I had it in my rig for a few years. I liked it! Fun pedal... although of the two modes, (overdrive and distortion) I found the OD to be the better one. The DS was a smidge too compressed and bassy. The OD channel was just right... balanced and dynamic.
do you think this video gets that OD tone you like from the JH?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igy3wXXfY8s
Yep, that's a pretty good representation of the basic tone. It can get a little gainier than that; that sounds like the drive is about halfway up in that video.
The Jackhammer pedal is, essentially, the same as the pre-amp circuitry in the overdrive channel on the old Valvestate amplifiers - right down to the (in)famous Contour pot.
i'm convinced by the OD section of this pedal. any comments on how good or how sh*** the distortion section sounds?
The highlight of the pedal (and Funkfingers actually convinced me to bring it out of my old-gear drawer) is the OD. I actually have trouble calling it an overdrive. I think they mislabeled the mode selector. It should have been Distortion on Channel 1, and Muddy, Bassy, Garbage Sound on Channel 2. On second thought, maybe that wouldn't fit.
thanks B2D for the quick replies. you found the Distortion mode compressed and bassy. how does it compare with other high gain marshall amps in a box, say a Crunchbox?
I haven't really tried anything else that was marketed as a "Marshall in a box." Possibly the Fulltone OCD. which is a killer overdrive pedal in it's own right, but as cheaper OD/DS pedals go, the Jackhammer is a favorite of mine.
Are they similar sound wise as in can the Jackhammer get the chug (radiohead style) of the shredmasterMy Shredmaster was getting beat, so I bought the Jackhammer and very happy with it. It's a decent backup to the shredmaster. I don't use the distortion channel though - way too compressed for my taste, and I don't need that much gain.