Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything here so thought I'd do a quick post.
I more than likely have some downtime coming up in a few weeks time so I plan on doing some indepth amp and pedal reviews, hopefully with clips, of the gear I have that's been built by Toe-Knee.
I'll post back more when I know for sure what's coming!
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
18 August 2013
16 January 2013
EMG James Hetfield Signature Pickups (Het Set) Updated with audio sample.
I've had this set for just over a week now so I feel that I can give a fairly fair review of them.
First of all i'll get it out of the way that these aren't just the standard 81 & 60 in some flashy covers as most people expect them to be. I wanted a set of these for quite some time being a massive Metallica fan. Especially after hearing some newer live clips where James Hetfield has sounded amazing and cut through really well. From here on we can go into the main bulk of the review.
The Sound
These pickups have a fairly high output which is to be expected as they are designed exclusively for metal and of course they are EMG pickups.
They have a great helping of upper mids which was a pleasant surprise with just the right amount of grind going on there. They also have a touch more low end than than the standard EMG pickups but it is still very tight and precise with absolutely no excess flub. The high end is very upfront but isn't grating in any way and doesn't fizz out.
These pickups don't dissapoint for clean sounds either. The bridge provides that classic james hetfield clean sound, think of the Master of Puppets interlude or the intro of Welcome Home. The neck pickup is even nice r and delivers some very soft yet punchy clean sounds that work really well for things such as fade to black or the intro to and justice for all.
Clearly Metallica tones are very easily achievable with these pickups as are tones from any of the 80's metal bands. If this is what you are looking for then you will not be dissapointed with these pickups.
The Look
These pickups look very slick with a very nice black nickel finish with individual ceramic polepieces on the neck pickup and steel poles for the bridge pickup.
Summary & Soundclips
Overall I am extremely happy with these pickups. I play Thrash metal primarly and these pickups can cover everything I throw at them with ease from Metallica right up to modern Exodus. Usually when I swap pickups out I have some bad points that really niggle at me which is why I left this review for a while and so far i can't find a single fault.
First of all i'll get it out of the way that these aren't just the standard 81 & 60 in some flashy covers as most people expect them to be. I wanted a set of these for quite some time being a massive Metallica fan. Especially after hearing some newer live clips where James Hetfield has sounded amazing and cut through really well. From here on we can go into the main bulk of the review.
The Sound
These pickups have a fairly high output which is to be expected as they are designed exclusively for metal and of course they are EMG pickups.
They have a great helping of upper mids which was a pleasant surprise with just the right amount of grind going on there. They also have a touch more low end than than the standard EMG pickups but it is still very tight and precise with absolutely no excess flub. The high end is very upfront but isn't grating in any way and doesn't fizz out.
These pickups don't dissapoint for clean sounds either. The bridge provides that classic james hetfield clean sound, think of the Master of Puppets interlude or the intro of Welcome Home. The neck pickup is even nice r and delivers some very soft yet punchy clean sounds that work really well for things such as fade to black or the intro to and justice for all.
Clearly Metallica tones are very easily achievable with these pickups as are tones from any of the 80's metal bands. If this is what you are looking for then you will not be dissapointed with these pickups.
The Look
These pickups look very slick with a very nice black nickel finish with individual ceramic polepieces on the neck pickup and steel poles for the bridge pickup.
Summary & Soundclips
Overall I am extremely happy with these pickups. I play Thrash metal primarly and these pickups can cover everything I throw at them with ease from Metallica right up to modern Exodus. Usually when I swap pickups out I have some bad points that really niggle at me which is why I left this review for a while and so far i can't find a single fault.
6 January 2013
MXR Custom Badass Modified Overdrive: An introductory review
Hey guys here we are on the first post of 2013 hopefully it will be a gear filled year with lots of builds & gear acquisition!
Anyway onto the main point of this post. I've gotten a couple of new pieces of equipment lately and I'll be putting up full reviews and sound clips as I get more familiar with each item.
First up is an incredible Overdrive pedal from MXR. The custom badass modified OD.
Usually I will build my own effects but I felt like having a break and just buying something for a change.
Controls:
The MXR has your standard overdrive controls such as Gain, Output & Tone. It then goes a little further by adding in a 100hz cut/boost control and a bump switch that boosts the low end and midrange when activated.
Sound:
This I find is where the pedal really shines. Without the bump switch engaged it is a fairly transparent pedal and leaves your core tone pretty much unmolested. When you kick in the bump switch the low frequencies and midrange are boosted but not by a ridiculous amount which keeps the core tone but brings the pedal more into a thicker tube screamer territory. Also noteworthy is the fact that the bump switch can be left engaged when the main circuit is off which just thickens up your sound with a very minimal boost which can be nice for cleans.
The gain on tap is fairly smooth when used on a clean channel but there is plenty of it and once you get past the halfway mark it gets nice and gritty. When used on an already overdriven amp you can get total saturation just by adding in a little gain which is very nice for those old school thrash type tones.
Another nice feature of this pedal is the tone control it never gets truly boomy or ridiculously tinny at either extreme of the control and provides a lot of usable options.
The 100hz cut/boost is what really drew me to this pedal primarily being a metal player I like a nice clean low end so a little bit of cut really brings out the tightness required for some more modern styles and when used in conjunction with the tone control & the bump switch you really do have a lot of options and I feel that I haven't fully explored this myself.
The level control is the final control and there isn't really much to say other than it has an extremely large range that should satisfy most users needs.
Build Quality:
This pedal seems really solid and well made with a high quality enclosure and very sturdy jacks even if they are PCB mounted. The pedal mainly consists of micro components which I guess explains the small form factor and also will help with mass production. The switch is very solid if a little softer than I normally use it doesn't have that thick satisfying click that i'm used to be I can't see it failing at any point. The only negative point is that there is a small finish flaw in the bottom corner on the face of the pedal but it's nothing major and doesn't affect functionality in anyway at all.
Overall I am extremely pleased with this pedal and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting a more transparent overdrive that doesn't cut out masses of low end unless you specifically set it to. It's extremely useful for those that play rock or metal.
I will be posting again in a week or so with some sound clips and possibly some more information depending whether my view on this pedal changes as I get more used to it.
Anyway onto the main point of this post. I've gotten a couple of new pieces of equipment lately and I'll be putting up full reviews and sound clips as I get more familiar with each item.
First up is an incredible Overdrive pedal from MXR. The custom badass modified OD.
Usually I will build my own effects but I felt like having a break and just buying something for a change.
Controls:
The MXR has your standard overdrive controls such as Gain, Output & Tone. It then goes a little further by adding in a 100hz cut/boost control and a bump switch that boosts the low end and midrange when activated.
Sound:
This I find is where the pedal really shines. Without the bump switch engaged it is a fairly transparent pedal and leaves your core tone pretty much unmolested. When you kick in the bump switch the low frequencies and midrange are boosted but not by a ridiculous amount which keeps the core tone but brings the pedal more into a thicker tube screamer territory. Also noteworthy is the fact that the bump switch can be left engaged when the main circuit is off which just thickens up your sound with a very minimal boost which can be nice for cleans.
The gain on tap is fairly smooth when used on a clean channel but there is plenty of it and once you get past the halfway mark it gets nice and gritty. When used on an already overdriven amp you can get total saturation just by adding in a little gain which is very nice for those old school thrash type tones.
Another nice feature of this pedal is the tone control it never gets truly boomy or ridiculously tinny at either extreme of the control and provides a lot of usable options.
The 100hz cut/boost is what really drew me to this pedal primarily being a metal player I like a nice clean low end so a little bit of cut really brings out the tightness required for some more modern styles and when used in conjunction with the tone control & the bump switch you really do have a lot of options and I feel that I haven't fully explored this myself.
The level control is the final control and there isn't really much to say other than it has an extremely large range that should satisfy most users needs.
Build Quality:
This pedal seems really solid and well made with a high quality enclosure and very sturdy jacks even if they are PCB mounted. The pedal mainly consists of micro components which I guess explains the small form factor and also will help with mass production. The switch is very solid if a little softer than I normally use it doesn't have that thick satisfying click that i'm used to be I can't see it failing at any point. The only negative point is that there is a small finish flaw in the bottom corner on the face of the pedal but it's nothing major and doesn't affect functionality in anyway at all.
Overall I am extremely pleased with this pedal and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting a more transparent overdrive that doesn't cut out masses of low end unless you specifically set it to. It's extremely useful for those that play rock or metal.
I will be posting again in a week or so with some sound clips and possibly some more information depending whether my view on this pedal changes as I get more used to it.
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