Metal pedal shoot out

[Dave Sloven]

Interesting video.

Anyone used this THETA preamp from ISP??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDCzlN1UXnA

[juansolo]

I've built a few metal pedals (like you do), the Dominator only works really well into an ultra clean amp with a lot of headroom. Then it sounds the bollocks. Into anything else it just doesn't work.

The TripleWreck is an odd one. Build one that runs at 18v (the stock pedal won't) and it's so tight it's ridiculous. It likes to go into an amp that's got a little bit of crunch on it. Also the boost section of it turns it to mud. That's easily sorted though as you can replace that with something that does actually boost it rather than adding a chunk of muff into it!

The only thing that comes close is a Dr Boogie built to our specs. A lot of the problem with metal pedals is that they have too much gain... Sounds daft but it's true! We reign it in quite a bit and trim the top a bit and it makes it a much more versatile pedal. It'll still chunk along almost to TripleWreck levels, but can rock also.

Just a few other options.

[Dave Sloven]

The one that sounded the best to me was the Red Witch Ivy Distortion, which is good because it is cheap!  It is in part 3 I think.

But yeah I've found that distortion especially only sounds good with clean amps.  Not with high gain amps.

I note that they recorded those clips with a Laney Lionheart, which is a warm sounding Class A amp.  My SG Junior, for example, sounded completely different through my friend's Laney Lionheart.

As an aside, he found that the Lionheart sounded extremely 'toppy' through my Orange PPC412 and kept turning his treble down.  Seems that the LH has a lot of top end that must be subdued by the 212 cabinet it comes with.

[Lew]

Are they the Sounds Great vids? I can't see it here.

I've played through quite a few high gain boxes (several of Juans) and bought his Mesa thing. He knows exactly what he's doing with that pedal, gobs of gain but still articulate and dynamic. Alot of them sound really compressed and without dynamics.

If I played a clean only amp like a Twin for example I'd be more than happy running it as my gain channel ( I did for a while) but my preference is a cranked plexi tone for the core and an overdrive to push it into saturation. That way I can use the guitars vol for a clean tone (not a new idea, I know!).

I always seem to end up with single channel amps! If you're a pedal nut I think a really clean amp is the way to go, really. A muff sounds glorious into a clean amp but into a gained amp it sounds like compressed garbage - same with high gainers. I'm reading about fuzzes at the minute that run nicely with a gain sound.

[juansolo]

The one that sounded the best to me was the Red Witch Ivy Distortion, which is good because it is cheap!  It is in part 3 I think.

But yeah I've found that distortion especially only sounds good with clean amps.  Not with high gain amps.

I note that they recorded those clips with a Laney Lionheart, which is a warm sounding Class A amp.  My SG Junior, for example, sounded completely different through my friend's Laney Lionheart.

As an aside, he found that the Lionheart sounded extremely 'toppy' through my Orange PPC412 and kept turning his treble down.  Seems that the LH has a lot of top end that must be subdued by the 212 cabinet it comes with.

I'd go along with that. Cleggy's got one and that cab just suits it down to the ground. Stick that cab on anything else and it seems muffled. With the Laney it's bloody lovely. But it does very much have it's own thing going on so I'm not convinced it's a great thing to use to dem pedals...

[juansolo]

I always seem to end up with single channel amps! If you're a pedal nut I think a really clean amp is the way to go, really. A muff sounds glorious into a clean amp but into a gained amp it sounds like compressed garbage - same with high gainers. I'm reading about fuzzes at the minute that run nicely with a gain sound.

Not many if you're rocking the gain channel heavily. Some do like a little bit of crunch mind.