Flametop Impressions

[Eskimo_Joe]

Hi everybody! Donner let me borrow his flametop for a week (thanks Donner!) so I thought I would provide my impressions.

These are quick hits vs. a comprehensive review.

-- Equipment used: LP, strat, tele through MP CS-40 and a tweed super

-- Overall, cut to the chase: I think this is a great pedal. I played it for 2+ hrs the night I got it and then played it exclusively thoughout the week. Normally, I use a wide variety of pedals through the week, but I was content to hang with the Flametop. It sounded great with everything I played through. I would put it in the "work horse" category...the type of pedal if you could only take one OD with you.

-- Light overdrive? If I wouldn't have known it was a "light overdrive" I wouldn't have described it that way. It's got plenty of gain in my opinion. While it doesn't have as much gain as pedals like the LGW and the Sky Blue, it still has a good dose.

-- Honey Bee Comparison? The Flametop doesn't remind me of the Honey Bee. While it is a great pedal, it doesn't have the same type of magic/vibe/"it" factor that the Honey Bee has in my opinion. That's not to take anything away from the Flametop. It's just different.

-- BJF comparisons Overall, I don't feel the Flametop represents a huge sonic difference from existing BJF OD's. It's different, but not way different. That's fair though, there's only so many ways to slice the pie.

-- Tone / Music styles I think it's just a great all-around OD. Does choppy rhythm ala Keef really well. Does blues really well. Alt country stuff oozes out of it. Even got some good raw punk tones from it. It's a bit more clear / open sounding than other BJF OD's to me. It's EQ'd very well. I found the whole dial useable. That said, the EQ was not as flexible/magical compared to the Nature knob on the Honey Bee for instance.

-- Suggested changes? None, I think it's great as is. I think it will have broad appeal.

-- Parting thought: I hope I get a chance to have one of these!

[analoghog]

thanks for the review EJ.....does it have alot of volume/boost on tap ?...

[Eskimo_Joe]

thanks for the review EJ.....does it have alot of volume/boost on tap ?...

yes, compared to my baby blue and honey bee, same relative range as the other od's i think

[cabo]

Gentlemen(and ladies if there are any here?), sorry for the delayed review.
Been trying to find one of those 32hr a day clocks VacuumVoodoo once mentioned.

Anyhow the Flametop seems to have a place in the line up.
As far as HBee comparisons, the Flametop has a touch more drive, and a good bit more treble, more like the HBDelux. At least the FLT seems to have more gain as the drive sounds eqed a little higher which may make it easier to hear in the mix of things.

The FLT also has a lot less bass, isn’t as compressed or spongy/saggy feeling as HB. It gives it a crisper, clearer sound and not that surrounded feeling that sometimes the HB leaves you with.
It does have those dynamic digging in qualities that the HB has.

I would say it is the least coloring bjf/mp drive. Not much compression happening at all and the added treble really doesn’t come in until Tone knob is around noon, neither does the gain that actually cuts thru.

The tone knob like most bjfs has an interesting role. Set full CCW or below noon it is very hard to get any distortion out of it. Once you start turning up the Tone knob you not only get added treble but added distortion and the ability to make it distort a lot easier. So with Drive maxed and Tone full CCW you wont find much gain coming thru, even if you really hit hard.

I tried to compare with some other bjfs that were close,,,with the drive and tone maxed on the FLT it sounded relative to the SYOD with Drive @12, Treble @10.

Loved it with neck HB pickups. Tight bass response, never got mudded out or out of control with open chords. It added a perfect level of treble that sometimes is missing out of my neck pickups.

As non coloring as it seemed the one thing I didn’t like was a fuzz before it. I thought it might add some sustain/boost, but really cuts the hair out of the fuzz with everything I tried it with, even with the Tone maxed on the FLT.
But, it does have the same great effect running into a SWFuzz that the HB has, makes it stingier and adds some gain , which I always thought the older SWF could use.

My preferred setting would be
Volume 11(which btw seemed much less touchy than other bjf volumes, still plenty on tap)
Drive 11
Tone 9-11
I wasn’t really looking to change my sound with this pedal, just enchance it which it seemed to do well.If I was going to run the FLT with Drive maxed, I would probably just choose a different pedal.

Guitars and amp used: SolowaySwans HB and P92 pickups, CS-40 amp. The amp I had set very clean,, then pushed it a little and found the FLT worked its magic a little better into a amp that’s already on the edge.
I would say if you like your sound already and wanted to enhance it slightly with treble option and a dynamic low gain response, this would be a good candidate.

[analoghog]

....Thanks Cabo!....i gotta find me one of these !!!

[seans]

Me too!! Sounds really good! Thanks for the great reviews guys.