Screaming Blues and Hot Head... Anybody have one or both?

[Andrew Lamprecht]

I just picked both up on the bay for pretty cheap.... opinions, experiences, etc.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Screaming Blues and Hot Head... Anybody have one or both?

I've got both. I don't know it that's good or bad.

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Screaming Blues and Hot Head... Anybody have one or both?

The other guitarist in my old band used a hothead. I can't say how it sounds into a good amp though, he was running it into the ****tiest of ****.

[Kosh Naranek]

Re: Screaming Blues and Hot Head... Anybody have one or both?

I have both. I like them!! They're not boutique, but I don't expect that for that price.
The Hot Head actually cleans up if you don't max the gain knob and you pick lightly. Will a DS-1 do that? No way!

I like the Screamin' Blues even more. It's in interesting balance between jangle and crunch. It can sound like Stevie Ray Vaughn, with that nice ping at the attack of every note, but with the gain turned up and with your pickup selector set to the bridge hummbucker, it's crunchy. It's a very bright pedal. You won't need to turn the high EQ knob up very far.
I used the Screamin' Blues in my gigging pedal board for a few years. I got a Green Screamer and put that on the board, but only because I wanted to try something new. I don't think the Screamin' Blues was inferior at all.

[guitarded]

Re: Screaming Blues and Hot Head... Anybody have one or both?

I didn't like the screaming blues at all... Too much top end and thin.

[PRSfan nym 1985]

Re: Screaming Blues and Hot Head... Anybody have one or both?

meh - for the money they aren't bad but I'm past that point with pedals I prefer boss for low end pedals these days (keeley and analogman make em even better than in stock form imho) for dist/fuzz/od I'm more into just saving my pennies for some type of fulltone, dmb, catalinbred, wampler, etc. I'd rather have one really good pedal than a bunch of mediocre pedals.

I don't want to be a negative nancy so congrats on the pedals I'm sure if you didn't invest much you'll be happy, just don't expect any miracles as was said previously they won't compete with any boutique offerings.

[Kramer Guy]

Re: Screaming Blues and Hot Head... Anybody have one or both?

I used to have a Hot head Distortion pedal a few years ago and I regret getting rid of it. It was definately one of the best sounding Distortion pedals I've ever used . Way much better than a Boss DS-1 for sure.

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Screaming Blues and Hot Head... Anybody have one or both?

I used to have a Hot head Distortion pedal a few years ago and I regret getting rid of it. It was definately one of the best sounding Distortion pedals I've ever used . Way much better than a Boss DS-1 for sure.

This is what I'm finding... haha, I got the hot head yesterday... great sounding pedal.....

[marcello252]

Re: Screaming Blues and Hot Head... Anybody have one or both?

talking about the circuit schematics, the Screaming Blues is almost IDENTICAL to a Boss Blues Driver except the tone control section: the sb has bass and treble, it's even more usable.

[vegetablejoe]

Re: Screaming Blues and Hot Head... Anybody have one or both?

I had the Bad Monkey and the Screaming Blues. Gain-wise, the latter starts where the BM ends off. That is very clear in DigiTech's catalog. So, IIRC, the Hot Rod Distortion's gain level also similarly starts where the Screaming Blues ends off.

So, just keep that in mind when you're thinking of how to use these pedals and where in a pedal chain they belong. Neither of your 2 pedals are for low-gain application. having said that, my Bad Monkey into Screaming Blues combination was a good sounding combination. TS-like rhythm tone from the BM and a lead boost from the SB. I'm not into higher gain, so I can't comment on the HotRod...

[FuseG4]

Re: Screaming Blues and Hot Head... Anybody have one or both?

the screaming blues is mostly a Boss Blues driver with a bass/treble EQ, but you say it's not a low-gain application?
I have a blues driver and the first half of the gain knob is low gain. If I have the volume at unity and the amp is clean I have to beat my strat to death to get some breakup if that gain knob aint at least at noon. With all the knobs at noon there's enough volume boost with it to get my amp overdriven as well, and that still isn't a lot of gain. It's like "Can't you Hear me Knockin" gain, which aint a lot in the classic rock world.

I'm just surprised at your analysis of the screaming blues.

but if the screaming blues is different from the blues driver besides having a bass knob, then nothing I said makes sense. So... yeah.

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Screaming Blues and Hot Head... Anybody have one or both?

Yeah, I got 7 "budget" overdrives. The Hot Head is my favorite but definitely more mid gain crunch. The BD-2 can get high gain but there are a lot of low gain sounds in it. I really like that pedal..... In fact, both are great!!