Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Pipovalves on June 28, 2006, 05:15:38 PM
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Hello everyone,
I'll be reviewing next my brand new all valve overdrive/distortyion pedal, custom made for me by DHA (Dave Hall Amplification), in the UK.
Before I begin, let me say two main things:
1. Tone, overall and detailed, is an extremely personal and subjective matter, being dependent on mood, feeling, style and sense, personally, and on all the equipment being used to achieve it, cables and picks included, on a practical level;
2. I will try to be as thorough as possible when describing my use of this pedal, which means that I'll be describing my current rig in detail, so I apologize for those of you who hate reading...
Nevertheless, from my own background and experience, I have always benefited from the most elaborate reviews, so I'll try to return the favors here and be as accurate as possible. Please bear with me, I can tell you that, although it may not be your cup of teak, something here should benefit you on the road to achieving your own personal tone.
Ok, Let me give you a bit of background on this: I've been playing guitar for over 30 years and have owned and/or played some of the best gear available during this time span.
Recently - over the past almost 3 years - I invested in a THD BiValve Amp, which I played through a Marshall 1922 2x12 cab with Celestion Greenbacks. My two main guitars are a Dean Cadillac Select stock (fantastic guitar, regardless of price tag or where it's made) and a custom Tom Anderson Drop Top T with a mahogany body (instead of the usual basswood) and all the available options.
The THD experience helped me to find my personal tone: a Class A Amplifier with EL84's in the Power Section, and ECC83S's in the preamp section, all from JJ - Over the years with the BV I probably spent twice as much on valves as I did on the amp and cab alone...and they weren't cheap...
I usually play and record at home. After I was done with the BV, I chose a Laney LC30 MKII 1x12 Combo amp, which is a Class A amp with 4x EL84’s and 4x ECC83’s. To make it short, it’s a great amp, especially for its price tag. The stock valves were not bad, but I exchanged them for an entire set of JJ’s and the amp sounds 10 times better than before, at least to my ears.
To complete the base of my tone, I use a Scholz Power Soak form the 80’s and use very high quality speaker cables to connect it to the Laney. There’s no tone loss this way.
Having said all this, let’s go on to the DHA VT-Twin Purist +:
Features:
- 2 ECC83 valves (can be switched for other types of preamp valves and in any combination)
- 3 Channels Red, Blue and Red+Blue
- Independent Gain and Level controls for Channels Red and Blue
- Independent Colour Controls for Channels Red and Blue – Colour adds negative feedback and compression and can increase the amount of distortion of the channels. The Colour controls can be bypassed.
- Master Bass, Mid and Treble controls, however, passive and bypassable – in my opinion they really don’t do anything at all to the tone and only lower the overall level of the pedal.
- Switchable valve plate voltage between 12V and 24V
- True Bypass
- 12V AC Adapter – sold separately
I first tested the DHA with its stock GT valves and with the Laney without the power soak. After much tweaking, I opted to bypass the tone and colour controls for both channels.
At lower gains (about 5 to 7 on either channel), it yielded very smooth overdrive. At high gain settings (gain and level full at 10), either channel and their combination sounded harsh to me.
I only used it on the Laney’s clean channel and the volume at around 2. On the Drive channel, it didn’t really add more than a little boost and mud.
I then plugged the Power Soak on the Laney and used the clean channel with the volume at 6-1/2, so the power tubes were cooking.
This made a huge difference. The DHA instantly sounded smoother and creamier, especially at the high gain settings. Simply magical!
I continued to bypass the tone and colour controls, as it sounds better to me this way, and set the Red channel with gain and volume at 6 and the Blue Channel with Gain on 10 and Level on 7.
The Red channel gave me the best overdrive sound I’ve ever heard. Thnik SRV with an edge.
On the Blue channel I got some of the best hard blues and classic rock tones as well. Think Triumph in the Just a Game album or Rush’s Limelight tone. Simply great.
I then changed the GT’s for a JJ ECC83S and a JJ ECC803S valves and the DHA sounded 10 times better to me. Much smoother and responsive, the notes practically jumping out while retaining individual string clarity and the guitars’ individual characters.
Throughout all this, I mostly used the plate voltage at 12V (low). There’s lot’s of Brown Sound available here at higher gain settings. At 24V there’s a very noticeable increase in volume and attack that also sounds great. 12V is just my main preference.
Overall, this was a great purchase and I haven’t used the TS9 since these last settings. It just sounds much better all the way.
There’s also the added plus of being able to control the drive with your guitar’s volume knob.
This pedal was custom made for me as a special request and Dave Hall is a guitarist’s guitarist, so not only he knows his pedals and tone, but he’s the nicest guy and extremely available. We’ve exchanged many e-mails from the start, when I asked him to build me this pedal based on his TV1 Purist as a base and asked for the added features. Dave not only delivered a great product, but gave me tons of advice during and especially after I got the pedal.
My next pedal will also be a DHA. Dave will add the 12v-24v switch on a VT1 Purist Pro for me.
If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me. I’ll be happy to (try to) answer your questions.
Have fun,
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erm... yeh ... i didn't read it all, but i liked the pretty picture, except too many controls for one pedal, my mind only works in binary, soz
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Hmmm. Not sure if this is spam or not, to be honest.
The pedal is butt ugly, but I wouldn't mind hearing some clips.
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... and 4x ECC83’s. To make it short, it’s a great ...
This is brilliant - about half way through, just before the features
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:D Hi mate great review !!
I bought Steve`s DHA purist pedal he was advertising it in the seconds out section. It`s great but not enough gain. Steve himself was selling it so he could buy the high gain model, i`ve been waiting to hear from him when his got it what he thinks of it, you`ve beat him to the punch !!
How high gainy can this pedal go ? The purist just adds a bit of grunt but i want something that can go a lot higher [think Mesa boogie]
:D 8)
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I have the single Purist pedal and I lov eit though I am not looking for high gain- to me, it is just fine. I kinda like the quirky look of it- for the money, I think it is great. I think Steve is getting the twin too.
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I've been interested in the single one for a while now, does it really only give a bit of edge/grit to the sound (bluesy) or can it get up to a more of a classic rock type drive? Any chance of any clips? :P
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I really ought to do more clips- peerhaps to put the Apaches, Slowhands and Country Boys together and if so, I could use the purist and perhaps mess around with the settings.Like always, it is finding the time but things will hopefully quieten for me shortly.
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Thanks for all the replies! I didn't expect this many in asuch a shorth amount of time.
First of all, I only know Dave Hall because Iaasked him to build me this pedal. Before him, I had two ther guys in the UK build me custom overdrive/distortion pedals and another one on Germany. This unit did it for me.
Second, I have it set up the way I like it and,. like I stated it in the begining of my review, tone is a very particular thing, so, to those of you who are in your search for your own best tone, my only advice is - KEEP GOING! This is a pedal that helped me achieve my tone, that's all.
Lastly, I'm now such a fan of DHA and this pedal that I've already asked Dave to get ready for a VT1 Purist Pro wth the 12V-24V switch option. I will be ready for this pedal in late July.
If you want a free ride (and there aren't too many around), let me propose you this:
I'll accept one (1) challenge and only, so, whoever gets here first gets it - but make sure you're serious about it:
ORDER A DHA VT1 PURIST PRO WITH THE 12v-24v OPTIONAL SWITCH AND, IF YOU'RE NOT SATISFIED, I'LL BUY IT FROM YOU FOR THE PRICE YOU PAID PLUS SHIPPING TO ITALY.
I'll copy Dave Hall on this notice, so he knows and doesn't make two pedals for nothing.
This "challenge"will be god until the end of July/2007.
Again, I HAE NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH DAVE HALL, HIS OMPANY AND HIS PEDALS, ASIDE FROM JUST BEING ONE OF HIS CUSTOMERS!
Please e-mail me if you're interested: rene_bradshaw@hotmail.com
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:D Hi mate great review !!
I bought Steve`s DHA purist pedal he was advertising it in the seconds out section. It`s great but not enough gain. Steve himself was selling it so he could buy the high gain model, i`ve been waiting to hear from him when his got it what he thinks of it, you`ve beat him to the punch !!
How high gainy can this pedal go ? The purist just adds a bit of grunt but i want something that can go a lot higher [think Mesa boogie]
:D 8)
Hi JT,
I have not ordered one yet so i cant really advise. The purist was great as it was intended as a booster but for a high gain pedal it wont do.
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Hi there,
How high gain it will go depends on the valves you use. I'm using a JJ ECC83S and ECC803S and, gain wise, it will go as far as hard rock (AC/DC with an extra edge).
I don;t think it's intended to be a really high gain pedal and I didn't buy it for that reason. I was looking for a really high quality valve overdrive/distortion.
If you're looking fr a really high gain pedal, and you want a DHA, I believe Dave has some pedals that combine valve and silicon for the extra gain. But I've never tried one.
Another good bet (and I've tried this one and loved it) is the Tonebone Classic and/or Hot British. These pedals combine valves and silicon and are extremely high gain. My preferred one was the Classic, as the Hot British, at least to my ears, sounded too harsh on the high gain settings. The Classic will go from hard blues to very high gain hard rock and metal.
Take care!