Xvive Golden Brownie Review

The Xvive Golden Brownie was one of the pedals that made it into the Gear of the Year for the Guitar Nerds last year, so it has to have some chops, right? Oh yes it does!

I reviewed this pedal that was sent to me from Artist Guitars, a company which I have been well impressed with for the quality of the guitars that they sell for super accessible prices. Previous reviews that we have done for them have included their 335 model (Great as a standalone semi-hollow) and their Strat model (awesome backup or beginner guitar) which have both been incredibly built for their price point. The Xvive is really no exception to the rule.

This thing is tiny and cranks out amazing sounds and who better than Andy from Pro Guitar Shop to show that. I played it through both single coils on a Jaguar and through the more traditional pairing with a HH Les Paul and both responded really well to what the Golden Brownie had to offer.

As is explained in the above video, this pedal is based on the Marshall JCM800 (more on amp in a box here) and does the job well, with high gain for that 80s style hard rock. I am more of a light fuzz player, but I found myself getting carried away with this pedal, although it can definitely be pulled back for a little more versatility and not so much crunch. Despite there being 4 controls, the Golden Brownie is super easy to get dialled to somewhere that will work for you. I also stacked it with other drives and it certainly plays nice with everything that I threw at it.

Seriously, for the price of only $65 at Artist, this pedal is super great quality and will provide you with awesomely versatile tones to experiment with.