HX/DA And A Few Retro-Style Pedals

[László]

It's been about five weeks since the HX/DA arrived, and the amp has been getting lots of good work done in my studio. It's breaking in nicely - maybe it's breaking me in nicely as well - and already it feels like it's been my main piece of gear forever. In fact, it's led me to rethink what I'm using on the ol' pedalboard. And right now, I'd say I'm rollin' pretty retro; I've rediscovered how great a wah, univibe, and fuzzface sound together, especially with a vintage style amp like this one. It's been a while since a fuzz has graced my pedalboard!

My only sonic concession to modernity is a digital delay, that's there simply because clients request stuff utilizing more than simple delays fairly often. Everything else is straight off the WABAK Machine (though I do use modern versions of these pedals, because my originals died many, many years ago).

I don't feel a need to use an OD with this rig, because the amp delivers such great overdriven tones in such huge variety! And the rig sounds blissful with both the A-V and SC58 guitars. The amp is so versatile, but the fuzz adds a nice touch of mayhem - or when I clean it up by rolling off the volume on the guitar, it adds some brightness and presence. But in any case there's that "gggroooschhh" of a fuzz through a Plexi that is so familiar, and heck, it's completely on demand! Love it!

It's not that the amp doesn't sound great with newer styles of pedals, it most certainly does. But it almost feels like these old fashioned pedals were designed for this amp. Perhaps they were...

 

[clcwarlock]

LSchefman, This is a great amp, I think it's the best one PRS makes. Id like to hear some of your clips somtime, i bet they sound great. I'll have one someda but. Trying not to be to greedy since I just got the P24.

 

[László]

LSchefman, This is a great amp, I think it's the best one PRS makes. Id like to hear some of your clips somtime, i bet they sound great. I'll have one someda but. Trying not to be to greedy since I just got the P24.

I do love the amp. So far I've used it on my TV ad work, but the nature of the ads this past month was such that I didn't get to really showcase its iconic tones; I had to warp the tone with pedals. Fortunately it is so versatile that you can do that with no problem. Still, I'd like to do some recordings that show it off a little better and will post some links.

The P24 is awesome - enjoy it!

 

[László]

One thing about the combination of these vintage style pedals and why they work so well with this vintage style plexi configuration is the ADSR envelope of the amp itself, as well as the ADSR envelopes of the pedals. I think this is often overlooked by players.

Seems like the hard edge of a vintage style Fuzzface works really well with the amp, which by its nature has a longish envelope in the attack of the note (something that gives it a searing attack and tone that is just so classic in and of itself!). It's a very natural compliment to the amp's strengths and characteristics.

If, on the other hand, you're matching up an amp with a more percussive attack with a pedal that has a percussive attack, it's too much; you'd want something with a different ADSR envelope to compliment that amp. People often think that certain amps "take pedals" well, and others don't, and usually they'll give very clean amps as examples. With this I somewhat disagree. I think it's more a matter of whether a given pedal's characteristics match up with the characteristics of the amp itself, regardless of whether that amp is naturally clean or breaks up early. I like opposites for this purpose.