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The demand for Joe Satriani signature gear is stronger than ever. We've already got straps, leads, picks, Ibanez guitars, DiMarzio humbuckers, Peavey JSX amps and sunglasses. Okay, maybe not sunglasses, but the arrival of a Satch stompbox is a no-brainer. But when it was announced just over a year ago, the attachment of the Vox name really caused heads to be scratched: why not Peavey, or even Ibanez?

The mysteries behind this union aside, the fact is that the Satchurator is here and it certainly looks the part. The dark metallic red finish, the squat, rectangular chassis, as well as the trio of cream chicken-head knobs, gives the unit a definite vintage vibe although – as we'll discover – the tone is anything but.

In a nutshell, the Satchurator is a dual-function distortion pedal. It boasts minimal controls – hurrah – while keeping your tonal options open, thanks to a very versatile gain pot that works in tandem with the More switch to provide a wealth of varying tones.

"The huge levels of gain allow faithful recreation of Joe's heartiest moments, chiefly those chugging rhythms and harmonically-rich solos."

Nestling between the gain and tone controls is a micro-switch marked Pad, which, according to the manual, is designed to "maximise dynamics and tone with bright guitars and/or effects such as wah placed before the distortion". Power comes from an easily accessed standard nine-volt battery, or an optional PSU.

Sounds

Here are a few examples of the Satchurator in action. First, here's the pedal with the gain set to five, the tone to two, and the volume all the way up:

Now for the same settings with the More button engaged:

Finally here's the gain set to four, the tone to four and the volme on five: