You know, the pedals in the pedal board are never too many, especially if they are overdrive / distortion and if they are in mini format, so here we are with a new toy: the Xvive DynaRock T2 distortion !
Of the American Xvive I had already spoken in another article, about an overdrive, the Xvive O1 Tube Squasher, which hadn’t particularly impressed me. This time, however, the speech is different, the DynaRock is of another paste .
Both the Tube Squasher and the Dynarock are part of one signature series of four pedals designed in collaboration with the German guitarist Thomas Blug.
Impressions
Open the beautiful box embellished with the signature of Blug himself, we find the pedal wrapped in a thickness of foam that protects it, an information leaflet and a tailor-made adhesive velcro strip.
As for the Tube Squasher, also here the box is of the Hammond small size type, in die-cast aluminum, beautifully resistant and painted this time in gray with white textures that recall stones. Indeed it is the DynaRock ????. And of course with the inevitable signature of Thomas Blug on the side.
Nice solid, even if I always prefer to handle the potentiometers with some care, while I feel that I can easily act on the ignition switch (true-by-pass) without too many hesitations.
The power supply is standard, at 9V, without however the space inside to insert a battery. Not bad, in my opinion, as I personally prefer to always have the effects powered by the network.
There are 3 potentiometers, the classic volume, tone and drive, while there is, again on the front, a two-position switch, which allows you to highlight the mids.
Sound
The XVive DynaRock T2 is beautifully driven, aggressive , with a particular, modern tone all its own . It is absolutely not reminiscent of a packed Marshall, for that there are other pedals (see theXotic SL Drive), nor an OCD or other distortion, is of a different kind.
At drive 0, however, it remains a bit distorted, does not clean up completely, but could thus be used to boost other effects. Going up with the gain (it must be said that the settings are very sensitive) up to halfway there is a nice strong distortion but still dynamic. Turning down the volume of the guitar is good to clean the sound, even if it never gets pure clean (and I would like to see, it’s a distortion). With the gain at the ball is really saturated, maybe too much for my taste, the drive would not put it beyond 3/4.
The tones are very responsive, you can darken or vice versa open the sound a lot with minimal adjustments. The volume then we do not talk about it, it abounds without problems.
What I don’t understand is the midrange switch, which actually acts more like a volume boost than a midrange filter. Activating it the equalization doesn’t change much, but the output level does, bad.
The general dough is that of a distortion with a modern and beautiful compact sound, but still dynamic , certainly different from the typical vintage tone like that of the SL Drive. I don’t know which one I like best, because they are really two different sounds. Which is why I have them both on the pedal board.
Conclusions
The XVive DynaRock T2 is a nice pedal, with a full-bodied distortion and a modern tone. It may not appeal to everyone, especially those accustomed to more vintage distortions.
But its microscopic dimensions offer the possibility of having a different sound without creating space problems at a price … ( 27 euros !!!! ) which amply justifies the purchase, even if only to have an extra arrow to your bow in case of need.
The price is relative to SuonoStore (January 2020), but is also found on Amazon or in any case on music market or reverb.com. Used is hard to find, because the pedal is new and with a price like this, if you have it if you keep it.
Published on musicanza.it on: 26/04/2020.
