cranking the gain, I figured
maybe Floor Channel 1
was for single coils and
Floor Channel 2 was for
humbuckers. That meant it
was time to bring out the
humbuckers.
The Solo boost is gorgeous.
I couldn’t discern any
frequency boosting—it just
sounded good, even when
amplifying the unhealthy
gain levels I dialed in once I
had Floor Channel 2 sussed.
I didn’t want to turn it off
As soon as I switched to
and, on its own, the Solo
humbuckers, I was easily
able to dial in Floor Channel could easily be one of those
“always on” pedals you
2, and that was when I
hear about. But those who
hit upon the idea that the
Treble tone control was kind want Marshall tones without
of like the Presence channel a Marshall might say the
same thing about the 1959
on a jumpered Super Lead.
Double Decker in general.
Once I started using the
Middle and Bass controls as Finally, a word about the
onboard DI. I don’t like DIs;
the primary tone shapers,
that’s not a judgment, just a
I was rocking. And I do
preference, so when I say I
mean rocking. Harmonics,
really like the cab emulation
gnarly attack, authoritative
setting on the DI—which
kerrang, all of these were
at my fingertips as I bashed is meant to mimic a Shure
SM57 on a pair of Celestion
away at power chords and
ridiculous, screaming bends. Vintage 30s—I mean I really
At some point in my fevered like it.
rock state, it occurred to
me to switch back to single
coils and, sure enough, I’d
cracked the code: I had a
much better tone, and while
I probably still preferred the
less intense attack of Floor
Channel 1 with single coils,
I felt that was an aesthetic
choice rather than a failure
to use the pedal properly.
WHAT WE LIKE
Fantastic, three-dimensional
tones ranging from clean
boost to low-gain drive
to cranked-stack levels of
distortion.
CONCERNS
The tiny EQ knobs provide
excellent control, but
require precise dialing in.
The footswitching isn’t
intuitive, although it’s not
difficult to grasp.
ToneReport.com
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