So here is my review of the Suhr Riot pedal, which I think is just pure distortion pedal awesomeness! Having tried pretty much every distortion pedal under the sun and always found them lacking, I didn’t buy into all the hype surrounding the Suhr Riot. But sometimes you can be wrong!

How easy is it to use?

Very easy to use and very easy to get a great sound out of it. There are basically three knobs dist, tone and level, which are pretty self explanatory really. The pedal looks and feels very sturdy and gorgeous too! There is a level, tone and distortion control with a toggle switch which is basically a mid-frequency cut/boost switch with three options, which range from scooped sounding to prominent mid boost. I have it stuck in the middle which suits me best. There is 9V input and pedal board input for those running hi-end rigs, enabling you to remote control the pedal from a rack etc

Are there any nice touches?

The box is lovely, just like the pedal!
There was an extra battery included (now I don’t use batteries but was dead handy as I needed a 9V for my smoke alarm, so thanks John Suhr for keeping me safe as well!)
The on/off switch is simply amazing, never been so impressed with such a simple part of the pedal, but I wish all my pedal’s had this type of switch, I just enjoy turning it on and off for the feeling!

So most importantly what does it SOUND like?

All I can really say is….where have you been all my life? I don’t think I have ever been as excited about a pedal in my life, it is simply a joy to use and makes me want to play more and not stop. It is just simply an amazing sounding pedal, a distortion sound you want to jump into and immerse yourself in. The sound to me is like a 100W stack at full pelt, but without the need for 100W stack! It works so well into the clean channel of the amp. I have used it with a Fender Blues Junior, Blackstar Ht-5 and Tech-21 Trademark 60. It shines through all of them.
I currently use it for heavier distortions (think 80′s sounding) and lead work. It produces a lovely feedback which is very controllable. The overall sound is velvety to my ears, not harsh and nasily like the Boss DS-1 for example or the Vox Satchurator. I would perhaps say it is RAT ish, but actually very distinct in it’s own right. I think that is my overriding opinion, whilst I can get a wide range of tones from it (eg ACDC, Metallica, Steve Lukather) I think why I love this pedal is that it lets me sound like Me, it produced the type of distortion that I head in my head and the tone that I want. The pedal is also very good at reacting to picking style and guitar volume. Rolling off the volume has the effect that you would expect.
It is the distortion sound I have been looking for end of, I am so happy with this pedal. It means I can get a great sound out of a clean amp and not need to lug heavy gear around.
Thanks John!! The pedal is what you would expect from channel 2 on a massive amp, but in a stomp box! It is Awesome and it has replaced a number of pedals (sorry but bye bye to the HT-Dual)
It is well worth every penny. I would suggest putting it on your shortlists

Will it fall apart?

Very ruggedly built with strong control knobs, can’t see them being a problem

Pros

1)The sound
2)The sound
3)The sound…it’s simply awesome!
4)The on/off switch
5)Build quality is outstanding
6)It’s a very versatile pedal

Cons

1)The only thing it doesn’t seem to do is make a cup of tea or make me play better

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Neil S. Bruce - www.spencerbruce.com