Cliff Hanger Distortion review?

[Donner]

...yeah I think most people are shocked the first time they try and close mic themselves....
most of us are used to hearing our rigs from some distance afterr its bounced off walls and floors etc ...

especially if you use an open back cab that throws bass out t he back to be reflected off a wall - you lose all that when you close mic - but you also get a clearer idea of what you are doing.....

this is also why some people are shocked when the pedals they use dont work in other rigs with different speakers - they arent really hearing the pedal naked enough to know what its really doing to thier sound......

one way is multi micing use a close mic to get some crunch and immidiacy and use a room mic to get the full sound and mix them to approximate what you are really wanting to hear.......


another good micing trick is to put a mic at ear level about where you stand to get the sound you like - then the recorder is hearing what you are........

yup Speaker and Mics can change just about any part of an amplified sound.....

[Donner]

oh anyone who was really into getting this pedal ...

http://tonesafari.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=735

[williamh]

really wanted to try it out but unfortunately don't have any custom shop pedals to trade, nor is he going to sell it to me. Alas.

[cabo]

Ok sorry to leave you folks hanging, in case you were wondering about this one,,,,
Gear used:
Strat and LP>CS-40>4x12(2 Private Jacks, 2 Red Fangs)

Circumstance:
Played at high volume in a residential area, full band set up.

General:
If you like to rock, here ya go. Tons of volume and tons of gain available.
Eq?d extremely well to handle high distortion.

Evaluation and Comparison:
CH vs DRD,,,the CH a little more compressed, no where near as dynamic in pick attack, but will clean up decently with rolling back the guitars vol.
It does have a lot more gain and vol. than the DRD, also the CH has more low mids coming thru although still plenty of the high end even with a lot of gain set in the CH.

CH vs R,, same sort of low and mid attack/punch, and same type of volume taper, comes on quick?,the CH has more gain and a more complex depth to its distortion all. About the same amount of compression when its maxed on gain.
R is overall cleaner sounding.

CH vs MRD,,, made the MRD seem like it was missing some ass end,,sounded a bit small in comparison. Again the CH has way more volume and more gain available. The MRD much more up front in the upper mids and treble

Overall the CH seems more suited for heavy distortion and high gain settings,,,,hold distorted chords whether they are power, jazz or open positions very well,, theres no odd things happening harmonically, very true to what you hit.

Stacking:
I tried stacking it with just about everything,,, stands really well by itself, I actually prefered it this way. Didn?t really need any compensation on either side of it as I would usually stack to achieve this sound.
Seems made for heavy distortion.
The closest thing I could find comparable in sound was the PPF into DRD stack.
I did try PGC , SBEQ, RRB, BPB as well with it,,,again seemd better working alone,,maybe would add the BPB if there is along chain of effects added for the boost and buff.

Type of Music:
I always would try to use any pedal in every situation although for most people its probably more suited for Rock n Roll, heavier rock, even metal. It did well with both single coils and HB?s, although was really fun with the LesPaul, which I usually don?t play.
Also does the metal hard chunk rhythm really well, very percussive, sings away with solos too. Great for not having to stomp other pedals on/off in between solos and rhythm.

Suggestions:
More gradual taper in the vol knob. Gets loud really quick, but maybe that?s part of it. nothing else off hand.

Summary:Surely a keeper,,,it is a welcome addition as it does cover different ground than the current stand alone bjf distortions.
Simplified 2 knobber , great for for rockin heavy distortion.

heres a pic, really hard to capture various texture and color on screen but here ya go,

thanks again to EJ for the outline, Blocaster for doing a good deed, and BJ and Donner for making this one.

[williamh]

man, I'd love to get my hands on one of these. hey donner, has BJ made any mention of putting any more of these together?

[Robapov]

i know! I LOVE Bjorns high gain wonders....mmm CAF time

[Donner]

Yeah I made a small batch of these boxes , this one kind of got forgotten abit as it didnt get reviewed til now - no feedback ~ no R and D thanks guys for getting this rolling again maybe it can get its place in line again

and nice pic Cabo - thats better than I could get... Wall of Rock it is

[Eskimo_Joe]

This pedal is #1 on my wish list. I was fortunate to be able to borrow one that Donner has and it is just a ball breaker. I think when people learn the inspiration behind the design, it will be in high demand.

[cabo]

A brief follow up after some more time with it….
Ive been trying it with some greenbacks and V30’s with equally nice results as well. Great rock and roll tones to be had. I don’t really have access now to anything but a few celestions and eminence which are covering similar grounds.

Ive been going thru its distortion range a bit more other than maxed.
Still some distortion even with gain all the way down, not matter how lightly I pick. Fattens up everything kinda like a nice pre would. Still didn’t need much vol(below 11) even with distortion set low.
Plenty of vol and gain on tap for most needs, one thing Id wish for would be the ability to get a cleaner tone if desired, but considering it’s a hard rock pedal there would be no need.

Rolling back on the guitar vol at min. dist. settings cleaned it up but ends up loosing too much vol to get a strong clean sound. I have to end up using more pedal volume.
Rolling back the guitar vol with gain maxed keeps the fullness, but has a good bit of noise even when not playing any notes. Less noise could be a possible improvement here.
Although I still would tend to deal with the noise and leave it set on a higher distortion settings and work the guitar vol from there as its not nearly as noticeable with the rest of the band in.
After all with this pedal Im after heavy distortion and expect some noise with that amount of gain.

Distortion set around noon still yields a great deal of distortion. Nice area to work with guitars volume knob as it’s a better compromise between dist and vol.
Great for crunchy heavy rhythm tones. Distortion set at noon will also still cut for leads. It starts to get a little noisy above this. Also the volume becomes really sensitive with the distortion cranked,,,not much room for error.

Basically Ill use it for two applications.. one being set with distortion maxed out for those rock god moments and anytime I need a heavy sound.
And two being set with minimum distortion and used to beef up my strat.
It’s a nice raw sound and feel, not too much compression, not too much openness. I Hate to say it, but its like a little amp with only a vol and master vol .

One other great thing about this pedal is that it seems to eat any wah I throw at it. Maybe no tone knob plays a role in this but its doing high gain w/wah really well my SupaQ, RMC’s and Crybabys all sounded great thru it. I find heavy distortions or fuzz usually ended up cutting something off where as here I haven’t noticed any substantial loss in the wah tone.

Also I noticed that the chip inside seems removeable? Is it set up to try other chips in it? Im not a chip swap guy but thought I would ask anyhow.

[Eskimo_Joe]

Thanks Cabo! It's good to get some discussion going on this one. It's still on top of my list of desired pedals from the time I got to borrow Donners. Rock on!