BearFoot 4knob Model H Initial reviews / research

[Donner]

[amp boy]

HIGH FIVE DONNER !!!!!

damn i'm on repeat.
i gotta make more dosh, as the kids say.

[voxdefiant]

I'm very, very impressed, if not blown away with 4H. The adjustment of the TONE and TREBLE knobs makes the pedal sound much more complex than the three knob sounded to my ears.
To me, I hear these pedals becoming more, and more amp like, which I think is a big deal, because they were already amp like! I was trying the 4H through my 68 Twin reverb, with a 62 reissue SG.
I would have played all day with it, as I was super enjoying the sounds, but my naggy downstairs neighbor was pounding on my ceiling communicating displeasure. The superlative tone of the 4h is evidenced by that displeasure.
I used to own a 69 Hiwatt 50 watt, (don't ask why I sold it. Big mistake) and this gets close, close, close. I was enjoying the subtle variations of turning the TONE, and TREBLE 10 oclock'ish and fine tuning them slightly off from each other.
Complex, amp-like. Laney Supergroup Like. Laney Klipp like. Old Marshall Like. Old Hiwatt Like. I was playing riffs from Led ZEP III, and early Black Sabbath, and 4H sounded great.
I am totally into this pedal. Also can be adjusted to sound like Danzig 1. I hope this is giving some idea of the sounds of the 4H. My initial impression is that I very much prefer it to the 3 knob.
More later, and I apologize for not being a great communicator, just trying my best to express! Looking forward to hearing from the smart 4H owners!-Tim

[Joeleo]

So Donner, I'm auditioning the 3-knob Model H right now. How much more treble is available with the 4-knobber? Or maybe a better question is: where would the treble knob be set to match the tone of the 3-knob version? I find myself really loving the pedal but wishing for more bite.

[cajone5]

So Donner, I'm auditioning the 3-knob Model H right now. How much more treble is available with the 4-knobber? Or maybe a better question is: where would the treble knob be set to match the tone of the 3-knob version? I find myself really loving the pedal but wishing for more bite.

Well this thing has teeth that's for sure. Lot of clang to it and tons of treble on tap.



Guitar: 2003 Fender Strat w/ '56 pickups
Pedal: Model H v4 (MHv4 / 4H)
Amp: Retro Channel RR1 through a Mesa 2x12 with vintage 30's -- set at the edge of light breakup

So more impressions -- just a note I haven't gotten much into the treble and tone knobs yet. I found I like the tone high (maxed) and treble fairly low (9-11 o'clock) for the most part and stuck there and tweaked the gain to get a feeling for the range and effects. And my thoughts are...

There is a decent amount of range on the gain knob but as touched on in some previous threads I think I'd like to see more on the lower end. Above noon it all sort of sounds the same and the pedal loses some of the clarity that make it unique above that point. It gets kind of cluttered up and overwhelmed above that point. After spending more time with the pedal I mostly liked the gain between fully CCW and about 10 o'clock. From 10-12 it's still good for some heavier distortion but beyond that it was more gain than my amp seemed to like. My favorite thing about the pedal so far is its dynamic touch sensitive distortion. On almost any setting if I either back off on the volume or just lighten my picking (sometimes barely touching the strings at higher gain levels) I can get the pedal to almost completely clean up. Even my HBOD (BEEST) isn't as dynamic. Very cool and very fun.

I'm going to do a little more playing with the treble and tone knobs tomorrow to see if I can get a fatter less bright sound out of this thing. Will check in tomorrow with more

[Donner]

So Donner, I'm auditioning the 3-knob Model H right now. How much more treble is available with the 4-knobber? Or maybe a better question is: where would the treble knob be set to match the tone of the 3-knob version? I find myself really loving the pedal but wishing for more bite.

It goes a little down and a lot up --- if the 3 is too dark - the 4 treble set at about 9oclock is the 3treble ----- the 4 almost has too much treble up for me - I doubt it will ever go above noon in my rig, but I dont ever want to hear anyone say the 4 is too dark

But you can turn the treble up all the way and turn the tone down and get another type of sound - and then mix in between those type tones ...... versatile

[Donner]

... a few got a sneak peak of this video......

But heres Pete Thorns' vid and it does the 4H and the DRD which gives a good reference ...

[thiscalltoarms]

My MH4 landed today and I just got done checking it out for an hour or so. Tried my SG, my LP, and my ASAT through my Shiva and my Fender Vibro Champ. I found that I liked the treble knob below noon. Sometimes even below 9:00. The tone knob I like all over but I liked it up higher generally.

This thing has a ton of gain but I didn't really jive with it for leads. Too compressed for my taste in lead tones. But it sounds absolutely monstrous for chords. Exceptional clarity, immense arena rock chords. Saturated compressed explosive chords. They just sound f$*+ing huge.

As far as gain, I wouldn't use past 1:30 on gain dial and I would definitely be into lower gain tones. I loved at the 9:00 and below more for leads. The compression is really not my thing though. I must confess I've never rocked a hiwatt. Is the compression a big part of the tone?

[rockeroo]

You arena rockers like the tone knob cranked ... very interesting. I was using all of the knobs between 9 and 10 with an AC30 and a strat.

What to do next?!?

[Donner]

Right - the treble knob was the internal trim on the last BJF MH v2t .... it is preset on the 3kH at about 9 oclock and matches up well to the other BearFoot drives ----- but there were numerous requests for less gain/compression and more treble, and just a couple who said it was too bright.

So the 4H is for those who almost loved the H

We dialed back the distortion and compression just a bit on the lowest gain setting and with the tone/treble knobs you can cover more ground....

And the most important knob on the 4H is the guitars volume knob --- it rides gain especially well this way....

But it still may have too much gain for some people , and if you dont want to use the guitar volume then you probably would prefer the Beest or RedHot....

taking much more gain out really starts to change the pedal into something else.....

so hope the 4H makes some more folks happy ....