TONE FREAK
Abunai 2 BY GARY GUZMAN
In Japanese, abunai means dangerous and
risky. How fitting that this is the name of
an overdrive pedal from Tone Freak Effects.
The Abunai 2 pedal emits critical distortion
tones that are indeed dangerous! It’s based
on a classic overdrive circuit that is tweaked
for higher gain, yet still maintains the classic OD character.
Rock Solid
The Abunai 2 is 100 percent hand assembled with true bypass switching, and is easy
to use. The three knobs control Level, Tone
and Drive. The attractive, sparkly purple
box contains Neutrik jacks, Teflon-coated
silver stranded wire, military spec PCB and
metal film resistors and capacitors.
This pedal features a mini-toggle switch
that controls three different clipping variations. It goes between symmetrical, asymmetrical and no clipping, which provides a
lot of flexibility and a variety of distorted
tones. The first variation of clipping is symmetrical and utilizes a pair of LEDs. The
second clipping variation uses three silicon
diodes in an asymmetrical configuration.
The third position of the switch doesn’t
have clipping at all.
you want a variety of overdrive
in one pedal.
Buy If...
Rock Steady
I tried out the Abunai 2 with a variety of
guitars and amps, in many different combinations. Whether it was with humbucking or
single-coil pickups, the Abunai 2 delivered
massive amounts of thick, creamy overdrive.
The distorted tone was warm and smooth,
and very full sounding. After playing with
the parameters quite a bit, I discovered
that there is no way to get a thin-sounding,
fizzy tone out of it at all.
There is quite a difference in volume,
especially between the middle position
and the right (Symmetrical) position.
However, you would most likely find
the toggle position you prefer and “set
and forget” it, as opposed to constantly
switching between clipping variations during a performance. Also, the variations are
a helpful tool in the studio. For example,
you can record one pass of guitar with the
no-clipping variation, and stack another
pass with one of the other clipping variations. The combination will be a huge
overdriven, massive-sounding tone.
Skip If...
you’re looking for a more basic
overdrive pedal without a lot of
tonal options.
Rating...
4.0
ONTHEWeb
Click here to hear sound
samples of the pedal in action
It was easy to get a good variety of overdriven tones just by adjusting the parameters of the pedal and using different pickup
settings. The added bonus was using the
mini-toggle switch to go between the three
different clipping configurations. The left
position (Asymmetrical) is a classic well-rounded distorted tone, with crisp highs
The Final Mojo
Any guitarist will be happy with the variety
of overdrive the Abunai 2 offers. Whether
adding a subtle overdrive to a clean tone
or wielding a deadlier high-gain tone, the
Abunai 2 is definitely a dangerous weapon
to add to your arsenal.
Tone Freak Effects
Street $200
tonefreak.com
