Visual Sound: Son of Hyde

My latest acquisition is yet another distortion pedal, this time a product by Australia's Visual Sound. This year, the manufacturer decides to release some trimmed-dimension pedals, some of which are actually detachments from the original unit which features a 2-in-1 module. The Son of Hyde here, is the distortion half of the parent Jekyll & Hyde. This SOH is only one such pedal in a series known as the V2 range.

As this pedal is a solitary distortion unit unlike its parent's twin offering, the reduced feature afforded trimmed dimensions as mentioned & this would be a welcome news to pedalboard mongers (of which I am not). Your eyes are not deceiving you- yes the pedal is missing a BASS control but it's not entirely unavailable, just hiding underneath the housing (that white circular contraption at the top portion), mounted on the circuit board. This isn't the only concealed tweaker, the board also features a built-in noise gate (the other white circular contraption at the bottom portion). It is activated by a minute slider switch so the user has an option to deactivate it should it get in the way of his/ her utility. The final noteworthy feature which I'd like to mention is the hinged battery flip cover; the fact that it's attached to the baseplate means you would not lose it should you fumble in dark performance venues.

Tone-wise, the SOH is my current favourite distortion unit. The mere 'distortion' label to many of us would invoke an image of a certain mild-mannered orange distortion box but 'mild' isn't what this pedal has to offer. Yes, at lower drive settings, the SOH is more than capable of a mild, booster-type distortion which many of us swear by, but turn the drive up & you can hear the rage of this little ditty; there's enough intensity & saturation to rival a metal-type distortion. The BASS control is maxed-out by default so there's lots of bottom end but it did nothing to muffle the overall drive voicing- this is what I find impressive. The noise gate function here is set to 'ON' inherently but dialed up to a rather low treshold value, however it did its job by suppressing excessive background hissing/ humming.

All in all, the SOH is a great discovery on a personal note since I have tried the original Jekyll & Hyde unit & could not credit its overall performance on grounds of tonal/ drive excellence (it may be a preferred unit to some of us but certainly not me). If you are looking for an alternative to the Landmine distortion because you need a more responsive EQ section, this is one to consider.

Death Metal: The pedals...

I used to own BOSS' Metal Zone (MT-2) once, it was my first distortion pedal, I believe I was the very few to have bought it when it first debuted at Davis guitar store (back then Davis was located at the tailor unit, next to the eatery both of which are existing Peninsular Hotel basement floor shop units). I respect what the MT-2 had to offer (still does but it's not a personal favourite) but I was constantly searching for worthy rivals. It was years later that the DOD company (now owned by Digitech) introduced the Death Metal pedal; the very name would suggest the level of distortion intensity in store.

So being a fan of all things extreme, I bought this pedal for variety's sake (at that time, my amp was a Peavey Rage 108 whose default drive is of a get-by calibre at best). The pedal's intense, no doubt, but the level of intensity is uncontrollable- you can't reduce or increase the distortion; it's there, love it or move on. Everything about the pedal's ace less the bass control; at maximum level, it's still drowned by the overwhelming midrange & treble. DOD took things too invariably back then; they duly replicated the very tone of the death metal bands at that point in time which were largely propelling a bass truncated tone & shrill upper frequencies.

Thankfully, the pedal was revised by Digitech to actually feature a functional bass response without a loss in distortion ferocity, but the distortion intensity control remains unreachable to us mortals; it was not meant to be tweaked by worldly hands. Nevertheless, I like what the current Death Metal pedal has to offer but generally, this pedal would appeal to a limited camp due to its limitations & inherent voicing.

Planet Waves: Tru-Strobe tuner

Planet Waves has this nifty little strobe-type tuner in store for those of us militant players who won't compromise on tuning.

The fanaticism aside, the strobe-type tuner is indeed useful for your instrument's intonation, bad notes would especially be audible when you commit your stuff to recording- be armed or be sorry...

Flashback: Zoom 510

The pedal you see here is Zoom's 510 Dual Driver which is a decade old. Back in 1998, the manufacturer released its 5XX series of pedals & these easily became the most affordable multi-FX unit in the market. I first bought the 505 but deemed it unnecessary 6mths later as I do not employ the modulation & time-based effects modules in it & I still don't today- I'm basically a guitar+amp person (because nothing should get in the way of good tone). The 505 was promptly sold away & the 510 made it into my set up as it is truly the unit which complemented my playing style; I'm particular about drive/ distortion more than anything else when it comes to guitar.

The 510 enabled me to activate a pair of drive modules simutaneously, it was the device which triggered my understanding of a cascading drive concept which liberated my playing tremendously because more drive means:

• less effort needed for picking: less lethargy = less mistakes
• harmonics can be triggered easily

However the trade off here is the increase in background noise & single coil pickup hum; which Zoom duly addressed by incorporating a noise reduction feature. So the 510 triggered my interest in noise reduction as well.

However, the 5XX series evolved to become Zoom's G-series today simply because of its waning popularity- players still deem the rotary control ('knob' to the rest of us) a critical pedal feature as this enables immediate authority when it comes to tweaking.

Seymour Duncan: Pickup Booster

Seymour Duncan, a primary guitar pickups manufacturer, makes great pedals as well. My first Duncan pedal is this red wonder here which is a pickup booster but it is specifically meant for single coil units more than any other pickup types. Humbuckers would only benefit from one of its three modes on offer as these pickups are inherently fat in certain frequencies so a voicing make-over by this pedal would yield a poor difference.

As mentioned above, I employ this pedal when playing my Strats. Single coil pickups are great for solos but they aren't high output by default to generate a certain saturation level in overdrive mode. They are also too protrusive in the upper frequencies so for those of us who peddle bass notes in certain songs, the tone generated would be too shrill.

Please do not go away after reading this entry thinking the Duncan PU Booster converts the average single coil into a humbucking thumper- no. It merely boosts selected frequencies to fatten up the tone for it to rival the latter pickup type. Be assured that the twang in your single coils are kept in tact after all that boosting.

Artec: Analog Delay

I've never been a fan of the delay effect; I dislike bits of my playing to trail off, to me it's simply annoying. I prefer reverb to delay but as it is, my Epihone Valve Jr amp is devoid of any other feature save for a volume knob. This is the very reason why Artec's SE-ADL made it into my effects line-up.

I set it up to propagate a reverb-like effect which is possible with any other effects unit/ brand name for that matter but the SE-ADL is a simple unit to mess with & it gets my vote in the affordability department. Nevertheless, the Biyang delay which I tried recently gives this pedal a run for its worth in every aspect.