I just came from listening to early ZZ records. While this pedal doesn’t make you an instant Billy, I can see it inspiring many to create their own tone and jams.
Best demo of this pedal, the El Hombre just became available at a time when I was looking for a Supro Drive which was out of stock everywhere, so I took a punt thinking I could always flip it when Supros were back in stock. Thing is, I like this so much I can’t see it coming off my board - ever. Great, responsive pedal, love my Teles with it, especially vintage output bridge pickups, loads of pinch harmonics on tap. Love it.
There is a Bogner pedal, La Grange, aiming at similar sounds, with more tweakability and versatility. Just to notify those interested. Your playing of La Grange made me reconsider my playing of it Kris - I realized it sucks - you make everything sound particularly good.
As a long time disciple of the Reverend Willie G, this pedal sounds sweet! I agree about wishing it had a bass control for the older ZZ Top tones. Think Brown Sugar or Neighbor Neighbor from their first album. Awesome demo and video as usual Kris!
Yeah, that's the kind of tone I was talking about when mentioning the bass control. To be honest though, it's an awesome sounding pedal the way it is so I'm fine with everything. :) Cheers!
Love the pedal, and the combinations of personalities: (Fender/Marshall/to almost Dumble at 7:20 ). Also love the fact that I'm not alone. I have 3 Fender-esque Stelly (Strat/Tele hybrid) guitars. I much prefer the Tele pickup in the bridge end of the guitar. I may not get the exact tone of the Strat in a 2nd position (Bridge+Middle), but close enough. Plus it has the inherent thin-ness of the Strat bridge pickup gives way to something with just a touch more authoritative...but still unmistakably...Fender twang. I have the .45 pedal, and now I'm bound to get this one as well. Oh yeah, and I usually play through a Fender 5G3 (Brown Deluxe) circuit. Lots of internet conjecture suggesting that was what Billy used on the first ZZ Top album. There used to be a vid of them in Germany (Rockpalast, the first time around) and it had Billy playing through, you guessed it -a Brown Deluxe. Sadly, that vid was taken down, even though there is a later performance at Rockpalast that is still viewable.
I love that saturated output stage tone! My favorite settings on amps with a master and a gain control is to keep the gain setting low and crank the master. If I can get that sound with this pedal and go easier on the output tubes in my amp, I'll be buying one! Thanks for the great demo!
Best review so far for this pedal, but you should describe your sound chain in this kind of video…. Just to have a better idea what’s really coming from the pedal itself 👍🏼
I really appreciate that, thanks! I always put all the gear that I’m using in the description box under the video. And for the most part was this: guitar - El Hombre - Revv Dynamis head - OX Box with a 2x12 cab simulation. Cheers!
Hey Shawn, what a nice surprise! Thanks buddy, it feels great playing this one. Btw I was watching you and Derek the other day. Really fun livestream! 😁
@@KrisBarocsi Thanks so much Kris! Yeah, that stream was a bit spur of the moment for sure as Derek just happened to be here in town and there was a snow storm going down in Canada.Thanks for watching it. It's truly beer and gear!
@@KrisBarocsi I'm not just blowing smoke. I think it boils down to Kris' phrasing and dynamics. I think Kris would do well as a session guy who was having to create fitting parts sometimes on the spot. Which is not a skill all musicians have.
@@The..Butterfly..Effect I have a video about my tele: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zPRCNB8YC_U.html The only things I don’t mention in that video are weight (3.2kg) and the action (high E: 1.5mm, low E: 1.8mm).
@@KrisBarocsi 51 nocaster pickups are underrated. The only thing I did not like was the nut... just because it's looks new... the nut is 42mm? The Dots are paint, plastic or clay ?
I noticed, no matter what piece of gear you present, there is always that upper mids "chirp". Something, I associate with classic Plexi Marshall sound (like Paul Kossoff style). Regardin power amp distortion, Im fan of amp, where you can get every stage properly working and sound is not too much "overproduced" along the way. Some power amp distortion brings that beautifull controlled feedback, where you can just turn towards your amp and let the guitar scream and then just turn away and let it calm down on its own. Makes me feel alive :D.
Thanks buddy! Those upper mids you’re talking about might come from the Revv and from me tweaking every piece of gear until it’s there. 😅 To me that’s an essential part of guitar tones.
@@KrisBarocsi you have that even on Thomans channel, when using different amp then Revv, haha. Thats your tonefinger sound, haha (in my brain, this is the frequency, that makes guitar audible in dense live mix). Other topic, carre to make "power amp distortion" episode?
Thanks for the nice video man! I bought this pedal and I really like it. It pairs awesomelly well with a Klon type before it, if you want to tighten the bass and play a Van Halen style sound. Really great and versatile. Sleeping on my board since I bought it, what is quite a feat 😂
Just ordered one…I have a decent collection of good guitars..I’m impressed with the bite on the tele…seems to take the bridge pickup to a perfect biting sound not ear piercing…but more treble Les Paul territory…very unique…I’m sure I’ll enjoy this one..through my tone king falcon grande…it does capture the Gibbons essence on most videos..great channel thanks🤙🏻🤙🏻
Very cool tone, sounds very distinctive. Hey, from a lower camera angle the action of your awesome Tele looks higher than I'd expect. Care to share the low E / high E action measurement? Just curious. 😅
I want one! I've been debating what kind of distortion pedal to get. I love an OD but they don't offer a bluesier tone, especially a "Texas blues" kind of thing, that I love; and Blues Drivers and the like take away some of the balls-out vibe of a straight OD. This pedal looks like it hits the mark!
You might do well with an MXR Super Bada$$ Distortion. It can totally do classic distortion, but does a SUPER good job of being a OD pedal. And the 3-band EQ allows you to crank the mids or whatever. Extremely versatile pedal.
This pedal sounds great and this is a superb demo. I really like how you played several guitars with it. For me, it is killer with your Tele. It’s great with the other guitars. But, Teles are king.
Hey, yeah it does sound very different depending on the pickups and (a pretty much always) I prefer the tone with singles. That being said the pedal does have a unique „cranked amp“ kind of tone with humbuckers which is pretty cool too.
The box sounds great though, as does the amp, as does those guitars, as do you :D overdrive pedals are fun but the amp does most of heavy lifting for those types of tones
If you wish more warmth, it’s on me. I had the bite up high with the Les Paul. If it’s around noon with a humbucker loaded guitar it’s super warm sounding actually.
