deeaa
October 3rd, 2009, 10:14 AM
Well, I decided to ditch the Danelectro from my main rig in favor of the Jackhammer.
The Dano is a great pedal; it is AWESOME in front of my Tech-21...just great in adding more gain, as a lead booster for instance. Killer chops.
BUT in front of my rather bluesey EL84-18-watter head...too dark and murky, too 'blurby'. It's quite transparent alright, and quite a good OD...but, simply, the Jackhammer is much better. The Jack retains the sound integrity much better, adds very clear, defined overdrive that sings and doesn't clutter up the sound at all. With a compressor also engaged, you get total Metallica chops and without, it's like a very good JCM800.
I dunno, I've had 3 different Ibanez Tubescreamers, Boss OD-1, Transparent OD, some DOD pedals I forget what...and the Jack is always the best.
All it needs is just set the gain to about 1/4 in OD mode and cut both bass and treble for a little more mids, compensate with volume, stick in front of a slightly driven tube amp and it's just like a superb JCM. Great pedal indeed. Maybe it's just that it loves my Ceriatone...but I'd recommend it to anyone after some Marshall bite overdrive.
But the Dano stays with me; I'll use it with the Tech-21 where it excels. And I think the BBE maximiser will also find a home in the Techie's FX loop...quick tests indicate it could very well do wonders to the Tech-21 cleanish sound, which are it's weaker spot. I can't think of a much better, more defined and aggressive lead/hard metal/rock sound than the Tech-21 can yield, but for cleans it's kinda nondescript at best.
The Dano is a great pedal; it is AWESOME in front of my Tech-21...just great in adding more gain, as a lead booster for instance. Killer chops.
BUT in front of my rather bluesey EL84-18-watter head...too dark and murky, too 'blurby'. It's quite transparent alright, and quite a good OD...but, simply, the Jackhammer is much better. The Jack retains the sound integrity much better, adds very clear, defined overdrive that sings and doesn't clutter up the sound at all. With a compressor also engaged, you get total Metallica chops and without, it's like a very good JCM800.
I dunno, I've had 3 different Ibanez Tubescreamers, Boss OD-1, Transparent OD, some DOD pedals I forget what...and the Jack is always the best.
All it needs is just set the gain to about 1/4 in OD mode and cut both bass and treble for a little more mids, compensate with volume, stick in front of a slightly driven tube amp and it's just like a superb JCM. Great pedal indeed. Maybe it's just that it loves my Ceriatone...but I'd recommend it to anyone after some Marshall bite overdrive.
But the Dano stays with me; I'll use it with the Tech-21 where it excels. And I think the BBE maximiser will also find a home in the Techie's FX loop...quick tests indicate it could very well do wonders to the Tech-21 cleanish sound, which are it's weaker spot. I can't think of a much better, more defined and aggressive lead/hard metal/rock sound than the Tech-21 can yield, but for cleans it's kinda nondescript at best.