The resurrection and resurgence of the new Shin-ei brand of pedals started off with the stellar Vibe-Bro (click here for our review and demo), and continues to build and build with more pedals from vintage eras. The Screaming Sister is an octave boost based on the Prescription Electronics’ Clean Octave Boost (COB), a now rare (and crazy expensive) effect used by Doyle Bramhall II, Jonny Lang and more. This simple three-knob box deceptively hides a MONSTER array of sounds, from dirty boost to ring mod stuff to fuzz and more – let’s check it out!
Boost starts off the control section of this big black mammoth, and is a volume knob…of sorts. As you turn it higher and higher, it leans more into fuzz driver kind of territory, giving you some nice dirty tones, especially when mixed with the 8ctave knob. This one adds in some octave sounds, as you’d expect, but also gets into those fuzz zones when pushed, and is accentuated with the more power from the Boost. Finally, Mood acts as a blend of the octave, adding in as much or as little as you need to achieve the sound you’re looking for. We calculated six distinct settings with these three controls for the demo below, to provide a wide range of what this pedal can do.
Hosed inside a tough steel, vintage-style enclosure, the Screaming Sister has the look and feel of those classic, rare, early stompboxes, long since out of production and expensive to maintain and preserve if you can find ’em. Forged with the highest components and the Demont footswitch (like all Shin-ei products now), this hard-to-categorize effect will put a huge smile on your face the minute you plug it in. Thanks to Bob Feldman and all at Shin-ei for another wonderful creation – we’ve got more reviews and demos of their gear coming up, so don’t go anywhere!
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