Model Ht - Research Review Repository

[Donner]

Proud owner of a big chip in my HT!
Still sound just as good... on the bright side. Always look on the bright side of life...

what happened ?

[jdandry]

No idea. brought it to a friends to let him check it out. Thought I was real careful but between the car and the band room floor.

[cajone5]

This is LONG overdue as the MHvT has already moved on to a new owner, however here is my review...

First, I have owned all three versions of the pedal - v1, v2, and vT. I have enjoyed them more and more as the design has progressed as the gain seems to smooth out and the EQ becomes more friendly (less low mid hump). v1 seemed to have a bit too much bite and treble for my strat and sounded somewhat harsh and clangy with my setup. Although to be fair, I typically ran it with the distortion past 12 o'clock which I've since learned is not where I prefer it for this pedal. Anyway, you live and learn but the first one moved on quite quickly because it just didn't sit well with my amp and guitar.

I received a v2 a couple months later from custom-sounds (I think) and found that one to be much more pleasing to my ear. The gain was smoother and you could get that kind of liquid lead infinite sustain with the tone turned down and the drive up. It was very smooth and I really liked it a lot, however, I sold it once I found out I was one of the "chosen few" to get a crack at the new Model HvT. I had no intentions on selling at the time because I really liked the pedal and loved it for leads and driving the HBOD with it but I figured since I had the opportunity at the vT which had the same circuit with one extra feature (the treble trimmer) I should let that one go.

Finally, I got the Model HvT in the mail and no sooner did I get it than I heard there was a trim pot "upgrade" available if I sent it back to Donner who would in turn send it back to BJ to replace the trimmer with one with more range (I think?). Anyway, a couple weeks later Donner shipped it back and it got lost in the mail after resurfacing a little over a month later I finally got to plug my new and improved MHvT in. However, during the time away I had replaced my Dr. Z Carmen Ghia with a Fender Twin and a THD Flexi 50. In addition, I picked up a nitro DRD in that break and have really become attached to it. Anyway, I was recently finally able to sit down with the pedal and really put it through its paces and here are my thoughts...

First of all, I cannot tell you another pedal I've ever tried that has the distortion characteristics of the Model HvT. It's a unique sound that really seems to give some rumbling distortion to the lower frequencies and some "clang" to the upper. It is very dynamic although at minimum gain it still has a decent amount of clipping going on. With the treble trimmer and tone knob you can take it from amp on the edge of explosion face-melting kind of distortion to bluesy saggy drive (different than the HBOD "sag" but still a "sag" in the low freq's). With the treble rolled off and the tone at minimum you can get a fuzzy smooth distortion sound. With the treble up and tone up it goes to a biting distortion (not as "sharp" as the SYODv1 but in that vein). There is a ton of volume on tap and I never really pushed the pedal above about 10 o'clock on the volume knob with unity at around 8:30 or 9:00. An interesting thing is that there wasn't very much volume change with added distortion which is a fantastic feature (i.e. the drive and volume knobs are nearly independent).

My favorite setting: Volume just above unity (9:00), drive at 9:00, tone maxed and treble trimmer at about 75% (i.e. maxed then back off about a quarter turn). This gave a very dynamic distortion with quite a bit of bite in the top end and some sag in the bottom. The distortion interacted very well with the volume at this setting while still giving plenty of sustain and gain with the volume knob on the guitar maxed.

Why did I decide to sell? Well it's one of those issues of having too many toys at the moment. I decided that I would A/B the DRD and MHvT with my new rig and see what I ended up liking best. I didn't like the previous DRD that I got from custom-sounds with my old rig but I saw an older nitro one at a good price and figured I'd give it another shot with the new amps. Anyway, it sounds great and I like the tightness of it as a contrast to the HBOD's saggy loose feel. So I prefer it to the DRD to the MHvT for my board because it provides more of a tonal opposite to the HBOD. I really would like to keep it and if I were to try to use only one or 2 drive pedals, this one has the versatility to really do it all if need be. It'll be missed but if it isn't going on the board I am selling it as I, ultimately, would like to shape "my sound" which (sadly) cannot include EVERY BJFe drive or I'd be broke

[musicsoma]

Well I am certainly glad you decided to part with it. It arrived yesterday, and while I have only had a few minutes to play with it, I was blown away by the dynamics of the pedal. It is so responsive in terms of attack. It also really cleans up nicely by rolling back the volume as stated in previous posts. I can't wait to spend some serious time with this one!

[rockeroo]

I will be testing my new Model H #070 for the first time later on today. I was able to land the mystery-filled box several days ago. I hope to thoroughly audition it with several amps and guitars over the next week. Then, I will be able to find what all the fuss is about!

Great fun to be had!

[thesjkexperience]

This is a bit weird, but one of my favorite stacks has become MH > MHvT! I have the MH at 12V and the vT at 9 V. THe MH is a bit above unity volume and the Drive is between 7 and 9 o'clock. The MHvT is also just above unity volume and the Drive is around 10 - 11. Tone knob is at noon on both pedals.

Which trimmer are you using? The first or the brighter one?

I havent touched the trimmer yet, but I did get it used, so I dont know if it is stock or not. I do play Strats and T-Style guitars only, so the treble isnt through the roof. I am now wondering if going MvT > MH would be a better stack. I just put a Fulltone 70 small box fuzz on my board so the MH is off. I will give that a try tomorrow.

Tonight someone dropped off a '39 Martin D-18 that is totally stock! But, 30 minutes in I think I prefer my '06 D-18 Authentic. Lucky me!

[Joeleo]

Tonight someone dropped off a '39 Martin D-18 that is totally stock!

[musicsoma]

I spent some time with the trimmer tonight. My favorite setting at the moment is Trimmer full CCW, Tone around 4 o'clock, and Drive anywhere between 9 and 10 o'clock. I was playing through a Fender 40th Anniversary Telecaster into a 1966 VOX AC30 Super Twin. I think because this particular Tele is so bright (a la Keith Urban), the low Trim setting really helped bring some warmth to the bottom end. The tone set higher seemed to bring out the clarity, so I ended up with a really balanced sound. For me, it almost gave the feeling of running parellel signals... one clean and one with some dirt. Another way to describe it is more "three-dimensional".

That said, I also really enjoyed the previously posted setting by Cliff. I know it's been said so much, but there is really nothing else like this pedal. At Cliff's recommended settings, the guitar felt like it was playing itself in a very unusual but fun way due to the incredible dynamics. The only way I can describe it is sort of like playing on 9 gauge strings after playing on 10s forever. You may find yourself playing in ways you wouldn't have previously thought of or expected. Similarly, when other members have described this pedal sound as "jangley" or "loose", this is sort of how 9 gauge strings feel to me after living in 10 world. While I loved this second setting in my office/music room, I think it may get a little thin in a live setting. I will be playing it live tomorrow and will experiment with both settings mentioned and report back.

[musicsoma]

I played the MHvT live today and had a blast. I used Cliff's setting on the trimmer and knobs. I was running a GVCG 63 Telecaster (a darker take on a Tele... more Les Paul like) on the front end, and my chain ended at a 1966 Fender Blackface Vibro Champ. Honestly it was so well balanced... biting, growling rock in a box. I also took the suggestion of some and stacked it by running the MHvT into my HBOD Dlx. I set the Nature knob of the Honey Bee around 9 o'clock to give it a little darker sound and warmer low end. This was a nice complement to the MHvT and really rounded out the bottom end. Ironically, I A/B this 2 pedal stack next to my BJFE Little Green Wonder, and it was uncanny how similar some of the tones were (at least with a mic on my amp then through our big sanctuary sound system). This was certainly unexpected, and I was quite surprised.

I was leading the musical worship at my church this morning and playing more rhythm guitar. I found I used the HBOD as my base overdrive tone then kicked on the MHvT during the choruses to bring in more dynamics and an overall bigger sound. Layering the dirt in this way really allowed for huge builds.

[thesjkexperience]

musicsoma, have you tried the MH V1? Teles and V1 are a great match as well! Not that vT is any slouch though!