Cliff Hanger Distortion review?

[nichcope]

Wow, I don't think I can hear out of my left ear any more (90 minutes after playing, ear still hurts, hopefully will be better by tomorrow). 9 o'clock Cliff Hanger volume is pretty much 12 o'clock volume on my DRD. I tested this pedal out with that nervous feeling the whole time that the cops were going to show up again and give me the usual..........Are you Mr Guitar Guy?...Yes sir I am......Your neighbors called and said there was some really loud music playing.......Sorry sir, I won't do it again (then under my breath, until I have another pedal to test out).......What was that you said?.......It's a really beautiful day out today, good day to be protecting the neighborhood .......It sure is, try and keep that music down ok.......Will do, thank you have a good one.

Yes the conversation really has taken place multiple times at my house per loud amps and BJF pedals, luckily no tickets yet. Last one of those was in college for a noise violation, but that was for 100 loud drunk people, not 1 screaming guitar (which could probably rival the volume of 100's of drunk people )

Ok, back on track. This finish on the cliff hanger box is awesome, it is literally like someone carved it out of the wall of rock that it is, this pedal is rough and bad ass straight out of the box.

First gear that I tested it through was '60 Fender Vibrolux tweed amp recently serviced to sound extra nice This is a bright amp, not quite blackface bright, but almost. I gave the pedal the longest workout through this amp. Kept CH volume around 9 o'clock. 1st up strat with Kinman Woodstock plus (bright pups). As the distortion goes up on the Cliff Hanger, the treble goes up as well and with a bright amp I wouldn't really go past 12 o'clock on the distortion with any guitar that I tried it with (note: just with a bright amp, darker amp details coming up).

2nd up was G&L ASAT Classic (single coil bridge, neck humbucker). With the single coil bridge pup, didn't like to take it much past 10 o'clock on distortion. Neck pup, liked the distortion up until 11 o'clock.

3rd and 4th guitars were 90's Gibson ES-137 and mid 70's ES-335, stock pups on both. Pretty much same deal as the ASAT in terms of the settings, I liked bridge pup with distortion up to about 10 o'clock and neck pup with distortion up to about 11 o'clock.

Now here's where it gets freakin' awesome........it was time to give the custom made 5e3 a spin (Tweed Fender Deluxe Clone). This is a darker amp that breaks up early and sweetly and my oh my does it love the Cliff Hanger. I started with the strat and didn't even make it to the other guitars. I found the whole range of distortion usable from nothing to maxed out, it all sounded great. I pretty much knew this pedal was going to get used strat > CH > 5e3 from here on out, maybe the Tweed Bassman too, but that combo will surely initiate a call to the po po, so haven't tried it yet.

Haven't had a chance to try many stacks with it yet. Tried PGC > CH and that sounded great. Also with the Vibrolux, I went CH > HB (HB: V 9, N 7, D 4 and CH: V 9, D 10) and that gave a great crunchy distorted rock tone.

Improvement suggestions: I would say really the only improvement that I can think of would be a treble dial that would give me more usable range with a bright setup. At some point I'll give it a go with my SBEQ and maybe the CH > SBEQ with the SBEQ treble cut some will give me a wider range of usage. With a darker amp, no improvement needed, killer sound!!!!

Overall great pedal, tons of volume in that pedal, enough to feel it in the ears (2 hours now and still feeling it), usable distortion through any setup up to about 11 or 12 o'clock and through a darker amp there are no limits. Most likely I'll keep the CH set at V 9 D 10 for a solid classic rock distortion tone. When I want to dabble with a LOUD and heavy distortion sound, it's going to be dark amp and CH V 12 D 4.......watch out neighbors

Thanks for making another kick ass pedal!!!!!!!!

[Donner]

ding you got it ! thanks again for the detailed ride report ....

and absolutely CH >SBEQ into BF Fender ( also try it with the bass and treble controls most of the way down ~ effortless singing gilmour/johnson lead tones )

[TheWarmth]

Bonkers! This pedal sounds like something I'd really be interested in. Hopefully we'll see more from the customshop soon.

[cabo]

sounds like your having a blast nichcope,,someitmes I get the nervous knock at the door feeling too.
just curious which speaker you have in each amp?

[nichcope]

just curious which speaker you have in each amp?

Hey Cabo, definitely good times! I've got a 10" Ceramic Jenson C10Q replacement in the Vibrolux. In the Deluxe, I'm using a Weber Alnico Sig 12, which gets the job done nicely, but will probably upgrade on that one soon. Maybe you can hook me up with a suggestion for a replacement, little help please I'll start a new thread in the community forum about that, so this one doesn't get off track.

[analoghog]

well, i really haven't had the proper time with the CH to write a full review yet, but i will...been busy being Dad for the last week....but this is one bad-ass pedal !...the PGC>CH alone is awesome !!...i have a Strat >KT-66 JTM 45 > 4 x G12-30H's .....love the volume boost on this one....been using it with all pointers at the LED light...it seems to be the sweet spot so far, but i need more time with it....

[Eskimo_Joe]

Thanks for the reviews you guys, I have been lusting ever since I heard Donner's Cliffhanger and now it's even worse.

[analoghog]

.....well, i finally had some lengthy, quality time this week to spend with the new Cliff Hanger...here are my intial thoughts...

....i used two different rigs...Rig #1....my #1 Strat > CH > R > Sonic Titan > Re-issue JTM Offset w/KT-66 tubes > a mixed set of 1970's 4x12 w/ G12M 30H's 55Hz

....Rig #2....my #1 Strat > CH > R > Sonic Titan > Plexi 50w w/EL-34 tubes > 4x12 w/ matching 1972 G12M 30H's 55hz (014 bass cones)

....all right, i compared the CH to the BJFE model R and a D*A*M Sonic Titan for a distortion frame of reference that some of you might have had or do own now...first off, you'll find i compare the CH to the ST more often than the model R...the model R seems to be it's own animal when i compare the 3 together...the R is a distortion, but it is a thicker, chunkier distortion....great rhythms and mids, and singing leads, but i found it more compressed sounding with rig #1 and just slightly muddy...it really came into it's own with rig #2....it really likes the EL-34's....some of the compression went away but still was slightly muddy...the R is definitely more aggressive sounding than the ST, but it didn't have the clarity of the ST or CH...that is the only thing i would change about the R i own, it needs better clarity and maybe slightly less compression...please don't get me wrong, i really enjoy the R and kept it over my DRD...
...i found the ST and CH have alot in common...ranges i used were mostly from V 12-3 and D 9-3 on both pedals....with rig #1 both the ST and the CH have great string definition and even response...both cleaned up well the the volume knob, CH a little better IMO....the lack of a tone knob on the CH was not missed much, and i was a little disappointed with the tone knob on the ST, just wished it did a little more...( i think i might be spoiled by Bjorns knack with a tone knob )...i found the two similar in tonal range but the CH is much better and more alive sounding, open would be a good word too....i found the ST a little sterile and grainy with a contained response...not bad sounding distortion, because i like the sound and tone i get from it, it just need a kick in the pants, or a booster to push it...so i got a couple of different boosters and it did help alot!...but it still was not in the CH range...the CH has great headroom at any volume and great string clarity....the tone i get from it is like clean, pure siginal, like nothing is in it's way...it does have more compression than the ST ( which seems not to have any, if much at all ), but less than the R....from 9-12 o'clock on the distortion range is were i found my sweet spot...volume wise, i kept it between 12-3, which is loud!...i had to dime the ST just to keep up, and really coudn't without help from a booster, and even than it was a little grainy sounding...and if your into feedback, the CH has the best!...at the D- 3 o'clock setting, this has some awesome singing feedback...sustain for days..just very impressed...the ST had nothing really wild going on at any setting, even dimed out at 5 o'clock....and if you really wanted to take it to the next level, go to rig #2..OH MY!!....EL34's just make everything sound better don't they ?...just more of everything down the line for both pedals....i really thought it sounded great with both rigs, but rig #2 is like going to 11...
....in conclusion, i think the ST did well, so much that i'm keeping it around for awhile longer...i think it needs a bit of compression and it needs to be a bit louder, but it has it places to be used...as for the CH, well it's the Sh*t in my opinion!...it would be nice to have a tone knob...i'd like to see what Bjorn could do with it, but i really didn't miss it much...it is really dialed in nicely...Bjorn has some good ears!...also, it might be nice if it had a hair less compression, not that it is overly compressed, and i'm really talking in small fractions here...believe me, i love it the way it is, and i don't know what that would do to the mojo of the pedal so i might just leave it alone...overall, it is my favorite distortion right now, by far !!...it has an old rock and roll vibe/sound to it, which i like alot !!!....Bjorn, excellent job my friend!...really well done !!!

[Cobra]

Nice review! I had a Sonic Titan on my board for quite awhile, but it really couldn't do what my faithful DRD and EGDM could, so off it went... Still a cool pedal.
I'd love to try a Cliffhanger & hear it firsthand next to my DRD and EGDM.

[Eskimo_Joe]

Well, the Cliffhanger arrived and it is just something else. When I was playing it the first thing I thought was "this is how a distortion is supposed to sound!" I wish I could fully express how ridiculous this thing is. The Germino Club 40 (plexi) / Cliffhanger combo is a match made in rock n roll heaven. I know I tend to write glowing reviews (hard not to with Bjorn's stuff), but this pedal is in a class apart in my opinion. I love the simplicity of the design (two controls --- vol and distortion). It just rocks right out of the box. The only decision is "do you want more?"