The Guitar Magazine – July 2019

KEY FEATURES

TRE-VERB

PRICE £199

DESCRIPTION Tremolo and reverb pedal.

Made in China

CONTROLS Tremolo output level, rate, depth and

opto/bias/harmonic mode switch; reverb tone,

blend, dwell and ’63/’65/plate mode switch;

signal path (T>R or R>T) and LEDs on/off switches;

tap tempo on tremolo footswitch

FEATURES Stereo-through inputs and outputs,

with stereo reverb in plate mode; buffered bypass;

powered by 9-volt mains supply with at least

310mA (not included)

DIMENSIONS 125 x 103 x 63mm

KEY FEATURES

LOST HIGHWAY PHASER

PRICE £119

DESCRIPTION Phaser pedal. Made in China

CONTROLS Rate 1, depth 1, rate 2, depth 2, blend,

feedback, input sensitivity, 4-stage/8-stage and

sine/triangle waveform switches; 3dB boost and

LEDs on/off switches; slow/fast ramping footswitch

FEATURES True bypass; powered by 9-volt mains

supply (not included)

DIMENSIONS 125 x 103 x 63mm

KEY FEATURES

MTG TUBE DISTORTION

PRICE £159

DESCRIPTION Distortion pedal. Made in China

CONTROLS Treble, middle, bass, tight, level and

gain; boost level and gain; LEDs on/off switch,

boost footswitch

FEATURES True bypass; powered by 9-volt mains

supply with at least 290mA (not included)

DIMENSIONS 125 x 103 x 63mm

CONTACT Fender EMEA

fender.com

LIKE THIS? TRY THESE...

Strymon Flint £259, Keeley EH Verb o Trem £149,
Mr Black Deluxe Plus £179

LIKE THIS? TRY THESE...

Heptode Virtuoso £180, Walrus Audio Lillian £192,

EarthQuaker Devices Grand Orbiter £179

LIKE THIS? TRY THESE...

Blackstar HT Dual £229, Ibanez Tube Screamer

Nutube £139, Effectrode Tube Drive £339

A handy pairing of two tasty effects

with plenty of tweakability

Flexible wobbly fun, but not one

for the phase-shifter purists

A lump of pure rock that’s got
9 /10 7 /10 8 /10 sensitivity as well as brawn

But we’re not done with the Tre-Verb,
because there’s a surprise in store: a killer
feature that isn’t even mentioned in the
manual or on the Fender site. Plug into
two amps and select plate mode, and you’re
rewarded with a rich stereo spread. This can
get truly immersive with both blend and
dwell dials cranked; combine it with some
moody tremolo and the Tre-Verb reveals
itself to be a bit of a modern soundscaper
as well as a vintage mojo machine.
The Lost Highway looks even more
versatile on paper, but if you’re after that
classic swirling sound you might be left ever
so slightly frustrated: at heart, this is more
of a throbber than a swoosher. Fender was
clearly anxious to make sure it wouldn’t
be the kind of phaser that scoops out
your midrange – there’s even a 3dB boost
switch on the back to compensate for any
perceived dip in output – but the result is
that a little bit of sweetness is missing.
Using the second footswitch to drift
between two different speeds opens up
its gigging potential, while the sensitivity

control allows you to make the modulation

go wild with every new note, then gradually

ease off in depth as well as rate as it decays.

Add the voice-modifying power of the

two toggle switches and you’re in a phasing

playground – but would we rather be

there than basking in the tonal purity of

our battered old vintage Bad Stone?

Probably not.

Things are more straightforward with the

MTG: this is the shredding channel your

amp never realised it had. The gain range

goes from medium to high to even higher;

and while this is a more rounded kind of

distortion than you get from the average

snarly rock box – as you might expect when

there’s a tube involved, even a teeny one –

there’s an edginess to the treble response

on the wound strings that can make a

Blackface amp feel almost like a JCM800.

It sounds pretty strident even with the

mids backed off, but that’s not to say this

pedal is just a hooligan: bring out the Les

Paul, turn the gain down to 10 o’clock,

think about a deceased family pet and you’ll

find it can also handle the soulful stuff

remarkably well.

The boost is tonally transparent, and the

two knobs give you fully independent

control over how much intensity you’re

adding to the dirt and how much sheer

volume you’re adding on the way out. The

‘tight’ control adds a worthwhile fourth

element to a well-judged tonestack, and we

can see this unit matching the Tre-Verb for

the most important quality of all: sheer

usefulness. Keep ’em coming, Fender.

The Tre-Verb also

has tap tempo

REVIEWS

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