Jeff_H
Dean Hardtail Fanologist
Ok, so I just spent about 30 minutes with this little pedal. As a baseline comparison I used my unmodded GE-7, I just daisy chained them, mine first, then Johns, so I could switch back and forth. 57' RI Les Paul into the GE7, into the Blues Jr, master volume dimed. Bass set at 6, treble set at 5, mids at 5, reverb 2. Channel volume at 4, so as not to get too much pre-amp distortion. All into my Marshall 4x12 with Gt12-75's.
I initially set all the sliders flat on both units. The first thing I noticed was how much quieter John's pedal was than mine. With everything set flat, Johns' produced no additional noise. Mine had an increase in the white noise (hiss). Not a ton set flat, but there was a noticable difference. Then I simply slid the level sliders on both up halfway between flat and full out, as a flat boost. Now the difference in noise was noticable. John's pedal was not completely quiet, but the white noise was more muffled and definately tolerable. Mine of the other hand increased in white noise/hiss considerably, which would have been unuseable in many situations. Perhaps not at full band volume, but certainly in quiet interludes or between songs. What I also noticed with John's pedal is that this pushed my amp from a subtle blues type OD to a more classic rock OD, again with less noise than my stock pedal. My pedal would accomplish the same thing, just not as quietly.
Now I used both pedals to boost the frequencies that I often find lacking in overall sound. Specifically the low end, lower mids and the treble frequencies, except for the last treble slided to the right. Too much of this adds piercing treble, imo. So I bump the lows about 1/4 between flat and full out, with the lowest freq being slightly higher. Mids get boosted just a touch. Treble gets boosted a small slide upwards as well. I also moved the volume slider up about 1/4...not half like in the flat boost. What you notice is a nice tightening of the bass, mids sound fuller and the treble bites just right. It's in this area (other than the noise difference) where I think the major differences stand out.
John's pedal seems to tighten up the frequencies without harshness. My pedal does something similar, but with a bit more harshness to the frequencies....almost a metalic quality. Not really that severe, but that's the best way I can describe it. John's pedal seems more organic, with richer overtones. The lows rumbled without being mushy or undefined. My stock pedal sounded slightly flabbier and not as focused. These settings also produced an overdrive situation that made the guitar sound much bigger. Again, John's sounded much more like a natural amp setting, while the stock version sounded somewhat artificial. These setting took me again from blues type OD to more of an AC/DC type crunch. Really nice.
The tolerance of the sliders on both pedals seems to be similar. Moving any of the sliders more than halfway between flat and full produces substantial white noise. Again, John's is not as harsh or open sounding, but it is still there. I think this is purely a matter of hitting the amp with too much signal, expecially at band volumes. The effect is not as noticable at bedroom volumes. Also, with regard to the volume slider, halfway between flat and full seemed to be the breaking point. Anything over half would create squeel from the pickups, unless I went about 25 feet from the amp, facing the other way. Johns pedal allowed for slightly more headroom in this area, about a notch or so.
I initially set all the sliders flat on both units. The first thing I noticed was how much quieter John's pedal was than mine. With everything set flat, Johns' produced no additional noise. Mine had an increase in the white noise (hiss). Not a ton set flat, but there was a noticable difference. Then I simply slid the level sliders on both up halfway between flat and full out, as a flat boost. Now the difference in noise was noticable. John's pedal was not completely quiet, but the white noise was more muffled and definately tolerable. Mine of the other hand increased in white noise/hiss considerably, which would have been unuseable in many situations. Perhaps not at full band volume, but certainly in quiet interludes or between songs. What I also noticed with John's pedal is that this pushed my amp from a subtle blues type OD to a more classic rock OD, again with less noise than my stock pedal. My pedal would accomplish the same thing, just not as quietly.
Now I used both pedals to boost the frequencies that I often find lacking in overall sound. Specifically the low end, lower mids and the treble frequencies, except for the last treble slided to the right. Too much of this adds piercing treble, imo. So I bump the lows about 1/4 between flat and full out, with the lowest freq being slightly higher. Mids get boosted just a touch. Treble gets boosted a small slide upwards as well. I also moved the volume slider up about 1/4...not half like in the flat boost. What you notice is a nice tightening of the bass, mids sound fuller and the treble bites just right. It's in this area (other than the noise difference) where I think the major differences stand out.
John's pedal seems to tighten up the frequencies without harshness. My pedal does something similar, but with a bit more harshness to the frequencies....almost a metalic quality. Not really that severe, but that's the best way I can describe it. John's pedal seems more organic, with richer overtones. The lows rumbled without being mushy or undefined. My stock pedal sounded slightly flabbier and not as focused. These settings also produced an overdrive situation that made the guitar sound much bigger. Again, John's sounded much more like a natural amp setting, while the stock version sounded somewhat artificial. These setting took me again from blues type OD to more of an AC/DC type crunch. Really nice.
The tolerance of the sliders on both pedals seems to be similar. Moving any of the sliders more than halfway between flat and full produces substantial white noise. Again, John's is not as harsh or open sounding, but it is still there. I think this is purely a matter of hitting the amp with too much signal, expecially at band volumes. The effect is not as noticable at bedroom volumes. Also, with regard to the volume slider, halfway between flat and full seemed to be the breaking point. Anything over half would create squeel from the pickups, unless I went about 25 feet from the amp, facing the other way. Johns pedal allowed for slightly more headroom in this area, about a notch or so.
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