melodichaotic wrote:Hi,
Just wanted to chime in my long overdue feedback here for the FD. I was mainly running it through a '94 Matchless DC-30 Head and 2x12 cab(both channels which are very different), no master volume, so lots of clean headroom.
Was also mainly playing a Les Paul R58 w/ stock pu's. I also had the HBOD and SHOD to compare.
What I found immediately with the FD was the voicing was very reminiscent of a couple of Supro combos I used to own. That hollow, stinging, honk that would sound great for tracking to give layered guitars more dimension. Kind of in the vein of the opening riff and ending solo of, "Houses of the Holy" from Physical Graffiti.
The more I listened, I heard a resonant peak that's present throughout the tone sweep that's responsible for this sound.
Overall I found through my set-up, that the FD has a lot more bottom end than either the HB or SHOD, yet less overall mid-range emphasis(except for the resonant peak). It also sounds more linear to my ears(in a good way) and, closer to the SHOD as far as feel--more immediate and reactive, unlike the HB's signature sag.
My take on it through a clean set-up(I had been sick for a while and wanted to use it with my smaller combos, and Orange OD 120, for different applications, but didn't want to hold up the Tour-box), was that I was missing a third knob for control over the gain.
I do love the simplicity, but I found it had the least gain of all three, but still enough grit to not be considered a straight-up booster.
To this end, I was fond of the unique voicing enough to want to use as more of a tone shifter/shaper, like adding another channel on an amp without adding any grit, AND be able to have it grind quite a bit more(still in overdrive territory), to be used outright as a different flavor of dirt.
Nicely detailed review mc !!!
I would agree , it has multiple uses and would be a go to 'stack improver' for me
I wonder if that resonant peak is controllable if not a knob then a 3 pos switch ??
Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 12:49 pm