Enigmatic '82 Overdrive Special Amp

First off the bad:

Initial app experience wasn't great but updating to the latest firmware saw a big improvement. I don't expect to be using the app a lot so this isn't a big deal for me. I've dialed on my sound already. But it has been improved so a lot of the negative feedback you'll hear about it relates to older firmware.

I'm surprised to see others complaining that no supply is provided as I've never bought a pedal that comes with a supply, this is very normal. However, what I will say is that the supply is quite picky about power. I've never had any issues with a pedal on my board but this one seems quite sensitive to transients and is quite demanding in terms of power - many supplies won't work well with it so a dedicated supply is probably recommended - otherwise you'll need a very high quality 500ma socket minimum.

My biggest gripe is with the pedal design itself. The lettering is borderline unreadable in many lighting conditions. It baffles me that they chose white text instead of darker. Not the biggest of deals, I won't be constantly tweaking it and at least the secondary functions are labelled, and it's a nice quality unit, but they dropped the ball a bit with the baby-poo brown and white text, imo.

The good:

It sounds amazing. And this is why I struggle to give it less than 5 stars, as ultimately I bought it for how it sounds, not for the app or the power supply or the text colour. This thing sings! The stereo image is blissful (something some people might…

Probably the greatest guitar amp modeler out there, especially the clean channels. Great work guys! However, choosing an Android app to manage the sounds is a not a good idea especially with Bluetooth being such a lousy protocol. I could never connect the pedal to my Motorola over Bluetooth. If you guys enhance the PC app to match the Android app, there is no need to keep the later around. When you already run DAW on your PC AND you have to have your phone open at the same time does not make sense. Why make things complicated, not to mention the insufficient phone display size and no real keyboard.

When it was working, the sounds were great. But the bluetooth connectivity is a nightmare. And less than a month into owning it, one of the output jacks went out. And I wasn't happy that the device does not come with a power adapter.

I'm a long time UA customer starting with the 1176 and LA2A hardware. I bought the Apollo when it first came out, I've owned two Satellites, and I even bought the old PCI Solo card for my laptop. Until now my experience with Universal Audio has always been top notch. From now on I'll stick with the plugins.

I waited a while to write this as I wanted to have a good grasp of how this would work for me in the longer term. I can say the UA Enigma rocks. Whether you’re looking for sparkling cleans, bluesy edge-of-breakup, gritty rock tones, or full Revolution-style overload and more, the Enigma delivers.

Due to signal chain differences, I don’t always find the presets work for me straight out of the box. But I’ve found that to be the case with any pedal I’ve used. It can take a touch of tweaking to really dial in your sound — but it's a pretty straightforward journey. Take a little time to get familiar with the controls and then trust your instincts. There's an abundance of amazing tones in there, and when you find them, it’s incredibly rewarding.

Pair it with your DAW (Luna in my case), load up a lush reverb like Sound City, Ocean Way, or Capitol Chambers, and you’re instantly in recording heaven. The Enigma inspires you to play and create. Whether tracking leads, crafting ambient textures, or finding a great rhythm tone, this pedal is a serious bit of studio kit.

Some have mentioned Blue Tooth connection issues, but I personally haven't had any problems at all – using an iPhone 8.