Analog Alien Alien Tone Dragon Boost / Overdrive / EQ Pedal Reviews

The Analog Alien brothers did not disappoint with the newest addition to the line. The Tone dragon was quite the asset to my current travel rig. Essential for EQ and boost on acoustic, electric and 5 string bluegrass banjo. (anyone who uses one amp for such different instruments knows how important this is...I didn't use it one night on a gig and boy was it missed)
The Dragon Fire is a great added bonus taking this pedal to another level. I continue to be amazed at what these guys are doing! My take has always been they make great, user-friendly gear that sounds awesome. They know the deal from being players, engineers and most of all innovators. Bravo, Marc Vincent Sica

A guitarist's pedalboard is prized real estate, and for space to be allocated for an accessory, it has to be worthy. Make room for the Alien Tone Dragon, a 3 in 1 effects pedal from Analog Alien that will rock your universe. The pedal's specs are readily available, as are positive reviews and demonstrations. Still, no review can prepare you for the actual experience of plugging in and hearing the sonic glory of this pedal for yourself. The overdrive has a depth and warmth that is truly unique. I quickly and easily dialed in killer sounds that ranged from Knopfler's dirty tones to Satriani's searing solos. The tone button, when engaged, can enhance the tone of your amplifier or even form the foundation of your sound. The third effect, the boost, elevates your volume with complete tonal integrity. The boost works excellently for highlighted sections, quieter tones, and of course, solos. Many of my gigs are at venues or events that include a backline; Analog Alien pedals provide consistency and quality in tone, regardless of the amplifier provided. The Alien Tone Dragon instantly became a favorite. This go-to pedal looks great, and it has player friendly control knobs to easily dial in any desired tone. The ATD delivers!

I couldn't be more excited to be one of the first guitarists to not only own but review this AMAZING Pedal!!!

I have done a few demo videos for Analog Alien and have enjoyed their products on countless sessions and live performances. I'm a fan of their products but as any musician, you need to have the right tool/ tone for the job.

As a guy who writes music for T.V. and Film I'm always switching up my gear depending on a show's style of music or theme of an episode.

I need to know what my gear can do quickly and deliver tracks that sound like the style they hired me to produce.

Analog Alien understands this very well, as they design products that get you into that style you're needing very quickly and, in some exceptions, they give you a spectrum of tone that can be very effective in multiple styles.

The Alien Tone Dragon is the next logical step in Analog Alien's pursuit to provide pedals for all guitarists of any style.

I'll start in the middle and work my way out on this pedal. The Dragon Fire has its own "on/off" footswitch and can go from a Rock/Blues Overdrive (aka REM/ Oasis) to a sonic wall of Fuzz (Smashing Pumpkins/ Dinosaur Jr.) with just a few tweaks from Dragon Fire's three control knobs.

If you are familiar with Analog Alien products then you know what the "IN", "OUT" & "BIAS" controls do. If not, I'll quickly explain. The "IN" is how hot you hit the front, aka Gain. The "OUT" is your volume, and "BIAS" is similar to a tone knob, but here's the difference: these three controls all work in unison.

This is why Analog Alien pedals are so good. These are full rang knobs, meaning the sweep per knob can dramatically change your tone. Not to mention all Analog Alien pedals are very transparent when it comes to what type of guitar you plug into them.

The center channel (Dragon Fire) alone would have been a great pedal but they didn't stop there.

Now, I don't want to give myself any credit for this but I did bug the brothers a little about doing a pedal with a boost option in one pedal, and being the nice guys they are, they said that they would look into it.

Well, they not only looked into it but came up with a new boost/ overdrive design that is wonderful on its own.

I personally like a "Clean Boost" but not all guitarists use boost in the same way. Some use overdrive pedals as boost pedals or set them to have a little bit of breakup.

This boost does both with one knob. It of course sounds glorious with the Dragon Fire Channel but like all Analog Alien pedals, the boost does wonderful things to other pedals on your board, in-front or after.

The "Boost" has its own independent "on/off" footswitch and provides a 1db to 18db of boosted signal.

The right side of the pedal is the "Tone" channel, and its this feature that makes this pedal so special and not like anything else in the market today.

The "Tone" feature shapes your sound with a three band, non-over-lapping, active tone control, and a "Master" volume.

This is such a smart feature, because many guitarists use EQ as a way of sculpting their tone further than the amps/ pedals capabilities. This has been the secrete sauce for many of our guitar hero's (Dimbag Darrell/ Kerry King).

But if you have ever added an EQ pedal to your rig, you quickly find out that these pedals also add some noise to your signal, now you have the tone you long searched for but with an annoying hiss!!!

Analog Alien solves this problem with the quietest active EQ in a pedal I have ever heard, and it's super easy to use. "LOW", "MID", "HIGH".

Bass: Cut-off frequency 200Hz
Mid: Frequency filter 1 KHZ.
Treble: Cut-off frequency 2kHz
The "Master" volume is worth mentioning because I found it to be at "UNITY GAIN" when it was all the way up. Meaning that it doesn't add any additional noise or hiss when all three channels are engaged, and with that said, this pedal can get very extreme when all three channels are engaged, (If that's what you are going for).

You can boost or cut these frequencies giving you a super-versatile tone monster effects box.

To say that this pedal is versatile is a "HUGE" understatement!!!

CONCLUSION:

I'm having a lot of fun with this pedal and the more I jump into it the more I'm using it on projects that I would normally use something else.

I like that all three channels are independent of each other, so it has been a very useful addition to my pedalboard. Being able to add boost and EQ to my other pedals makes the Alien Tone Dragon a bargain. This pedal will easily be the Swiss army knife on your board.

The one thing I have always liked about Analog Alien products is that I can dial in tones that sound authentic to the style of music I'm writing/ recording or performing in.

They are well built and well-designed products that allows my voice as a player to shine through.

This is another great addition to the already legendary line of pedals and if you are looking for versatile pedal but don't want to spend tons of time turning knobs, then this is the pedal for you.

I already have the rumbleseat and alien bass station (though I also play a little bass, I use it to give my SG a low growl). But my band's most recent album needed creative dirty tones and this pedal is like no other. A few weeks ago, I even spent my afternoon trying out dozens of pedal at the Brooklyn Synth +Pedal Expo in search of the right "sound", and I still think the alien tone dragon is incomparable. The acoustic quality is off the hook, and I can't believe the rabbit hole I can go down tweaking all the knobs and buttons.

It's an alien twister fuzz with added boost and EQ. It is a little difficult to have unity gain for each section as the fuzz has so much volume on available. I didn't think it was worth price since I can stack alien twister with boost pedal and have the same sound. This was kind of disappointing because I bought it to go with my other pedals from this company. The thing is, once you have the fuzzbubble 45 and Bucket Seat then there would be no reason to buy this pedal because those ones are better.
It didn't Sound Different, as the slogan is. I still like the company a lot and the Bucket Seat is maybe best overdrive pedal out there.