umcoo Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Hi all, I'm aware that we have an effects gear review section, but thought this section had a bit mroe traffic and not many people seem to know about this pedal. I bought one of these unheard from Guitar Guitar for the tidy sum of £129.99. Quite a lot, but I knew EQD had a good rep and I was looking for a pedal to emulate the grindy dirty natural sound of overdriven Orange amps. My internet search turned up this beast, as well as the Tech 21 Oxford. The Monarch is meant to sound just like one of the 1970's Orange Graphic models. The 'Oxford' was slightly more expensive, and Tech 21's graphics have never appealed to me, (I know, I should only care about the soundsszzzz) so after a day's wait, the Monarch showed up on my door. I've previously owned an AD200B which sounded cool, but I love the older Orange tone...can't quite put my finger on it, but it sounds great. Things like the OR120 are right up my street with bass tonez. Running a Jazz through a GK 800RB, this pedal gave me that great old school tone (sorry for the cliché) straight away. Volume, Gain, Bass and Treble knobs keep things simple but there is a ton of volume on tap. I'm running the Monarch at 9v (it can also be powered at 18v) and unity volume is a shade under 9 o'clock. Madness. The gain knob is beautiful and set at about 10 o'clock, gives a nice gritty warmth to my tone, but digging in produces a really natural smooth overdrive with a bit of bite and snarl. Gorgeous! The bass and treble eq is useful and really natural. I think I'm goign to run this almost as an amp-sim and have distortion going into it. I'm also going to run it at 18v when I can and see what it can really do. Haven't used this in a live setting yet, but played loud, my bass stands out really well and the slight grit that I get adds a really cool flavour, depending on how hard I dig in. I've attached a couple of pics, but no clips sorry. Not that technically minded. I'm well aware that £130 is a lot for a pedal, but I was lucky in this one giving me exactly what I was looking for. Kudos to EQD and Guitar Guitar too! [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/2013-02-05203309_zps70bb28fe.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/goat_punisher/2013-02-05203413_zps82d8fe5d.jpg[/IMG] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 (edited) Nice! I was looking to get one of these a while back. I did hear a clip somewhere and it sounded a bit like a grindier SFT. PM me if you want to do a short term swap for my Oxford after you've had a chance to play with it a while! Also, try it at 18v - it really made a big improvement on the SFT at least. Edited February 5, 2013 by dannybuoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deej Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Good review. I run mine at 18v and it does give it a lot more headroom. Ive been a bit on/off with the pedal for the past few months, mainly because I wasnt too keen on the sound of it on its own. Ive just recently started playing in a new band and this pedal is a lot better in the mix, as you say adding bite and grind to the tone. You should definitely try it after some dirt too, it really beefs it up and makes it angrier! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umcoo Posted February 6, 2013 Author Share Posted February 6, 2013 danny - thanks for the offer, I'll defo take you up once I've put it through its paces. I'll be in touch! deej - that's good to know about running dirt into it! Can you tell me what the biggest differences are with 18v, or is it just headroom? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumbo Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Nice review What cab are you running your 800RB through at the moment? I'm in a similar situation to you, I had an Orange AD200B but it wasn't quite right for me and I replaced it with an 800RB (which is a stark contrast in tone). You're doing a good job of selling this pedal to me, even though I know that isn't your intention! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethFlatlands Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Nice t-rex mug! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umcoo Posted February 6, 2013 Author Share Posted February 6, 2013 Thumbo - 800 is running through the Matamp 2x12. Sounds killer! I really enjoyed having the Orange AD200B, but it was a lot of amp to be sat in my room, not being gigged. Plus, it sounded its best when cranked...something I rarely got the chance to do. I'm aware I'm still in the honeymoon period, but the Monarch has a slightly sweeter overdriven tone than the AD200. It reacts just like a valve amp with digging in, which is what impresses me the most. Maybe we could have a little pedal swap where I swap the Monarch with dannyboy's Oxford, then he sends the Monarch on to you to give it a bash. I was fairly flush last month and that was the only reason I picked this up. I know people pay a lot for pedals these days, but £130 for a bedroom player is a lot! Nice to try things before you buy, so the offer's there. Gareth - It's a Tea-Rex!! (chortle, chortle) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumbo Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 that sounds great, I'd be very interested to give the Monarch a go thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan_da_man Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Has anyone A-B'd this against the Tech 21 Oxford? Always liked the Orange sound over the Ampeg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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