Spaceman Effects Saturn VI
What I liked from the start: The build quality and general aesthetic seems quite close to Origin Effects.
You can ceratinly smash bricks with it. Black face plate and iron sides. Silent switch. ‘Diamond’ light with even more facets than the Origin one, great choice of deep and rich red. The knobs feel right.
What I immensely disliked from the start: Side jacks. This thing will not fit on my board.
First impressions from my ears? This is funny. I played for a couple of minutes, then I looked at the Spaceman website to see if they mention how the clipping is done in the pedal.
I read their text:
The Saturn VI brings a general openness to the top end of the frequency spectrum, while keeping bass frequencies fully present, tight and controlled. We’ve added a new Tone circuit to allow customization of the treble frequencies, so you can adjust for the perfect amount of sparkle. The harmonic distortion present is extremely dynamic. Play with a light touch and you’ll get a clean tone, but dig in and the Saturn VI will respond.
The drive texture within the Saturn VI is comprised of both odd and even harmonics. The Boost side of the pedal is focused on subtle even-order harmonics, while the Drive side increases these and brings odd-order harmonics to the mix. While it excels as a harmonic booster, the Saturn VI crosses into the realm of overdrive when using the Drive control. It also works well with other pedals, opening new sonic dimensions with boost, fuzz, and overdrive effects.
(Quote from Saturn VI)
This is 100%, word for word, exactly what I perceived when I tried the pedal.
The tone knob felt like a passive treble blend at first, but when I turned it fully CW, I felt like there was added top end sparkle.
I initially placed it after my comp, but then switched it to first in chain, where it felt better.
If I was to do something with multiple gain stages, this pedal would make a great first stage, and would also do wonders when you let it play into other dirt pedals.
It’s also one of those that let me enjoy playing chords high up the neck with just a little saturation added to it, giving me a bit more definition around the top end plus making those blooming pearly drive sounds when plucking double stops a little harder. Add some reverb/delay to it and you can loose yourself into playing for a while.
It’s intuitive, it steals zero low end, it’s remarkably silent, it sounds great and it is very well made.
Pros:
-Well made
-Great sound
Cons:
-Side Jacks
This is one of the pedals that I played a lot, both live and at home. After returning the one that I borrowed, I bought my own and had it for quite a while. I cannot recommend it high enough. It can only do a very mild drive, but if a mild drive is what you seek, you’re right with this one.