NPD! Palladium

[ThisDyingSoul76]

Haven't really had time to mess with it, but I consider it to be what the Boss Metal Zone should have been. My cheap power supply died while testing it and I was having to go pick up my better half before I could dig out my pedalboard and use the good power supply.

 

[Mincer]

Re: NPD! Palladium

Oh yeah! Let us know how the testing phase goes!

 

[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: NPD! Palladium

This is my first SD pedal. Found it at a pawn shop a few months show and after it sat for a couple months (most people frequenting this place either had no clue what it was because it wasn't Boss or MXR or just wouldn't spend that much on a pedal anyway), I snatched it up after the price dropped about 30%.

I still haven't had time to do much, but one observation is that there is no real low gain sound. It starts at a moderate gain sound and goes to full saturation. Maybe I just need to run it on 18V, but so far, if you want low gain, look elsewhere.

 

[Mincer]

Re: NPD! Palladium

That is my understanding too, but to be fair, it acts like an extra 'gain stage' and every video is pretty saturated.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: NPD! Palladium

Even with not much going on at low gain, a pedal that does high gain really well would still be news. And there are already plenty of great low-gain pedals out there.

 

[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: NPD! Palladium

Had a bit of time today with it into a super clean amp. Gain all the way down is like a moderate crunch or suitable a for bluesy 70's lead sound.

It sounds good no matter where you put the gain.

It's that same control layout as the Boss Metal Zone but just voiced in a more usable way. The middle detention the active tone controls is a nice touch.

I think the key is in the mids. The mid Freq knob affects a range that isn't too wide or too narrow and the sweep is gradual enough to make the tone controls easy to dial in. I think the reason the Metal Zone is so disliked is that its sweep is so drastic and the range if affected by the mid Freq knob is such that it is difficult to really dial it in.

 

[jeremy]

Re: NPD! Palladium

even with the gain and resonance controls all the way down, theres still a fair amount of dirt. im not a high gain guy but the palladium sounds great and feels great too

 

[CaptainWhizz]

Re: NPD! Palladium

To be fair, I don't think that a pedal labelled as a "gain stage" would be my first choice to play low-gain stuff with anyway, so I probably wouldn't judge it on its performance in that area.

 

[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: NPD! Palladium

True. I have lots of "transparent " OD's for that. The Palladium picks up where most OD's leave off.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: NPD! Palladium

Jealous! Enjoy it!

 

[Mincer]

Re: NPD! Palladium

True. I have lots of "transparent " OD's for that. The Palladium picks up where most OD's leave off.

The few times I've played with one, I thought the exact same thing- it isn't transparent. You know it is on!

 

[stratguy23]

Re: NPD! Palladium

The Palladium does metal really well - so well that I wouldn't put the Metal Zone in the same sentence as it. The Metal Zone is really a cheap toy in comparison.

The Palladium also does low gain very well, which is not typical for a distortion pedal seemingly marketed for high gain. With low output pickups and gain at noon or less, you get a lovely classic rock crunch.

I didn't hang on to mine, because I found it surprisingly noisy. Also, I wished for more control over the extra gain stage. If I could have a Palladium with less noise and basically a full-featured 805 on board, I would totally revisit the pedal.