Swart + HardWire Verb + Bad Monkey

[bigG]

I finally decided to try some pedals in front of my Swart Space Tone (5w, Class A, single ended, powered by one E-H 6V6, one JJ 12AX7 pre-amp, one JJ 5Y3 rectification, 8" Weber Ceramic speaker, volume and one tone control only). No FX loop, so these pedals went strait into the amp's input, and were powered with a 1-Spot 9v wall wart.

First off was my new Digitech HardWire RV-7 Reverb pedal (has Lexicon onboard, and I think that makes all the difference between this and every other verb pedal I've heard). Man, this has got to be THE best verb pedal available! With the Swart's volume at abt 3.5 (of 11), a nice clean, not too loud setting, I first checked for any added noise. Dead silence w my ear right up to the speaker! Does not change the tone or 3-dimensionality of the Swart at all, which is what I was most concerned about. No clicks when switched on/off. The verb choices are seemingly endless: room, plate, reverse, modulated, gated, hall and spring. A Level knob (all 3 control knobs have 40 slight indents as you turn 'em for exact settings) that controls the amount of effect desired, a Liveliness knob that changes the amount of treble in the tail, and a Decay knob that lengthens or shortens the amount of tail decay, a beautiful light blue indicator light and (all together now!) it's built like a tank! Also has stereo ins and outs (I used mono) and a Tail Switch hidden in the battery compartment - set to either on or off - depending on whether you want the tail to continue (or not to) when the pedal is switched off.

With the 3 control knobs all set between 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock the mode choices I liked best were the plate, modulated and hall. Spring is a bit over the top for my style, reverse is fun and interesting, but probably best for use in recording and maybe some gig situations, depending on the type of music you play. Gated and Room are nice, but, again, don't suit my particular style. Don't get me wrong, here, they're all fantastic - these are just my preferences so far. Of course you can dial in the level and trail of any mode, from barely noticeable to fully washed. Simply a marvelous reverb pedal and sounds like, or betters, most onboard reverbs I've ever heard.

Next I coupled my Bad Monkey w the HardWire verb (at the same amp setting of 3 1/2 on volume) and I was in heaven! Both pedals are dead silent whether in the chain or off, and the two together enabled me to get some marvelous Swart tone, with pedal verb and a more than generous amount of tube OD! I played my Lite Ash Strat first in both of these tests, then my Epi LP Standard. Of course the LP put out a hotter signal and considerably much more gain than did my Strat. After fully familiarizing myself with both pedals and their relation to the Swart's tone, I ended up playing the afternoon away on my Epi LP. Superb tone and sounds at a respectable apartment-acceptable volume! Whether slightly driven or the Monkey's Gain up 3/4! (With the Level switch at roughly a little above 9 o'clock.)

Pretty much everyone here knows the Bad Monkey, and now that Digitech has intro'd the Hardwire line, they're gonna be hard to beat! The Hardwire pedals run from 99.99 to 159.99 - not cheap, but certainly reasonable for what you get, and much less expensive than many boutique pedals. Easily worth every penny! Two thumbs way up : :

This...is the end.

[oldguy]

Yep, the Digi hardwire's the reverb pedal I love the most too.
The lexicons are the best, imo. I esp. love the modulated setting, as long as it's way subtle.........it's really there once you start playing, you just don't need much or it gets too over the top. I use the spring setting quite a bit also, but then again, just a tad or it's overpowering.
The Bad Monk's a good one, but I'm usually playing the Ceriatone Overtone, and it's built in OD, plus the boost switch, have about put the monkey on the shelf.