Vintage Tone Projects Range Voo Doo (another review)

Greymire · Not So Newbie Joined: 05 Sep 2004 Posts: 8

I thought I would post another review of one of my favorite pedals:

Effect : The Range Voodoo Pedal is a germanium transistor based treble booster that pushes tube amps into sweet smooooth distortion.

Purchased from : ToneFactor (Closeout on Ebay)
Price : $95 new

Uses : This effect really adds presence and sheen to a guitar's sound. It makes any guitar sound more defined and brings out a special bright sound that will keep you from ever wanting to turn it off. I took that from the website description, but it is basically true.

Sound : This is a very nice pedal. It is very close to the original Dallas Arbiter RangeMaster. The RangeMaster is the secret to Clapton's sound on the first John Mayall and the BluesBreakers album. It was also on Black Sabbath's first album. Later, Brian May of Queen used the RangeMaster. It sounds fantastic with my Peavey Classic 30. If you have solid state, this is not for you. It does very little for a non tube amp, but it wasn't designed for that. What is really cool is that as you play up the neck it actually seems to increase the boost. Very cool.

Reliability : Once again, a very tough looking box. Nice brushed metal look. I always look inside. It is well put together, though the insides are not quite squared up as they could be and they actually use the push button switch to hold in the battery which could lead to probelms if one was forced in. With care it should be fine though. I am not sure what is so hard about putting in holders for batteries as this is the second one I have that uses just some foam like this one.

Cons: The first time I turned the 5 position tone pot it made a rather load pop. In fact it snapped pretty loud in all positions. A couple of twists back and forth and it cleaned up, but there is still a slight pop when switching the tone pot. It is tolerable, but I would prefer a noisless one. I would probably stomp it and disengage before switching.

Overall : I am quite happy. I got a great deal since Brad was closing out this line. It sounds awesome and is as clsoe as you will get to a Dallas arbiter without shelling out $500 or so for an original on ebay. Beware that Harmony Central has recently had some unfavorable customer support comments on them. It is only recently, and they get great ratings on products, so I am not sure what is up as they also have a message on their board about someone leaving and telling everyone to ignore mail from her. I guess it is buyer beware for now.

SCORE : 8 out of 10. I had to knock it down some for the pot and the inside construction.