Jekyll & Hyde

[MrBump]

OK, after years in the guitar playing wilderness, with generic multi fx boxes and uninspiring equipment, I'm turning into a gear whore.

Who has a J&H pedal, one of the newer ones?  I know that we've done the "best £100 OD pedal" thread, but if something's worth talking about, it's worth talking about lots, so my wife always says.

The reason being, I'm thinking of getting rid of my HT Dual.  I do quite like it, but I'm struggling to get a range of good tones out of it (admitedly this could be lack of talent on my part).  It does a couple of sounds really well, but I think that I want something a little more flexible, as Steve Vai once said.

The J&H looks really good, and I'm impressed with the sound clips that I've heard.  I also like the fact that you can cascade one side into the other, like the BB Preamp Plus, another interesting pedal.

Or maybe the way to more flexibility would be to get a TS clone PLUS a more dedicated higher gain pedal?

Hmmm...

Mark.

[38thBeatle]

I have one Mark though I don't think it is one of the newer ones. I bought it off Ebay for a song and it was one of those accidental purchases however I was very pleased with it and now use it all the time. I tend to use the Jekyll side most of the time.That is not to say I don't like the Hyde sound but I don't play very heavy or distorted. I have it set so that the effect is just on as it provides a nice just breaking up tone. I do love the sound of it.

[Lazy_McDoesnothing]

Apparently the only changes made to the V2 series is a new housing, stomp switch design, and a built in noise gate.  I have one of the older ones and it can be a bit noisy especially at hi gain on the Hyde side.  Just like Mr. 38th I usually use the Jekyll side which I've read is basically a TS808 clone.  I've never tried an 808 so I wouldn't know how they compare, anybody else know?  Most of the time I use the overdrive side as a booster with the drive low into an amp that has the gain up for heavier things, but I also really like to use it to push a clean amp into overdrive as well.  I just posted a short, slightly dirty clip up of me using the Jekyll side with my Warpigs here in the player section.

Overall I almost always have my Jekyll on when I'm playing because once I turn it off my amp sounds dull in comparison.

This vid shows it off pretty well too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC0ALN6yobM

[mikey5]

Dude on the Xotic site there are some amazing demos for the BB plus it seems to have a good deal of gain. Not enough for metal or classic rock I think, but it sounded good. I just couldnt justify the purchase seeing as it wouldnt meet all of my needs, at least one owner told me it wasnt good for heavy stuff, and I dont even go that heavy.

Some other pedals to consider are the Vox Bulldog
and Pro Co Rat duotone.
Both have two channels.

I personally was never blown away by the Jekyll/Hyde

[Twinfan]

MartinW had a J&H for a little while, but he wasn't that impressed with the distortion side.  He loved the overdrive side, and bought that as a stand alone pedal.  It's a green coloured tube screamer clone with an added bass boost, the Visual Sound 'Route 808'.  It sounds pretty good!  I use a Maxon OD-9, and there are million TS alternatives out there.

Like me, Martin uses an old original series Marshall Guv'nor for higher gain tones.  If you're playing live, nothing does a JCM800 sound better than the Guv'nor.  It can be a little noisy, but it has that Marshall 'bite' than no other pedal can seem to capture.  They all end up being a bit too 'polite'.

I guess I'm trying to say that I've found that two separate stomps, one overdrive and one distortion, is a better option for live work if you want flexibility.

[martinw]

Indeed.  :)

Although I wouldn't say I wasn't impressed, and in fact I've used the old version for years quite happily.
It's just that in our particular band, I need something a bit "nastier" to cut through more.

The distortion side was identical to one of the expensive boxes we tried in Sounds Great; can't remember the name.
It's a bargain to get 2 great pedals at that price, especially my nearly mint one which is for sale!