Thanks for your insight, Alan... Lots of interesting information there! I'm looking forward to checking it out...
*** Edit ***
The Humper landed in Houston today! I've just had a while to check it out thoroughly. My thoughts:
I decided to try the Humper out using my Dr. Z RxJr 1x12 combo, which is loaded with a Blue. It's set up to have a Voxy clean and Marshally grind when it's cranked and the Overdose (gain boost- engages the other half of the ef86) is used. The pedals I used are shown on the board in my sig... For guitars, I kept it down to a few:
Vintage 1962 Strat - all original, pickups on the hot side.
ES335 - stock, w/ '57 Classics
PRS McCarty - stock
NoCaster - stock
First I tried each guitar into the Humper, then straight to the amp, both clean and dirty...
* Strat - this was a really cool sound! The pickups in this Strat are on the hotter side, so I was getting some fat snarl and bite with the Humper, when the amp was dirty. It just seemed to make the sound poke through, with a lot more authority and um... Balls. I liked it.
It is definately a thickening agent! Much fun to be had here... With the amp set clean, the Humper added fatness and kind of darkened up the tone in a good way, without making mud happen. Actually, there was a subtle hint of breakup that was very nice when I had the Humper set at or above noon (where it lived for most of this review, btw). It didn't take away my chime, it just added complexity to it. Really nice....
* ES335 - this combo was also a winner. I tended to like the bridge and middle settings most. I found the neck pickup with the Humper to be a bit dark for my taste, though I can see people who are into "woman tone" soloing REALLY loving it. The 335's tones with the Humper always stayed clear, which impressed me. I was kinda expecting some flab, but it didn't really happen... With gain, the Humper made the 335 VERY fat and in-your-face. It was like I put down a sledgehammer and picked up a BIGGER sledgehammer! It also seemed to goose the distortion up a bit, without masking the amp's tone. Really cool. Clean was great again... The Humper took my already great sounding 335 and made it sound bolder, bigger and more piano-like without dulling the sparkle. It made pretty arpeggio things and jazzy chords sound fantastic!
* NoCaster - absolutely nothing to complain about here! The Humper just did what it does... made an awesome Tele sound meaner, fatter and punchier, without masking the tone of the guitar. I really liked it for clangy chords and solos.... It made me like the bridge pickup even better than I already do!
* McCarty - the Humper did very well with this guitar, too. I particularly liked the way it fattened up and brought to the front the coil tapped tones. I've always dug the split sounds, but often wish they were a bit bolder or had bit more muscle... Problem solved!
* Now for some pedal stacking! I found that placing the Humper before other pedals worked best for me. Placing the Humper last when stacking produced a very subtle effect on the tone, so the following impressions are based around that preference. The highlights:
* with SBEQ - WOW!!!! I LOVED these two together! Adding Humper's distinctive smooth, clear fatness to the already amazing SBEQ just took things to a whole new level. In fact, it was hearing these two together that sold me on the Humper. It completes my SBEQ in the same way my PGC does, only instead of adding spanky, sparkly chime, it added body and fat mids that were VERY complimentary. I want a SBEQ / Purple Humper combo pedal now. Lol.
* with the EGDM - I don't tend to set the gain very high on my EGDM... maybe 9-10 o'clock-ish. With the Humper engaged, it fattened the tone up a bit and gave it more snarl... More "Billy Gibbons" lol.... I liked it a lot.
* with the HBOD - basically the same results as above, as far as seeming to increase distortion and fatness. It'd be a good stacker with the Bee for solos, if I didn't already use my EGDM for that.
* with the CAF - I found the Humper useful to add fatness, because the tones I usually dial in with the CAF tend to be pretty bright. It was a good tool to tame that, or turn one CAF setting into two. Leads with the Humper off... rhythm with it on. Fun!
* with the PGC - now, my PCG and SBEQ are constant companions. Both are almost always on together. I thought since I liked the SBEQ and Humper combo so much, the combo of PGC and Humper might excite me too. It didn't. I'm not really sure why. Together, the two just sounded... a bit flat. I mean, it wasn't horrible... It just didn't work for me. Engaging the PGC after the Humper just seemed to kill some of the dynamics and liveliness of the tone. Placing the Humper after the PGC didn't knock me out either. The Humper seemed way too subtle. I also tried the Humper into the PGC then the SBEQ, but again, the PGC just took away some liveliness. So, Humper + SBEQ = amazing. PGC + SBEQ = angels singing. Humper + PGC = meh. Oh, well.... Lol.
Overall, I really like the Humper and have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to check it out. It's a fun pedal for sure.... I'd definitely snap one up, if I found a bargain. Or a Bearfoot...
Who's up next? PM me, and I'll toss it your way!
