Counterintuitive, interesting pick, April 11, 2011

Posted by SixOfOneATL (Atlanta, GA) on 9th Jan 2012

"It's hard to really review a pick in much the same way it's difficult to review a shoe, but I'll give it a shot since no one else has."

"there are three punched out slots like you see here to improve grip (they do). The "ICE PIX" logo is stamped in like you see here, but not deeply. The stamping does, however, keep the pick from being totally flat and that puts a stiffness bias on it that you may or may not like; you may develop a preference for having a certain side facing up according to taste.

But perhaps the most striking thing about this pick is that while it is quite flexible, it is very stiff for how thin it is. It's much stiffer than a Snarling Dogs 0.53mm Brain pick that is about twice as thick as this one, and while the Brain pick makes a distinct snap off of the strings and makes quite a din all by itself when furiously strumming, the Ice Pix engages strings very softly and not in a metallic way, almost like an india rubber pick would EXCEPT if you go at the wound strings at an angle...if you do that, you will get a distinctly unusual attack which may or may not be what you're looking for. If your technique is very clean and your pick always lands on the strings parallel to them, you'll feel that same softness from string to string. But if you came up slicing at the strings with the pick at an angle, the wound strings will produce an attack that starts with a quick little shriek.

Another thing about this pick that you might find unusual is that its mass and its thermal characteristics are such that it's not cold. That and its medium-satin finish makes it feel very much like plastic.

So I would say that you might be interested in this pick if you are a screamo headbanger who wants gnarly "chunk-chunk" noises or a neat/speed freak who likes high picking-hand precision with a soft yet stiff pick feel."