Horizon Devices Precision Drive: does it live up to the hype? (Djent/Metal demo)
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2017
- Please read the description for more information about my rig:
In this video we're taking a closer look at the Precision Drive from Horizon Devices, Misha Mansoor's own company! It's been designed for the modern day metal guitarist and they advertise it as the 'revolutionary' new overdrive pedal. But does it live up to the hype that it generated in the community? Let's find out!
Rig:
Ibanez RGD2120z Prestige (customized with BKP Aftermaths)
Line 6 POD HD500
iMac 21,5" 2,7GHz 8GB RAM with Logic Pro X
Setup:
So in this video I used my current setup, which is as follows:
GUITAR - LINE 6 POD HD500 (cabinet simulation disabled) - LOGIC PRO X (where the signal goes through the Two Notes Torpedo Wall Of Sound cabinet impulses)
Please support me and my music:
www.soulhenge.eu/
/ noostriches
Thanks for reviewing this! Been on the fence about one and you've made it clear that my current OD and NG are still relevant, with no need to replace them until they are dead.
Keep in mind that the positions on the Precision Drive for volume and tone at 50% are what a regular overdrive is at 100%, so possibly turning the volume down will give you that cleaner sound you're looking for
Thanks for a solid and honest review! I also own a Pod HD500x and was considering getting one too but this was enough to convince me that my pod is more than sufficient and to not buy into hype.
As always, a good video! Keep them coming!
listened through some hs5 and i swear i thought the precision drive was A it had so much bite. just got inspired to purchase pod hd
lol don't buy a pod hd, i hope you are joking
uhh...this was posted a month ago so you might be too late
If you know what you're doing, then a Pod HD (mainly the 500 and Pro versions) are more than serviceable for getting great tones. However, you can't be lazy or dull minded. The people that can't get Pods to sound good are the same people that can't even get an Axe FX to sound good without copying another person's patch.
Although I knew that that B would be the Precision Drive as I thought it sounded better to my ear... I was pretty surprised at how good you got the POD to sound. Don't typically like the POD heavy tones, but yours was pretty sweet sounding. Good video!
both of them sounds great well done with pod man
Loved the video, man! The packaging and the QC are definitely things we want to hear about, even if they aren't part of pedal. Thanks for the great review!
Is this actually the one and only unbiased review of this pedal! Finally!
I've only used pedals with my guitar playing so I was able to pick out the pedal correctly. Nice review!
I have this out in front of my Orange Dark Terror. Ever since I bought the Precision drive it is my #1 most-used pedal. It tightened up my low-end and added tons of bite to my tone. Orange amps are notoriously hairy-sounding and have loose low-end. This fixed all of that.
Combined it with my line 6 pod hd pro with right settings and it sounds phenomenal
Awesome review and overall channel!
Sweet! I guessed right. I could hear the slight difference in tone & tightness.
I think you've shown that both are great. I have a POD HD500, and will be dialing in the gate/screamer combo there.
However for my alternative pedalboard (which uses real pedals!), which I like to use sometimes, I will get a precision drive to save a slot (gate + drive in one space), and have ability to turn on everything at once with the single button (gate + drive all at once). There's something to be said for that... My other 808 green screamer will have another setting on it for other songs. :)
Great thing, is that I can have "my sound" in both places, even if slightly different.
Love this unbiased review too, you did a great job.
A I thought sounded thicker and more saturated but B was just much cleaner and the tone sounded more natural. Also the tones you got with the tweaking part were fucking amazing!
You should get in touch with Misha or the Horizon guys. I'm sure they would something like this right.
I always come back to this video just for that riff
On the PODHD500 you can tighten the noise gate/add another one and you can add a boost distortion and or an EQ to do what this does.
i got a precision drive to. if you got already got a good amp it is not worth the bucks but for me, with my roland cube xl it was a very nice buy! i dont regret it
hey what's up man....shout out from Colorado! I really appreciate your objectivity and honesty, and I too have a love for Misha and what he does. that being said when I got my precision drive, I too was slightly disappointed. mostly with the sound. I didn't have any issues with the pedal itself. So after some frustration, I continued to research the pedal, and it turned out, I was dialing it in wrong. once I got the hang of it, I really liked it. I don't know if you have tossed it to the wayside at this point, but I just thought I'd share my experience with it. good vids man!
Do you mind pointing to some resources or sharing some of what you learned?
@@d77sauce Well, actually I dont have it anymore, but I can remember how I had it dialed in when I got it where I wanted.....I had the Volume at 12 ish, bright in between 11 and 1, the attack at the 11 o'clock ( I cant remember if that was 2 or 3 clicks), and then the gain turned up juuust a hair, like an 8th turn. I kinda dailed in the gain with my gate. I didnt use the precision drive gate, I used another one. But basically when my gate would cut off the last of the signal, I'd turn up the gain just enough to get the signal back for a second, and left it there
@@roberthaskin1723 Very informative. Thanks a lot for that. Did you move on to something else?
@@d77sauce Yea, nowadays, I just use to pedals incorporated in the axe fx. But the precision drive was awesome though
@@roberthaskin1723 Full digital is def the way to go sometimes. Awesome stuff
Your guitar is awesome!
I thought the A example was definitely with the horizon drive because if you listen to the raw periphery tones they use in a mix they're usually really bright compared to what you'd just be jamming around on but I'm both really surprised that the Horizon drive fattened up your tone to THAT degree and extremely impressed with the tones kicked out of just an HD500
More or less, you just gave people a super good example why they should buy the hd500. Ive owned one personally for 2 years and I use the 4 cable method into a 6505+ and the tones are phenominal. The hd500 can be picked up very cheap and you have tons of effects and versatility for different genres. Excellent comparison video nonetheless and you did both justice.
Keanu Jenkins to sure...I don't want the precision dive anymore...
I totally love your review. It showcases all the positive aspects and sound options you can dial in, having this pedal, but also shedding light on the some downsides of this product, which in my opinion are quite disturbing, given the sum you have to pay in order to get this OD pedal.
Excellent job, mate! \m/
I seen this video the first time back in like September of 2017 actually when you made it anyhow since then I have bought a Precision Drive about two days after having my Precision Drive the knob fell off the attack control and when I looked at the pot there was a clear piece of plastic wrapped around the stem of the pot Apparently to hold the knob on when I returned it the clerk that worked at the store went through like 23 Precision drives and they were all made the same way before he ended up giving me the display model cuz it was made right
Lol
I use it for lead recording with attack in lowest position. It puts the lead in an appropriate place in the mix.
Great video.
Guessed right because I feel like B sounded how Periphery sounds and how Misha would dial a tone
Bro I have the same hd500 and precision drive and Im using Schecter omen 7 with bare knuckle juggernaut tuned to A. Can you show me ur patch in this video? Thank you bro!
Just watched ur video, and it's awesome, got me thinking of getting the pod hd500. I think the Pd doing its job fantastically, but the real concern here is the price, is that really worth the price?? Luckily I got it secondhand with a really good price, so for the time being I keep it as my go to od ahaha
can you share your settings of the hd500? i have an helix and really liked the tone from A
First!! 🤘🏾 Nice vídeo man ! 👊🏾
I haven't tried the Precision Drive, but I have the ProTone Dead Horse III (which is basically the same as the Bulb Variable Attack Overdrive, except that on the attack knob, the DHIII has one lower frequency (not really usable unless you have a super thin-sounding guitar) and the BVAO has a higher frequency (might work on 7-9 string guitars to sit the mud). However on a 6, I'm somewhere in the middle settings, so the range doesn t bother me.. although I'd give a tiny edge to the BVAO.
Imho, between the DHIII and a an 808, you can't go wrong. I have over 30 overdrives and both of those are the best, followed by either the 820 or VOP9 (both are a bit different even though they're supposed to be the same), depending on the rig.
The 808 just does what it does well and has a signature compression feel that I haven't been able to fully duplicate with any other pedal. The 820 is slightly more tame and has a different feel. The VOP9 can do both, but less bass at 0 gain making the sound fatter, but the clarity varies depending in your rig.
The DHIII works awesome with anything that just doesn't sound clear enough and needs more cut.
It also dies this weird thing where it can ACTUALLY CUT BACK the noise... very weird.
Somehow it reduces the gain a bit but makes certain frequencies of attack pop out, giving you almost like a single coil attack to hunbuckers, but still retaining the thickness of humbuckers. It doesn't work with everything, but when it does, BLAMMO. It's sick... but very setup/righ/preset dependent.
Another obvious advantage of the pedal is being able to set the attack knob, which kind of works like a high pass filter to tame lows, but not exactly. It's doesn t work exactly like any old HPF in an EQ, because it changes the character of the sound a bit in a way that is hard to explain. It's subtle, but really better than an EQ. Perhaps it also changes some peak resonance frequencies or something.. I haven't looked at it through an analyzer.
Without having tried the Precision Drive, I suspect it does the same thing, albeit has a gate and is made by MXR.
As far as the noise gate, this isn't the most complex one, but the Decimator also just has one control.. and people seem to love it. Also, remember that when Misha used real amps all the time, he used two noose gates. One around the overdrives and one in the loop. KSE also does this. The reason is to quiet the OD and also quiet the amp's preamp in FX loop... plus FX loops like the 5150's kind of bleed a little, so you have to use two noisegates for dead-silent functionality.
The gate in the POD and Axe FX might be more responsive, but difficult to set on the fly. I bet Misha uses the gate in the PD in conjunction with another gate. With a real amp, he might not, unless he is using the FX loop... however, the new Peavey Invective might have fixed the problems with the 5150's FX loop so who knows... not many people have tried it who are as acutely tuned at details as I am to confer with.
I don't like the build of these little MXR pedals at all though.. like the video implies, they feel cheap. That's a weird thing judging the sound and functionality of something by its physical feel, but it does affect your perception.
MXR might be cutting corners on that to save some $$$. In the end it should be about sound, but yeah...
This is a good video that touches on many good points, but IMHO, it all really depends on how you are using device and in what combination with other devices. Personally, I liked B better by 15%, and we all know people pay thousands of dollars for a 5% improvement. In that context, if this is even just a little better, the prices could be worth it, if it's better than what you're using... With this said, I have yet to try this pedal. My opinion would be in how it stacks up to the DHIII in how I use it with my gear, and if I find the gate useful, which I think I might in a 2-gate setup.
I might find it great.. I might not... But considering I've owned so many pedals... if this is anything like the DHIII, I would say it's a win, minus the crap casing.
Guessed right (YUS)
Helpful video, I appreciate your objective vs subjective review. Thanks man!
Pod sounded better on its own.
Def agree about the knob ordeal. One question, when you shake it does it sound like something is rattling around on the inside?
Yep, positive. I didn't mention that in the video, but when I unboxed it, there was a rattling sound inside it like everything was loose. It's the 9V battery connection that flutters around, I fixed it by simply taping it on the inside. Also a no-go for me.
I'm listening on my JBL's 305 MkII, there's not a big difference but i can tell the difference, the PD have more presence than the screamer from the Hd500, also, you got the Attack knob that brings more bite to your tone, that's a plus with this pedal, i have the Pod Hd bean which is the same as the hd500 and i have the Pd too, i dial my actual tone with both and i always get better tones with that, i mean i can create a nice preset just with my pod but when i use the PD i notice that bite i always like on modern metal without saturate my DSP with a lot of preamps or compressors, i just use the PD then one or two amps, and one eq in post (because i like to rise my low frecuencies, but that's just matter of taste)
I think if you like modern metal, and you already have a nice profiler or valve amp, this pedal will be your best friend at the moment to play at home or with your band.
By the way, of course you can use it with multi Fx's, Misha always do that.
Howdy,
If possible, can you have a demo of the precision drive with your bass? You vouched for how nice it was, and I'd like to hear it before I purchase it for a bunch of studio abuse... er, recording purposes.
Unfortunately the pedal already moved to its next owner ;)
I guessed right! The PD had a lot more low end come through and the pod was pretty hissy in the high end
True, the PD doesn't sacrifice bass, just as advertised. The POD creates some weird frequencies which the PD doesn't, much more neutral there. However, I thought this difference wasn't worth the price...
Have you found a setting on the PODHD500 which gets close to your "Two Notes Torpedo Wall Of Sound cabinet impulses" from LOGIC PRO X?
Nice one man! You got a subscriber! BTW where do you live?
Daniele Girotto Welcome! :) In the only Grand-Duchy in the entire world ;)
POD's built in screamer sounds a bit crispier and more detailed imo.
You on the same Pace as john Browne dude 😂U both released a how to maintain ur guitar the same day and a precision drive vid the same day.
yeah I don't know what's going on. I swear it is pure coincidence, I uploaded this video already during the week and scheduled the release! :D
Hey man, really like you maintained your objectivity about the pedal. Here in Australia it's $350. So needless to say I won't be getting it. Also, I spoke to you on FB a month or so ago about Helix Native, did you end up buying it or did you not like it?
I didn't buy Native after the trial. I don't know, it's a lot of money for a plugin, TH3 and BIAS are cheaper but still on the same level, if not better than Native.
But, I'm able to test a friend's Helix LT in a few weeks!
Soulhenge interesting. I hate bias but love th3. I rate helix native very highly, as good or better than th3. I know it's very expensive but I'm seeing it as an investment as it will be upgraded along with the hardware.
I was hoping that it was B. Demo B just sounded a little higher quality, Less shrilly in that top end as well
Guessed it right. Also there was something about your movements and that something screamed: "This is the Horizon, but you will not hear much difference."
Hmm, I wonder if the pedal will sound better being ran through my 6505MH and Orange 2x12, still sounds awesome though but the Pod did sound a bit better.
So, I have a shitty Peavey practice amp and I was wondering if I should stack the Precision Drive with my distortion pedal. I've tried the precision drive alone and it sounds bland without the distortion. Are you supposed to stack the Precision Drive with Distortion pedals?
Hello. Could you please name the song that you're playing through the demo?
noticed the song in the background at 10:00 and was wondering what band and song that is ??
It's from our EP "Anachronism", it's the title song :) (By Soulhenge ;) )
Available on bandcamp, itunes, spotify...
plz open it and make a vid on the insides
everybody in the comments saying it’s not worth but I love the sound??? I can’t be alone in this right???
DJCTheChamp To be honest I would do a totally different video today and give this a better and fairer demo. If Horizon isn't too pissed off by this video, I'd love to give it another try.
i kinda got it right,when just the raw tone was being played it was obvious,A was smoother and there is more bass thats what gave it away
Lmao that burp at 13:48
You can some pretty good sounds with this though
Only reason how I could tell the difference was the slightly more saturated/beefier tone with the horizon
m8 THAT BURP WAS METAL 10/10 would buy >:D
good tube amp distortion > pedal distortion. Boss Noise Suppressor is the only Pedal i always use.
What's the music on the background? 10:55?
Did you find out what is the band?
I personally love the precision drive
Finalllyyyyy ;)
Listening on iMac...Line 6 have more middles and Horizon have more "punch" in my opinion
PD by itself is a cleaner and proper cut sound.
have you tried it with a real tube amp ? there is where it has it advantage :)
I agree.I own a line6 spider v too. Its a ...It sucks D. But 200e. its too much for that price. I would go Boss.That Pedals lives up to the ' Legend'.
yea.. 200 is much... but then again you have a noisegate as well... that would be 2 boss pedals.. :)
A was Line 6 and B was the Precision Drive
I was right!
I tought the PD sounds better. After that hype...
I prefer A, a much more precise sound coming from the pod.
that bass could use some distortion.
A sounds best!
Hey man, do you think that it would work on bass ?
It does, as I mention in this video ;)
Soulhenge Gear Reviews thanks a lot!
I thought track A was the precision drive but liked track B in the mix better
Yeah, the Precision Drive does not produce disturbing frequencies in the midrange unlike the POD Screamer!
The B was obvious, its a more controled sound
The pedal definitely cut out some of the extra percussive sounds, and that's what it's supposed to do. If you create an account on their website, you'll get an email of Misha's tips on how to use it for the best tone possible, and in the email he explains that the pedal focuses on upper-mids so that the rest of the mix (like basses and bass drum) can do their job without the bassiness of the guitar interfering.
the A was louder than B not making it a fair comparison. Put them at exactly the same volume and try again.
The amp setting remained 100% the same for both recordings.
Soulhenge the noise gate on the precision drive plus the input gate built into basically all interfaces nowadays does in fact reduce the volume then straight DI, I’ve noticed it everytime I click my PD on
Definitley more suited for real amps
its interesting because they also taylored it to amp sim because misha mansoor uses an axe fx and he made sure it would work with his gear (duh...if you are designing equipment make sure it works for you) but he also said it would work with a kemper which was misha's claim
Totally Awesome Misha also has his own signature Valve amp from peavey, he mainly uses the profiling amp because it's easier for touring and fly in dates but has openly admitted he prefers tube over simulations but the simulators are just easier to work with. However this pedal does work with both well and has to be dialed in more for each persons needs. Some may not jive with it but many of us do! Cheers mate.
B
Bass frequencies are different. B is way better.
Absolutely not, it is a total hype!
totally thought precision drive was A
Djent as fuck
It was easy
The A was better to me
Line 6 is a child's toy to me. Run it through a real tube Amp and it will sound a hell of a lot better. 👌
A.Sounds way better
Pod sounded more dynamic and punchy. Precision drive sounded flat to my ears.
Well that decides it... I'm not buying that 😂
Why the hell would you run an OD into a modeller? That makes no sense whatsoever.
How about because guys like Misha do aswell? And this particular OD was apparently designed to be useful with digital shit. So kinda makes sense to test that out.
Meh. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
Just because Misha does it, doesn't make it right though lol.
It's blasphemy!
@@MilianMalivukMusic .