Brian May Red Special Review

Seven signature tones that rocked the world. The Brian May Red Special pedal lets you bring your own personal creations to life using one of rock's most distinctive guitar tones.

Ease of Use:	7
Sound:	8.5
Reliability:	8
Impression:	8.5
Overall rating:	8
Users rating:	7.5
Comments:	15

overall: 8

Featured review by: UG Team, on march 30, 2007

Ease of Use: I wouldn't say the Red Special is difficult to use, but it takes a bit to get used to the controls. The pedal itself is a wah/volume case (finished in a sexy faux wood grain) with knobs across the top: Gain, Level, Treble, Bass, Control, Guitar, and Model. Gain, Level, Treble and Bass are self-explanatory. Model allows you to select models 1 through 7, and you can select two tones (red or green) for each of these settings by stomping on the toe or heel switch. Control has a different function for each model; for some settings it is the Midrange control, but it may control an effect level or speed. Keep the owner's manual handy to keep these straight, also to tell you which sound each setting is modeled after.

Another unusual knob is the Guitar knob. The 12 o'clock setting is for those rare players Who have either a Brian May guitar or Burns Tri-Sonic pickups. Left of center is labeled "SC" for single-coil users, and right of center is "HB" for humbucker users. The aim is to make any guitar sound like a Brian's guitar, and there is some flexibility depending on how the knob is set. I took a point off for the expression pedal, whose short throw is difficult to control. For example, when using it to control delay level, it is difficult to set it at a middle point between no delay at all and so much delay as to be unusable. // 6

Sound: Brian May's guitar tone is one of the most unique and recognizable in rock music; at the heart of it is his home built guitar and Vox AC30. Scrolling through the presets shows a surprising amount of diversity based on these pieces of gear, and the sounds were incredibly realistic. One very cool and overlooked facet of Brian's rig is his use of a treble booster, and DigiTech went so far as to include this circuitry in the Red Special's input section. For those Who don't know, a treble booster does exactly what it's name implies; when placed before a preamp section or distortion pedal, its overall effect is to boost the gain and smooth it out.

I don't know how to play all that many Queen songs, but I am certainly familiar with their catalog and many of Brian's signature riffs. I had a great time playing with each preset, especially comparing the sometimes subtle differences from one to the next. The "Bohemian Rhapsody" setting had me banging my head "Wayne's World" style as I played the heavy riff after the a capella section, and the "We Will Rock You" setting catapulted me to arena-rock bliss as I played the simple-yet-uber-cool outro. A big surprise was the "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" setting, which had one of the most realistic acoustic simulators I've yet heard.

The Guitar control bears another mention in this section. Take a listen to the sound clips with this in mind: I recorded them with a home-built, EMG-equipped Explorer clone! I would say the pickup modeling was pretty successful. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I can't say much about this, as it is a brand-new pedal, but I have heard very few complaints about the Red Special's reliability, and DigiTech's customer service is excellent should you run into difficulties. It seemed well-built and ready to stand up to some abuse. // 8

Impression: I had fun putting this pedal through its paces. It is not meant to be a piece of stage gear for a professional player; it is meant to give weekend warriors and bedroom-only players a peek into Brian May's unique guitar tone. At this, it passes with flying colors. I was particularly impressed with the "woodiness" of the amp/cabinet simulation, which made it sound like I was playing through an amp rather than a microchip. Whether you're a Queen fan or not, there are some great rock, blues, and even metal tones to be had with the Red Special. It even comes with a British sixpence, Brian's plectrum of choice. // 9

overall: 8

Reviewed by: Samsky, on december 25, 2007

Price paid: $ 150

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Ease of Use: It's very simple to use, except for a few things. It's a little bit tough to press down the heel setting on the pedal. It's not easily usable in a Live situation, either. You either have to bend down to switch the tone model (and in doing so, you will probably want to change the gain or bass/treble setting) or you use a footswitch. The footswitch is great, but it becomes a pain to keep track of which model you're currently using. However, once you get used to the little quirks of the pedal, and know which setting is which, it becomes rather simple to use. // 8

Sound: I'm using a 2007 Red Special from Brian May Guitars (formerly manufactured by Burns). I use a Vox AD15VT Valvetronix amplifier, set to 'AC30', since that's what Brian May uses. The Valvetronix amp can also be set to Clean or to AC15, both have interesting tonal possibilities to play with. I actually feel like if you set it to AC15 or Clean, the noise of the pedal, which I will cover next, is decreased a bit. The pedal is loud. There's a pretty constant 'hiss'. It's unfortunate, but as Pete Malandrome once said referring to treble boosters, 'That's the nature of the beast.' It's got a treble booster in the circuitry, which is great for that Brian May tone, but this thing is loud. There isn't always a major difference between the toe/heel settings. Keep Yourself Alive's settings (Model 1) hardly make a difference, the heel setting is just a tad louder. Things like that. The acoustic simulator for Crazy Little Thing Called Love is hard to set up to sound good. It's either very mellow, or very piercing and bright, and it's hard to find a happy medium. The acoustic simulator also crackles a bit. I like the Deacy tone. I know a lot of people don't really like the deacy tone this pedal delivers, but if you don't want to spend 150 bucks on JUST a Vox deacy practice amp, then this pedal will do the trick. The Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions, and especially the Brighton Rock settings are amazing. The pitch harmonizer is fun to play with, and the expression pedal rocked forward makes a major third chord, rocked backward to the heel makes a minor third. Brighton Rock's delay is amazing, you could solo for hours and hours with it. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I believe it's reliable. The thing's built like a rock. No problems yet! I would use it in a gig without a backup, but I don't know if I would want to use it in a gig, too much of a pain to switch between models. I suppose it's doable, but it's not always practical. // 8

Impression: I play a few artists more heavily than others. I love the Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, The Beatles, and of course, Queen. This is certainly a great match for Queen, but you could use it for other things. You'd have a Brian May-type sound, but if you wanted to apply this sound to another song, there's nothing stopping you. I've been playing for about a year now, and I must say that this effect pedal is probably the most interesting concept, and it's well executed, except for the few problems I mentioned above. It's really great, overall. If it was stolen, I don't know if I'd buy another one. It's 200 dollars, normally. I happened to recieve a 25% discount from my sister's boyfriend, an assistant manager at guitar center. I don't have another 150 dollars to shell out for the pedal again. If you want more customizable features, go find a Vox AC30, a Red Special replica of your choice, set the amp to max volume, and throw a germanium treble booster on. If you don't want your windows to shatter, throw a hotplate in the mix to dumb down the volume without losing tone. Or, if you want to be realistic and still get that Brian May tone, get this pedal. // 8

Comments

Good review man. I read a few reviews of it in magazines last year and it thought it sounded quite cool. My only reservation is that it'll be a bit one dimensional and only be useful for Queen covers. Even still, I wouldn't mind one.

[tilleking]

Great review. Sounds cool.

[Greg Harper]

MMM everything I have heard in the past is good. Nice Reveiw

[apmaman]

might try one out tomorrow to see what its like. True about the 1 dimension thing but i guess it could make non-queen songs sound very unique if you wanted your own flavour on a song.

[gibsonsgfan440]

I love this pedal. I own it. I agree with the review, it does take a while to get used to it and also, the finish is beautiful!

[forsaknazrael]

I'm a queen buff...if only this pedal didn't cost so much. I played one in the store. Quite convincing.

[The Arch-Mage]

Yep. Well done review.

[limefan913]

Yeah, this looks like a fun toy. Wish I had money to blow.

[mercurymay]

can anyone tell me if the foot pedal has wah effects?

[tobinator91]

first off, great review! That aside, I love both digitech signiture pedals in the expression/wah housing. I own the experience, red special, and crossraods... the clapton pedal is fun, but not as cool as these.

[bettiefan]

mercurymay wrote:

can anyone tell me if the foot pedal has wah effects?

It looks like I was remiss in pointing out that the Red Special doesn't have any wah effects. Oops!

[SG69]

this is a great pedal and nails really captures brian may's sound but at $299 its to much for such a limited pedal

[revo crazy]

Where can I get one of these from in the uk

[stradivari310]

I want to use one just to see what non-queen songs would sound like.

[sonicblue57]

Thanks for all the reviews and comments, but two questions: 1/Does it have an on/off button? That is, can you bypass the effects without physically taking it out of the signal chain, and if so 2/Is it true bypass, or not?