NUX Steel Singer Review

Fat and Snappy

While I can’t comment on the Steel Singer’s ability to perfectly ape a Dumble, there is a lot of reason to recommend the NUX Steel Singer as an overdrive. As a light drive or near-clean boost it can be a great thickening agent (at bassier filter settings), or a better-than-serviceable treble booster at toppier filter settings. At its trebliest extremes it can be a bit crispy, so you should take care. Additionally, the NUX tends to move beyond light drive pretty quickly—requiring only a slight bump in pedal to filthy up a Deluxe Reverb and Stratocaster.

To many ears, single coils and clean Fender-style amps might be the most natural and well-suited companions to the Steel Singer. In these setups, the pedal adds discernible edge in the midrange, while retaining the scooped essence of those formulas. Humbucker users can get in on the fun, too, and a PAF can coax many Plexi-like drive tones from a Deluxe Reverb. British-style amps, however, are less accommodating to the NUX’s charms. AC15-style and 18-watt Marshall-style settings on a Carr Bel-Ray, for instance, clashed with the NUX at times, a setup where klones and TRS-style pedals got along reasonably well.