimi Hendrix System Classic Fuzz, Pro Co Deucetone Rat (set to Dirty Rat and Clean Rat)
Amplifiers: Randall RG100SC, Marshall MS-4, Samick SS-10
Rating : 85%
Conclusion
This is indeed a good OD unit at its price. The funky purple paintjob here with the groovy sticker “Sonic Glory” is indeed a plus, with an extremely bright blue LED to boot. Do give this pedal a try if you’re looking for a no-frills OD to please your low/medium gain needs. This OD can outdo most ODs that sound lifeless on solid state amplifiers, and works equally well with humbuckers without making it sound muddy.
Overall Rating : 79%
Availability : Ebenex Music, Blackwood Guitars
Likes:
Ease Of Use
Tone (Clarity, Works well with humbuckers)
Paintjob
Dislikes:
Size and PSU location (same problems as other Rocktron units)
Worthy Contenders:
Digitech Bad Monkey Tube Overdrive
Ibanez TS-7 (not on Hot mode)
Guyatone OD-2
P.S : This is my first review so do give me a break! I know there are plenty of good OD pedals out there, but this is a keeper because of its affinity with my other drive units. As a standalone pedal, its an integral part of my tone!
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