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Did you miss the superbowl?
By KenBJammen on Feb 8, 2010 | In Fun, Sports | Send feedback »
Did you miss the superbowl, or the superbowl comments.
Check out the Burlap and Blues recap:
Wrapping up the search for the ultimate overdrive, conclusion
By KenBJammen on Feb 5, 2010 | In Welcome | Send feedback »
Although my search will always continue for the ultimate overdrive and distortion pedal, I will discuss today the Overdrive and Distortion pedals that I have kept and found a home for on my pedal boards.
The one effect that I have that I base the rest of my distortion pedals is the Keeley Mod DS-1. The mod takes the harshness out while adding more harmonics. This pedal has a moderate amount of distortion available to it and has 2 different clipping modes. A very versatile pedal and one that I would like to secure a backup for at some point in the near future.
Wrapping up the search for the ultimate overdrive part 1
By KenBJammen on Feb 4, 2010 | In Reviews | Send feedback »
For the last week and one half I have been reviewing overdrive pedals that I have owned. I will be wrapping up this series of reviews with the pedals that just did not find their way onto my permanent pedal board that I have not reviewed with a quick reason why I did not keep them. Some of these pedals are really bad, and some are not bad at all, just never stayed around. Tomorrow I will run down the remainder of the pedals that I have kept.
Boss unmodified HM-3
By KenBJammen on Feb 3, 2010 | In Reviews | Send feedback »
The latest pedal in my pedal arsenal is the Boss HM-3. According to Boss Area The HM-3 Hyper Metal replaced the HM-2, 1993. Until the release of the MD-2, 2001, the HM-3 was the distortion pedal with the highest gain. The controls are the same as on the HM-3 and the design goals remained unchanged; create a powerful hard-edged sound with powerful sustain with more accurate dynamic response. The MT-2 Metal Zone had been released 2 years earlier and the the HM-3 never managed to get out of the MT-2s shadow and was discontinued 1999.
Serious high gain is the name of game with this pedal, with deep lows and the ability to get too much high if you are not careful. This pedal in my opinion is less fizzy than a stock DS-1, but can get fizzy if you are not careful with your settings.
Here is a sound clip of the HM-3 from clean to very heavy distorted.
Source http://burlapandblues.com/uploads/boss_hm3-sample.mp3
I am not sure if I will be keeping this on my board or not. If I do I will make sure that it is in a loop that can be easily switched on and off as this, like all high gain distortion pedals can be very noisy.Boss BD-2, unmodded
By KenBJammen on Feb 2, 2010 | In Reviews | 1 feedback »
The next pedal that I will review, is a pedal that I owned and lent to someone and never got back. For me, the Boss BD-2 was a great introduction pedal into what a good overdrive can sound like into a tube amp if everything is set up right.
As it's name suggests, the Blues Driver can get a really bluesy tone coming from it when placed in front of a decent tube amp. With creamy overtones with the distortion set up, it can add some great harmonic overtones to your guitar tone. The biggest let down with this pedal is the lack of range with the tone control It is very hard to dial in a good tone, and when I purchased this pedal, it was suggested that I purchase a graphic EQ and place both of them in a switched loop to get the best tone. I did not purchase an EQ nor did I keep this through a loop which probably is why I lent this pedal to someone. I really do not care that this pedal is gone, because it is not really as good as it could be unmodified. I hear there are several good mods for this effect to make a better tone but sometimes it is not worth the work to get a pedal like this modded when better things are out there....
I would probably never purchase another Boss Blues Driver unless I found one with a mod that was pretty reasonable.
