Post by charlienc on Nov 2, 2005 19:27:03 GMT -7
Great pedal guys and very reasonably priced. I just dumped all of my old pedals on Ebay and bought the Power Screamer and a Teese Pic Wah.
So where to start?
First of all, the setup is Gain, Tone, Volume with an on/off switch located on the lower right of the pedal with an additional boost channel on the lower left. It didn't occur to me till I used it jamming with the guys tonight, but it's a very player-centric layout because the chain of pedals moves actually from right to left so your main o.d. comes first followed by the boost.
Next, there is a three position diode switch above the tone knob. This changes the clipping characteristics of the overdrive. Here's my rundown of the options.
Far left switch: I couldn't even tell where my Maz tone ended and the pedal's tone began. Very organic sounding but a little tame.
Far right switch: I found this to be a much more compressed sound, ala Tubescreamer without the midrange.
Center switch: I found this to be my main tone. Much more open sounding with more bottom end. It was almost like the "left" setting but with more ballz and a little more presence.
Now the boost switch: the manual claims a 10 db boost but I don't really hear it that way. Although, it could just be that the boost really pushes my amp over the edge so I just get more "singing" tone than actual volume. This thing really works. It's like I having a 3 channel Maz. For me, it functions pretty well. I ran the Maz jr. NR with the Master all the way up, the volume about halfway, a little e.q. here and there and had nice clean tone going with a little hair on it. Then I'd use the main channel as my normal "rock" tone and then hit the boost for solos.
Now on the boost channel there is a Fat switch. It's sort of a low midrange gain type of e.q. enhancement and sounds pretty tasty, although the regular boost channel has it's own thing going on to. I'd say that it's a little clearer with more note definition and sounds more true to the normal overdrive channel. But I like the Fatboost, it's dirty.
So, nice solid sounding pedal, extremely transparent and you get two channels for what some the one channel boosters are going for. I paid 170, shipping included from PedalGeek.com
Now the only bad part. Somehow, during shipping, the little washer and nut to the Fatboost switch came loose. It wasn't anything I couldn't fix with some plyers but still, imagine the disappointment when I opened the fresh box and those little metal pieces bounced onto the floor. Not only that, but I had to open up the back of the pedal to push the switch through to the outside and I was a little scared of all those solder joints that were connected to the switch.
But... I attribute that to bad karma from my youth, he he he
Anyway, I forgot about all that after I cranked that baby up at the jam session. Just trying to give the good and the bad. But tonally, the HBE kicks some serious arse. So I know what some of you are thinking, for 170 bucks the damn washer and nut shouldn't have fallen off, but on the other hand, they are movable parts. I'm giving HBE the benefit of the doubt and thinking that it was probably just tight enough to somehow get nudged loose during shipping.
Check them out if your gassing for something new. Although, one final word. I found, after tweaking for a few minutes that the best tone came when I ran my Z with a slightly cleaner tone than I used to with a traditional Tubescreamer. Oh well, that's it.
Later,
Charlie
So where to start?
First of all, the setup is Gain, Tone, Volume with an on/off switch located on the lower right of the pedal with an additional boost channel on the lower left. It didn't occur to me till I used it jamming with the guys tonight, but it's a very player-centric layout because the chain of pedals moves actually from right to left so your main o.d. comes first followed by the boost.
Next, there is a three position diode switch above the tone knob. This changes the clipping characteristics of the overdrive. Here's my rundown of the options.
Far left switch: I couldn't even tell where my Maz tone ended and the pedal's tone began. Very organic sounding but a little tame.
Far right switch: I found this to be a much more compressed sound, ala Tubescreamer without the midrange.
Center switch: I found this to be my main tone. Much more open sounding with more bottom end. It was almost like the "left" setting but with more ballz and a little more presence.
Now the boost switch: the manual claims a 10 db boost but I don't really hear it that way. Although, it could just be that the boost really pushes my amp over the edge so I just get more "singing" tone than actual volume. This thing really works. It's like I having a 3 channel Maz. For me, it functions pretty well. I ran the Maz jr. NR with the Master all the way up, the volume about halfway, a little e.q. here and there and had nice clean tone going with a little hair on it. Then I'd use the main channel as my normal "rock" tone and then hit the boost for solos.
Now on the boost channel there is a Fat switch. It's sort of a low midrange gain type of e.q. enhancement and sounds pretty tasty, although the regular boost channel has it's own thing going on to. I'd say that it's a little clearer with more note definition and sounds more true to the normal overdrive channel. But I like the Fatboost, it's dirty.
So, nice solid sounding pedal, extremely transparent and you get two channels for what some the one channel boosters are going for. I paid 170, shipping included from PedalGeek.com
Now the only bad part. Somehow, during shipping, the little washer and nut to the Fatboost switch came loose. It wasn't anything I couldn't fix with some plyers but still, imagine the disappointment when I opened the fresh box and those little metal pieces bounced onto the floor. Not only that, but I had to open up the back of the pedal to push the switch through to the outside and I was a little scared of all those solder joints that were connected to the switch.
But... I attribute that to bad karma from my youth, he he he
Anyway, I forgot about all that after I cranked that baby up at the jam session. Just trying to give the good and the bad. But tonally, the HBE kicks some serious arse. So I know what some of you are thinking, for 170 bucks the damn washer and nut shouldn't have fallen off, but on the other hand, they are movable parts. I'm giving HBE the benefit of the doubt and thinking that it was probably just tight enough to somehow get nudged loose during shipping.
Check them out if your gassing for something new. Although, one final word. I found, after tweaking for a few minutes that the best tone came when I ran my Z with a slightly cleaner tone than I used to with a traditional Tubescreamer. Oh well, that's it.
Later,
Charlie