phil_104
Cheesesteakologist
It seems lately, every time I go a shop to pick up a specific piece of gear, I end up comparing it to something else, and I never end getting what the make or model I had researched, and that seemed to be the perfect item for me.
For those of you who have seen my posts around here in the past, you might recall that I played through a Mesa Stiletto. Now, life happens, circumstances (musical and non-musical) happen; long story short, I no longer have the Mesa. I know, I know, I fee the same way. Had to pick up a little combo, something that was not super expensive and I could still dig. Went with a Ltd Edition Blues Jr, with an upgraded speaker and all that jazz. Why? Because I loved the basic tone of it, I've gigged with fender amps with great success, and it just sounded right to my ears. The ONLY thing it was missing, was a good distortion sound.
Enter the search for a distortion pedal.
Now, you gotta understand, I was use to playing my Les Paul through a ****ing Mesa. I'm picky about my distortion. I never was into super high gain, but I love the responsive, aggressive nature of a tube distortion, but I like mine to cut and stay articulate (thus the Stiletto).
So I do a bunch of research, including here, and in my mind, I am so hard for the ZVex Box of Rock. Like seriously, I read everywhere that this will get you so close to the "everything on 10" Marshall sound, that it will solve my problems, and I will be happy for ever. So couple of days ago, I'm marching myself down to get said pedal.
So I get there and I start talking to the guy, whom I know and trust. He kinda knows what I'm into. There is a BOR there, I plug it in, it sounds great, I love it, etc, etc, etc. So now, just for my own personal satisfaction, I have to validate my choice by comparing it to other pedals in store. I start with a few different pedals, eventually making my way to the Fulltone OCD.
It sounded like a bag of dicks. For those of you who would be unsure as to if this is a good or bad thing; it is not a good thing. In fact, I was so surprised as to how much I disliked this very popular pedal, that I had to ask the guy if something was wrong with it. He laughed, said it was a love it or hate it type of pedal for a lot of people. Then, he says to me that if I don't dig that one, I might dig the Fulltone Plimsoul.
Now I've never heard of this pedal. I still want to try it, so the BOR can destroy it. WRONG. SO, SO WRONG. BAM. WHOOP. There it is. I plug the Plimsoul in, and I gotta say, there is no way to describe on a forum the type of response you get from this pedal. That was the first thing that struck me; how much this pedal responds like a tube amp distortion.
The BOR had a great distortion, but I dig a lot of articulation. When you raise the gain on the BOR, it gets more saturated, but to my ears, it gets fuzzy or wooly if you will. Not so much what I was looking for. Now, the Plimsoul can get those tones no problem; and almost sound like a muff. But it has this tiny little "Stage 2" knob, that controls another layer of gain. If you crank your normal gain know (or sustain in this case), you'll get in BOR territory. If you start engaging the Stage 2 section, it's almost like you maintain that saturation, but it compresses just a bit, and clears up like mad. The tone knob on the pedal also seemed a lot more responsive to me; not getting to muddy or two brittle, but changing the tone type of what I was playing, and adding just enough cut, as per my taste.
Compared to the OCD, it's like if they made a it's anti-thesis. The OCD, to my ears, had a slightly scooped midrange, and a distortion or crunch that was very distinct and percussive. The Plimsoul on the other hand, has a really cool and present mid and low mid range, that just sounds so musical and full. It has a lot of presence and weight behind it's sound. It also didn't feel as closed in terms of tonal possibilities, but rather very versatile. It has more gain than the OCD because of the Stage 2, but manages to remain more musical and more organic.
I'd love to describe the sound in detail, but really this pedal is about how it reacts and feels. You sorta have to try it for yourself. It's probably one of the best distortions I've played. So versatile, so useful, great pedal. Try one, maybe you'll dig it.
For those of you who have seen my posts around here in the past, you might recall that I played through a Mesa Stiletto. Now, life happens, circumstances (musical and non-musical) happen; long story short, I no longer have the Mesa. I know, I know, I fee the same way. Had to pick up a little combo, something that was not super expensive and I could still dig. Went with a Ltd Edition Blues Jr, with an upgraded speaker and all that jazz. Why? Because I loved the basic tone of it, I've gigged with fender amps with great success, and it just sounded right to my ears. The ONLY thing it was missing, was a good distortion sound.
Enter the search for a distortion pedal.
Now, you gotta understand, I was use to playing my Les Paul through a ****ing Mesa. I'm picky about my distortion. I never was into super high gain, but I love the responsive, aggressive nature of a tube distortion, but I like mine to cut and stay articulate (thus the Stiletto).
So I do a bunch of research, including here, and in my mind, I am so hard for the ZVex Box of Rock. Like seriously, I read everywhere that this will get you so close to the "everything on 10" Marshall sound, that it will solve my problems, and I will be happy for ever. So couple of days ago, I'm marching myself down to get said pedal.
So I get there and I start talking to the guy, whom I know and trust. He kinda knows what I'm into. There is a BOR there, I plug it in, it sounds great, I love it, etc, etc, etc. So now, just for my own personal satisfaction, I have to validate my choice by comparing it to other pedals in store. I start with a few different pedals, eventually making my way to the Fulltone OCD.
It sounded like a bag of dicks. For those of you who would be unsure as to if this is a good or bad thing; it is not a good thing. In fact, I was so surprised as to how much I disliked this very popular pedal, that I had to ask the guy if something was wrong with it. He laughed, said it was a love it or hate it type of pedal for a lot of people. Then, he says to me that if I don't dig that one, I might dig the Fulltone Plimsoul.
Now I've never heard of this pedal. I still want to try it, so the BOR can destroy it. WRONG. SO, SO WRONG. BAM. WHOOP. There it is. I plug the Plimsoul in, and I gotta say, there is no way to describe on a forum the type of response you get from this pedal. That was the first thing that struck me; how much this pedal responds like a tube amp distortion.
The BOR had a great distortion, but I dig a lot of articulation. When you raise the gain on the BOR, it gets more saturated, but to my ears, it gets fuzzy or wooly if you will. Not so much what I was looking for. Now, the Plimsoul can get those tones no problem; and almost sound like a muff. But it has this tiny little "Stage 2" knob, that controls another layer of gain. If you crank your normal gain know (or sustain in this case), you'll get in BOR territory. If you start engaging the Stage 2 section, it's almost like you maintain that saturation, but it compresses just a bit, and clears up like mad. The tone knob on the pedal also seemed a lot more responsive to me; not getting to muddy or two brittle, but changing the tone type of what I was playing, and adding just enough cut, as per my taste.
Compared to the OCD, it's like if they made a it's anti-thesis. The OCD, to my ears, had a slightly scooped midrange, and a distortion or crunch that was very distinct and percussive. The Plimsoul on the other hand, has a really cool and present mid and low mid range, that just sounds so musical and full. It has a lot of presence and weight behind it's sound. It also didn't feel as closed in terms of tonal possibilities, but rather very versatile. It has more gain than the OCD because of the Stage 2, but manages to remain more musical and more organic.
I'd love to describe the sound in detail, but really this pedal is about how it reacts and feels. You sorta have to try it for yourself. It's probably one of the best distortions I've played. So versatile, so useful, great pedal. Try one, maybe you'll dig it.
