Caline CP-12 Pure Sky Guitar Pedal Effect Highly Pure and Clean Overdrive Guuitar Fx

This is my first real pedal, I just got this today. I play an ESP LTD M-10 guitar, through both an Acoustic G20 amp and an iPad with JamUp Pro using a Griffin Guitar Connect Pro. This setup sounds good to me, except that I can't easily switch to overdriven sounds in the middle of a song. I needed a pedal to get me there.I didn't want a Tube Screamer clone, because I didn't want to always cut bass and treble. I wanted something transparent (no changes in bass, mid or treble). This pedal is supposedly similar to a Timmy (a very highly rated OD). The big differences are that on a real Timmy, you get some extra setting switches that change the symmetry of the diode clipping, and the amount of compression. Also, the treble and bass controls on the Timmy will only cut frequencies. On the Pure Sky you can either boost or cut both treble and bass by either going clockwise or counterclockwise on the knobs. The real Timmy is probably much more precise. For a guitarist like me, who doesn't record or play in a band, and needed an inexpensive option—I opted for the Pure Sky.It took less than two weeks to arrive from China (from seller Mohan Xu) to my place in the U.S. It came packaged inside a plastic bag, within foam, within a small cardboard box, within a bubble mailer envelope. This doesn't come with a battery or power adapter. The only included extras were little round sticker "feet" for the pedal, which I haven't needed yet. The pedal appears and feels adequately durable on the jacks, knobs, switch and casing. The pedal is 8.5 ounces on my kitchen scale without a battery inside. I've not tested with a 9V battery. I'm using an Electro-Harmonix 9v 200mA power adapter with a Boss-type 2.1mm center negative jack. I've read on a forum that this pedal only consumes about 5mA. I did try to test the true bypass: If I don't plug in the power, it will still bypass my guitar's sound to the amp without changing the tone. If I turn the pedal on without power, it will mute the guitar.With the gain all the way down, level set to unity, bass at noon, and treble at noon—I can't hear it switch on (not even through headphones), and I can't hear any difference at all in my tone (this is very good). It's as if it's not even there. Turning up the gain, and backing off the volume to stay at unity, I can kind of mimic the lower gain settings of the lead channel on my amp.With the gain dimed, I can clean up the sound completely just by turning down the volume on my guitar, and then switch to a lead tone by rolling it back up to full again.With the gain all the way down, and volume all the way up, I can use this pedal as a clean volume boost.With the gain down, and the volume at unity, I can use this as a basic EQ pedal by changing the bass and treble knobs.With the gain dimed on the pedal, and on my solid state practice amp, I can get some extra compression/sustain that sounds good to me.I haven't tested truly overdriving my amp by turning up the volume on the amp, and then engaging the pedal. I live in an apartment, so I can't try this. With an SS amp like mine, I've read elsewhere that this usually ends up in harsh clipping that's not very musical. So, it's a mystery how my amp and this pedal would respond.At the most extreme gain settings, it seems to compress slightly. I don't really care for the gain to be past 2 o'clock, as the character of the clipping doesn't sound good to me (harsh/raspy). I think this excels at either giving a slight to moderate level of grit by itself. If you're looking for more of a modern rock heavy overdriven sound, this pedal isn't really for that. If you're looking for a clean boost, basic EQ, and/or light transparent OD, then get this. I recommend searching for the video reviews of this pedal so that you can listen to it and decide if it sounds like it will work for you first though.

Great sounding pedal at any price, and especially great for the $29 I purchased it for back in early January. I've owned many guitar pedals over the years, and as for flavors of of overdrive/distortion/fuzz, I currently own a Keeley Blues Driver, an old TS7 Tube Screamer, a Caline Orange Burst, a Danelectro Wasabi Overdrive, a Joyo Ultimate Drive, and a clone of a Tone Bender Professional MK II that I hand-built.This is one of my favorite pedals.How to describe its tonal qualities for those curious? - well, lets talk grainy distortion to ultra-smooth overdrive and everything in-between, to give you an idea of the tone:1. On one extreme of the above mentioned pedals of mine is the Tone Bender MK II fuzz. Though it's less grainy than almost every other fuzz pedal back in the day - it does sing - you generally don't use it lightly. Think Yardbirds "Avron Knows" or "Think About It".2. Next comes the the Joyo Ultimate Drive - it's somewhere between Distortion & Overdrive in graininess, and VERY fat. Amazingly good at heavier 70's tones (single notes & power chords) on the bridge pickup of a traditional Tele or Strat early P90 guitar. Likely not clear enough for modern/high-output humbuckers....I wouldn't know for certain though, as I don't like, therefore don't own those sorts of guitars. Best with the gain at about 25-40% (which is already quite heavy at that, due to a poorly thought-out overdrive curve). This pedal is instant Led Zeppelin with a Telecaster.3. Next comes the Keeley Blues Driver. This pedal is crunch overdrive galore. Kind of grainy for an overdrive, but much smoother & clearer than distortion, and very hi-fi sounding - lots of bass & treble, no midrange hump. It's also quite dynamic. On single-coil through P90 bridge pickup, it's great for slamming 3-6 note chords for a grainier "just breaking up" sound....not as good at single notes. I only ever use it at around 30-50% gain setting (and usually with a compressor pedal), as it just doesn't sound very good above that (gets kind of mushy and nondescript), and below it, doesn't taper the overdriven notes off smoothly enough to be truly great at it. With a Tele, this pedal sounds top-notch for chord-driven songs like "Jumpin Jack Flash" (gain around 30%, broadcaster-style bridge pickup) or "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" (50% gain, with my Filtertron/mini-humbucker style Tele neck pickup) more than any other pedal I've yet-heard..4. TS7/Wasabi/Orange Burst/Pure Sky - All of these are very fine-grained overdrive pedals/very smooth (fine-grained enough for complex chords/arpeggios sounding warm and clear when lightly overdriven on a Telecaster). Notes taper off well. Out of these, the TS7 & Wasabi are more 1st generation "lo-fi" sounding pedals (either with that annoying TS7 midrange hump that only sounds truly great on Strat neck pickup, or with a limited EQ that messes with the tone too much - Wasabi) and each are less dynamic than the Pure Sky. Then there is the Orange Burst, which sounds like a better version of the TS7 or Wasabi, with better frequency response, yet has a bit of natural compression of dynamics compared to the Pure Sky - I've heard it compared to the Xotic BB Booster, but I've never owned one so I can't say. Note: should you wish it, this pedal can produce HUGE clean volume boost via the "Volume" control. Finally comes the Pure Sky, which is very smooth, nearly as hi-fi as the Keeley Blues Driver, and very uncompressed & dynamic. Quite the opposite of the Blues Driver, it sounds fantastic on single notes, with a very smooth decay. I've never heard an overdrive so smooth, while at the same time having such a flat frequency response. Works great with *any* one of these other pedals (just don't overdo the gain).Now, as for the long-term quality, well, it's made of metal, but internally, it's a cheap wave-soldered Chinese pedal. I've had no problems yet, but I'm fairly gentle with pedals, keeping them on a pedalboard. I'm not going to count on it lasting as long as my 1985 Boss CS-2, but at least it's been OK so far, and for $29, I'm not complaining.