In an attempt to narrow down option envy for my band's upcoming recording session (debut album), I did something I've been meaning to do for months: Took out all of my most-used pedals and tried various stacking combinations of fuzz/drive with different boosts.
The pedals I used are:
Hartman Tommy Bolin fuzz
Death By Audio Fuzz War
Fulltone Ultimate Octave
Hip Kitty Oxblood
Way Huge Green Rhino
Xotic BB Preamp
z.vex SHO
Catalinbread Naga Viper
Thundertomate Phil Hilborne boost
Nick Greer Sweetback Driver
I ran each pedal (a-f) into each boost (1-3) with and without my 'always on' Sweetback Driver. For example: I ran the Tommy Bolin into the SHO (A1), then into the Naga (A2), and then into the Thundertomate (A3). I did this for all 6 fuzz/drive pedals making a total of 36 combinations!
The signal chain was as follows:
Agile AL2800 w/Bare Knuckle Riff Raff/Stormy Monday set > Maestro PS-1 Phase Shifter (powered on but in the 'off' position; used solely as a tone press) > [Fuzz/Drive pedal] > [boost] > Sweetback Driver > Radial ABY > EAST Studio 2/Emi Wizards > Bumbox Cielo/Emi Swamp Thangs. I swapped out the fuzz/drive and boost pedals for each combination, so there was only one of each at any given time.
The resultant 3 hour test was crazy fun ... and just plain crazy!
I made notes of each combination for future reference.
My favourite combinations are:
Tommy Bolin fuzz/SHO: midrange-heavy mild crunch. Very transparent and articulate.
Tommy Bolin fuzz/Thundertomate: Killer sounding tight/compressed crunch tone. Delicious rhythm/riffing tone.
Fuzz War/SHO: Amazing, HUGE high gain fuzz tone. (No Sweetback)
Fuzz War/Naga: About the same gain level as with the SHO, but darker/crunchier. (No Sweetback)
Oxblood/Sweetback: Midrange crunch tone, very Thin Lizzy Marshall sounding ... think "The Boys Are Back In Town".
BB Preamp/Naga: Super transparent lead tone. Nice Marshall-type of flavour.
BB Preamp/Thundertomate: GREAT mild crunch rhythm tone! (No Sweetback)
The pedals I used are:
Hartman Tommy Bolin fuzz
Death By Audio Fuzz War
Fulltone Ultimate Octave
Hip Kitty Oxblood
Way Huge Green Rhino
Xotic BB Preamp
z.vex SHO
Catalinbread Naga Viper
Thundertomate Phil Hilborne boost
Nick Greer Sweetback Driver
I ran each pedal (a-f) into each boost (1-3) with and without my 'always on' Sweetback Driver. For example: I ran the Tommy Bolin into the SHO (A1), then into the Naga (A2), and then into the Thundertomate (A3). I did this for all 6 fuzz/drive pedals making a total of 36 combinations!
The signal chain was as follows:
Agile AL2800 w/Bare Knuckle Riff Raff/Stormy Monday set > Maestro PS-1 Phase Shifter (powered on but in the 'off' position; used solely as a tone press) > [Fuzz/Drive pedal] > [boost] > Sweetback Driver > Radial ABY > EAST Studio 2/Emi Wizards > Bumbox Cielo/Emi Swamp Thangs. I swapped out the fuzz/drive and boost pedals for each combination, so there was only one of each at any given time.
The resultant 3 hour test was crazy fun ... and just plain crazy!
I made notes of each combination for future reference.
My favourite combinations are:
Tommy Bolin fuzz/SHO: midrange-heavy mild crunch. Very transparent and articulate.
Tommy Bolin fuzz/Thundertomate: Killer sounding tight/compressed crunch tone. Delicious rhythm/riffing tone.
Fuzz War/SHO: Amazing, HUGE high gain fuzz tone. (No Sweetback)
Fuzz War/Naga: About the same gain level as with the SHO, but darker/crunchier. (No Sweetback)
Oxblood/Sweetback: Midrange crunch tone, very Thin Lizzy Marshall sounding ... think "The Boys Are Back In Town".
BB Preamp/Naga: Super transparent lead tone. Nice Marshall-type of flavour.
BB Preamp/Thundertomate: GREAT mild crunch rhythm tone! (No Sweetback)
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