Mode 2 is my favorite to use on pushing an already dirty & gritty pre-amp. The tone range in mode 2 covers the whole spectrum, which works nice on amps that have a natural midscoop. Mode 1 reminds me of a RAT, or OCD, goes from a light drive to full on distortion. Mode 3 has a more fuzzy character to it, almost like there's a slight clean blend going on among the mayhem. But, you really need to push the volume in Mode 3. Overall, it's related to the Plumes, but it's more it's own thing, I'd say. The gain character is different, and the range of the tone seems wider, or at least shifted to be more useful for lower frequencies, although it still has that sort of mid-hump. Took me a while to appreciate this pedal, but now it's a mainstay on my board.
Tone knob on the BLACKICE reminds me of the tight knob on amptweaker pedals. I personally prefer full low end signal and then cut it on the amp or preamp. The blackice hard-core has a really very nice saturation sound. A bit more refined than the Blumes to my ears. And yeah more headroom is great when stacking and for having a bit more gain margin. But you knew that already… 😉 NICE PLAYING!
Ah dude, I've lost all my playing skills now I just try to muddle through haha but thanks my man. Yeah I'm really impressed with the headroom, I've not played around with higher voltages yet so its now firmly on my list.
I prefered blumes on that comparison demo track. Not "too bassy" imo. I agree that it can be "too gainy". On modes 1 and 3, I need to roll down the volume on my passive J bass for it to clean up. (signal SHREDDER is an accurate description) The (LOUD) volume output makes the level knob very sensitive when trying to match the bypass volume.
Be sure to let me know what you think to the Blumes and the comparison to the BlackIce Hard-Core. Cheers.
Mode 2 is my favorite to use on pushing an already dirty & gritty pre-amp. The tone range in mode 2 covers the whole spectrum, which works nice on amps that have a natural midscoop. Mode 1 reminds me of a RAT, or OCD, goes from a light drive to full on distortion. Mode 3 has a more fuzzy character to it, almost like there's a slight clean blend going on among the mayhem. But, you really need to push the volume in Mode 3. Overall, it's related to the Plumes, but it's more it's own thing, I'd say. The gain character is different, and the range of the tone seems wider, or at least shifted to be more useful for lower frequencies, although it still has that sort of mid-hump. Took me a while to appreciate this pedal, but now it's a mainstay on my board.
Tone knob on the BLACKICE reminds me of the tight knob on amptweaker pedals. I personally prefer full low end signal and then cut it on the amp or preamp.
The blackice hard-core has a really very nice saturation sound. A bit more refined than the Blumes to my ears. And yeah more headroom is great when stacking and for having a bit more gain margin. But you knew that already… 😉 NICE PLAYING!
Ah dude, I've lost all my playing skills now I just try to muddle through haha but thanks my man.
Yeah I'm really impressed with the headroom, I've not played around with higher voltages yet so its now firmly on my list.
The hardcore sounds more like an overdrive, the blumes sounds like a fuzz cos of all the low end that comes through
I prefered blumes on that comparison demo track. Not "too bassy" imo.
I agree that it can be "too gainy". On modes 1 and 3, I need to roll down the volume on my passive J bass for it to clean up. (signal SHREDDER is an accurate description)
The (LOUD) volume output makes the level knob very sensitive when trying to match the bypass volume.
I didn't like mode 3 at all, massive drop in character. But overall a banging pedal.