Rockett: Archer

The weekend was spent discovering this pedal. It's an Archer (by Rockett), a drive cum boost unit. The limelight here is that it's a replica of the acclaimed Klon Centaur which is a discontinued unit. The Archer so to speak, is perpetuating the drive-treble boost function of the Centaur which isn't a fresh attempt to do so because there were others before the Archer, EHX's Soul Food is an example.

The Archer was an absolute cracker with my Marshall JCM800 (1W) even when it's pushing dirt before the amp's preamp section (ie, not via a loop connection). I have limited applications for it as a stand-alone drive source because it's not an intense type pedal, so it's made to boost some of my other pedals as well: Butah (CMatmods)/ OD1X (BOSS)/ Metal Muff (EHX). The Archer benefits from another mild/medium drive type pedal casding into it. The Metal Muff is a little excessive for the Archer, the latter has no progressive result in terms of furthering the former's drive capacity. The top end was excessive but lowering the Archer's treble response to cure the situation is as good as saying a treble booster shouldn't manifest too much treble- duh! There was also excessive hissing so it wasn't an enjoyable pairing.

The objective of employing the Archer is to add saturation where it matters so any mild-type drive units would benefit from this consideration. Bear in mind that the Archer will not turn the average Tube Screamer-type pedal into a heavy metal serving- this won't happen. The Archer increases the saturation of those pedals & add some clarity for a killer lead break. You'd appreciate those extra top end if you are playing in a band context, playing a lone at home, you might hear yourself being a little sharp at times but that happens because you are dealing with a treble booster- if you are using a bass boost, shouldn't you hear more bottom end?

How the Archer looks like with the base plate removed. I'm running it on batteries in the mean time.

I like everything about this pedal & wouldn't want it to be something it's not. My only gripe- these tiny screws used to secure the base plate. As it is with small stuff, they have a higher potential to go missing & slip out of one's grip. These are not to be removed in dark performance venues, definitely.