4 Blues Breaker Style Pedals Shootout (JHS, Mooer, Snouse, Wampler)
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- Опубліковано 28 сер 2019
- A thorough comparison of four takes on the classic Marshall Blues Breaker pedal.
Thanks to Snouse, JHS and Wampler for the loan of the BlackBox, Morning Glory and Pantheon.
Mooer Blues Crab
www.amazon.com/Mooer-Blues-Cr...
JHS Morning Glory v4
reverb.com/p/jhs-morning-glor...
Snouse BlackBox Overdrive 2
snouse-electric-company.mysho...
Wampler Pantheon Overdrive
www.wamplerpedals.com/product...
Gear:
Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster (both pickups)
EHX 720 Looper
Boss Katana 50w amp (Clean channel)
mic'd with a Sennheiser e609
into a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
Recorded in GarageBand, edited in Final Cut Pro X
This is hands down the best pedal demo channel out there!
I've gotten some of my guitar player buds on this channel too man, simply the best pedal demo's on the internet.
I prefer 'hands up'.
Awesome songs and no bullshit!
No kidding eh!?!
It would be great if you would star a channel just playing these tunes so we could see the hands and learn them tunes!!!
I LOVE your approach to auditioning pedals, it’s unlike anything I’ve seen. Super helpful and pragmatic, and it really helps you understand what each pedal does best
Great playing. Using the looper is a great idea. I just used one to try and dial in a venuram shanks ods-1 and figure out which pedal should be first. I was using a Kingsley page 2 and the venuram shanks ods-1. Decided with my rig shanks into page into analogman ardx20 delay or strymon volante work best. Now I just need to find the right reverb and tremolo. Suggestions?
I really like the songs you come up with for these demos. It's way more interesting than listening to someone just noodle around. I think if you keep this up your channel is going to get huge.
Thanks! It's partly why it takes me about a month to do each of them...
Love the approach - those direct comparisons as the looper plays gives the clearest example of pedal differences for me. I enjoy the humour too! Thanks.
You have a great style for these videos. Thank you for making them. They’re very helpful.
I love your writing on these demos, not only are they helpful to decision making but they are very well written pieces. Thanks!
I use the Blues Crab on my board with a Jazzmaster and a Les Paul through a Orange Micro Dark (12AU7 replaced stock tube for clean headroom). The Blues Crab is my go to first stage overdrive. Usually have the gain around 2 o'clock, tone around the same with the output at around 3. Stacks well with my Plimsoul and Rat. Great entry pedal into the Blues Breaker clone market. Great vid man, keep it up! You are far and away the best pedal demo channel on UA-cam!
I like how your demos even show the massive volume differences
Dude im so glad i found your channel. You are doing a great service for all of us tone chasers
The Morning Glory has become the "modern classic" version of the circuit.I usually don't pay much attention to what's popular, but it's hard to beat.
Very good overall comparison instructive demo, thank you !
Excellent methodology and excellent comparison.
Subscribed.
Beautiful melody 🍇
Just want to say your channel has been super helpful picking pedals. I went with the Pantheon over the Morning Glory because of this. Prefer to have more control.
Thanks. I quite liked the riff you played on the looper :)
This was a very helpful video! Love your channel!
shaps6 Glad to help!
I own the JHS double barrel. One side of it is the V4 morning glory. Absolutely amazing pedal! Couldn’t recommend it more of your looking for that low to medium gain blues breaker sound. At low gain settings I have it almost always on and it adds just a tinge of grit as if I was running my amp really hot.
Man, you really found something with this type of comparisons... Very cool.
Thanks! I hope to be able to make more soon…
Bought the Wampler due to this video. Thanks for being the only dude not using a Strat and trying to be Clapton while demoing. I love the track and cant get it out of my head. Id love to hear an actual recording of it!
Thank you! I spend ages coming up with loops for these things, and inevitably feel like they're not good enough after I've shot the demo and it's too late, so it's nice to read comments like this.
Exactly! I have a fairly new American Professional II jazzmaster and have been wondering which overdrive pedal would suit my guitar and playing style and this demo helped a lot!
very nice demo bro
love them all
I like your pedal demos, but I think I like the licks even more.
The reward at the end: 'Tradition dictates....' Gold.
Thank you...just bought Pantheon thanks to this video
Damn, that is a hell of a demo. Super thanks!
No, super thank YOU!
Dude...I love your tone...no matter what pedal is used it always sounds good
Pablo Moll Thanks! All down to the Boss Katana and my lovely Jazzmaster
Nice groove… Very helpful comparison!
I love how you understood those pedals. You used them, knew what you were doing. Adjustments made sense, something I would have done if I had them laid out like that. And of course... Your comments are the best thing about this comparison. I am sometimes more interested in what someone has to say about the pedal, how they feel something. These things are really hard to hear through YT videos and your comments complemented the comparison in non intermittent fashion.
Thanks!
Dude - just started exploring your channel, great job. I like your taste in pedals, books and guitar licks. And you made me laff. Quadruplefecta!
great demo
Holy cow. When you got to the Wampler it was like day and night. After hearing the Pantheon, I couldn’t even stand the tone of the other ones anymore.
I like the Morning Glory a bit more than the 3 others :)
Great demo!
Agreed, the Morning Glory surprised me. Sounded awesome.
Yup. JHS makes good tone.
Yep, same. That little boost in the upper mids -- *chef's kiss*
It's super bright, so a lot of people "Pepsi Challenge" the situation and pick the brighter option as better. We like bright sounds and loud sounds, at a quick listen.
As a tone shaper, though, it's hard to get the same EQ as an original Blues Breaker with the brightness in the tone stack though. Never quite sounds the same, and on some setups can be very harsh for a permanent sound.
Good pedal, but it's essentially a Blues Breaker With More High End.
Best demo i've ever seen
This is super helpful. Thank you.
Guess I’m the only one to appreciate the Wampler pedal....? Like the Tumnus you can really dial stuff in no matter the pickup and amp combo.
I liked the Wampler a lot - it's more my kind of thing, I think.
Me to, I like it the most
This video is why I bought the pantheon over the morning glory.
@@dookieeater Same!
No you are not. Generally, I seem to really like wampler dirt pedals. Both the pantheon and the tumnus since you mention them and also the velvet fuzz. I definitelly prefered the pantheon out of those 4
Great demo. Subscribed
Can't see that there's any better way to demo out there. 'The Pedal Board' is my reference class.
Excellent.
Now THIS is a pedal comparison. Perfection.
Awesome playing
Thank you!
Great music. Perfect way to make a comparison interesting. I have a Tomsline "Bluesy", which appears to be a Blues Crab in a different box. However the Bluesy has a bright/normal toggle switch. Anyway I love this pedal and for £20 it cost me I'm seriously happy. Works equally well with my single coils or humbuckers at the same settings. It's a set and forget pedal in my rig.
I also have the Tomsline "Bluesy". I am thinking of trying a Nux Morning Star that is supposedly a clone of the JHS morning glory
I rarely comment, but I must compliment you on your comparison style, and video production presentation. You are up there with the greats of pedal enthusiast channels. Might I request a uni-vibe shootout soonish? Plenty of variation in those pedals i think to contrast.
Thank you! This is very nice to read.
Yes, I need to get back into comparing modulation pedals I think. Univibes, phasers, flangers...
great job! keep up the good work :)
That backing track though. Very nice.
Hard Clipping mode has lower volume than soft clipping on the wampler, since the input signal is clipped with a lower threshold, hence the volume that has to make it to the output and then being "amplified by the pedal" (through the use of the volume knob) is lower.
Andrea Palin This is perfectly explained - thank you!
Great video
Aggree with others your playing really helped these demos
I got a Blues Crab on sale, and just recently ordered a BlackBox when I got to the top of their waiting list! Yes, they have implemented a waiting list now.
waiting list for a pedal, gee ….he will get his pedal sound ripp off from another cie at that rate.That’s the way it works nowadays, and some people will take advantage off it by reselling them at a higher price….
You made me buy the mooer. Not great for my taste when maxed out, but great tones can be found in there! I think it'll stack well.
Pantheon definitely the winner for me. I also really like the Protein’s blue channel.
Awesome!
After testing the Snouse, Black Box 2, distortion pedal, it’s little wonder lots of players really love it. In fact, there is a 12 to 14 month waiting list. But the wait is well worth it.
Joshua Aragon, (a.k.a. “Mr Snouse”) has designed what is arguably the best hand-made Blues Breaker distortion pedal around. It captures Clapton’s “Beano” sound based on the JTM 45 amp dialed to ‘break up’ to produce that organic guitar sound that went on to become one of rock’s legendary tones.
The “basic model” comes with Gain, Preamp, Presence, Tone and Volume knobs that turn smooth and sure. No flimsy, mass-produced foreign import quality about this pedal. On the contrary, it politely but firmly says, “Hand-made in America.”
If you’re looking for a solid sound with beautiful mids and plenty of headroom, look no further than this pedal which has garnered well deserved accolades the world over.
And don't forget the CmatMods Butah: killer BB type pedal !💪🏻👍🏻🤘🏻
Brilliant! 👍🎶
I may have to get this Blues Crab. Or the Tomsline Bluesy. Nice old school breakup.
This format is so much better than the typical, "two dudes in a room with a GoPro pointed at a single pedal, throwing out a constant stream of industry buzzwords."
Kind of a bummer it ended :(
It’s not ended! Just on pandemic hiatus :(
That's brilliant, to do it with a recorded source.
Great review! One key differentiator for live performance that he didn't mention though is that the Morning Glory has two stages of gain at your feet with the Red Remote footswitch. The others require flipping switches by hand which is obviously problematic for a live performance. For gigging musicians, that probably gives the edge to the MG.
Good point! That's an extra purchase though, and doesn't change the sounds the pedal can make, which is why I didn't include it.
You could run 2 of the Mooer-type clones for less $ than a JHS w "red remote" (what a cash grab - should be included)
Meltdown cool n fun w / pedals
I really like your approach to comparing these pedals. Using the looper 👍 Using the direct clone first, then comparing the others to the “original” sound. Ignoring the stupid “let’s start with all the controls at noon” approach so many use - instead you use the Presence knob(s) the way they were intended to be used (start at zero then adjust to taste). The differences in the “high gain” sounds was surprising.
One tiny quibble: the Pantheon Bass control is active, Baxendal but the Treble is just like the Tone on the original and others (just checked partial schematic Wampler shows).
thank you, thank you, thank you.
I love your demos. This is the way it should be done. Which pedal would you recommend to achieve a light OD/off clean tone on solid state amp, the Blues Crab or the EHX Glove?
Awesome, as usual, dude.
I retired my original BB awhile ago and got a decent enough clone. But now I've been thinking about getting either a Blackbox or a pantheon, due to the extra features, so this certainly came a right time. Not sure which one I'll get, though...
SPEND MONEY SPEND MONEY SPEND MONEY
The Pedal Board is an EVIL EVIL EVIL PERSON!
Do you suffer from GAS? Call 1800-GAS-HELP for professional counseling.
(Bloody hell, I hope that number doesn't exist, might be a sex line or something..).
Check out the Keeley 1962x and Tapestry Audio Fab Suisse. Two of the best that arent included here, presumably because the Pedal Board isn't omniscient and omnipotent.
@@mattgilbert7347 I know about those. Dig'em, but I prefer the two I mentioned. Thanks for the tip, though.
Cheers
@@mattgilbert7347 Or assistance for people with inflated bowels.
Please make some more videos 🤘🏻
Soon…ish.
MG with high volume and tone, with no sounded awesome!
Just got the blues craba few weeks back. I was quite I pressed with it for the price. I run it with the tube screamer for some great tones
I stack mine with a Plimsoul and it's awesome, such an underrated pedal
That's the way to do it. Tubscreamer or some other mid-focused OD, and it rips. Nothing wrong with it (if there was, that would mean there's something wrong with the OG Bluesbreaker as the Mooer is almost identical in tone).
same here + TS for the greatness- however after some experimentation i found that blues crab into mini TS rips more .I also dial back the volume a little on the mini TS and no gain at all - perfection although a little noise with P90-
noise gate takes care of it though..
Morning Glory for sure. More amp like than the others where u can hear the details on your playing more clearly. Your demos are also awesome! Keep it up!
Hello! As always, you do the best pedal comparisons! If you get ahold of a Nux Morning Star, can you compare it with the Mooer Blues Crab and JHS Morning Glory?
thanks!
beast...
Oh I really appreciate this, you don't go all the way to have a cathartic session by blabbering up to 1 hour and only really play something useful less than half the total duration. Oh wait, I'm talking about that other duo channel. More on you: I really like the way you create your own riff to show the capability of the pedals, all those narrated subtitles, make our ears more focus on how the pedal sound (no human talking). Cheers!
Do you take requests? I always thought that the WMD civilian issue deserved a demo format like this! Good vid! Thank you for sharing!
krisofnh Link To the pedal? Not sure I know it...
Are all your demo songs your original songs cause if so, you need to finish them and release them cause tbh they are all really really good , here's to more amazing pedal shoot outs
Pretty dang impressed by that Blues Crab. The JHS is pretty good on its own, the black box is apparently super versatile, but dang that pantheon is chaotic
This progression is sweet, sounds like an album closer. Really well done
Thanks!
I used to really like the pedals with the 35 options of knobs, now simplicity wins the day. In an emergency we want to be able to tweek stuff very fast This is why I kind of hate my Mesa amp too many knobs to tweek
.
andy biondi Exactly! Drive, tone, volume are perfect- nothin more! I like a ton of knobs and switches on my jaguars/jazzmasters but the pedals can stay simple
@@andybiondi195 Yeah I agree with that. I find clipping switches to generally give me a level of control I can quite do without. But I have come to appreciate bass knobs in flatter eq pedals in addition to the traditional treble "tone" knob. I have a Timmy and an ODR-1 clone with the added bass knob, and in both it really helps shape the pedal to the room and the context.
Super helpful and perfectly timed as I plan to go and get a bluesbreaker style pedal next week. However, it only really eliminated the Mooer that wasn't on my list anyway!
Perfect!
what did you end up with?
Great videos! What settings do you use on your Katana? I also have the 50.
Pretty flat, basically. Clean channel.
Absolutely great demo with incredible graphics. I love that talking is replaced by text. I am confused a bit though. Don’t overdrive pedals sound best pushing a tube amp on the edge of breakup? Even a budget level tube amp like a Fender Blues Jr or Marshall Origin would have shown the pedals’ real potential.
Hey, thanks for the nice comments. Re: tube amps - I get this question/suggestion a lot, so here's my thoughts:
Firstly, both those 'budget level' amps are three or four times the price I paid for my Katana.
Secondly, A LOT of people have digital/transistor/modelling/solid state amps now, many, many more than have tube amps, so there's definitely some validity in showing how these pedals work with an amp part-time players are more likely to have. (And not just part-time ones - there are plenty of high-end modelling amps these days, like the Kemper, used by professionals, and many musicians prefer solid state over tube: Robert Smith from The Cure has long used the Roland Jazz Chorus, for example.)
Thirdly, these pedals - the Blues Breaker, the Tube Screamer, the Klon - were specifically designed to REPLICATE the sound of pushing a tube amp into breakup. The Blues Breaker is supposed to sound like Clapton's Marshall amp with everything on 10. The pedals are designed to make tube amp sounds, not to push tube amps.
And fourthly, what sounds best is totally up to you. It's individual preference. There's no right and wrong with these things, just what you like. I like my Katana :)
The Pedal Bored this is why you’re my favorite pedal channel. You don’t just cater to upper crust folks who can afford expensive gear. Lot of times, us solid state users are talked down to by others who insist you NEED a tube amp. It’s simple economics for me. I have a family. I can’t justify spending a lot of money on gear. $800 might be reasonable for a tube amp (E.G. Hot Rod Deluxe or Marshall DSL) but in real dollars for a family of 8 like mine, that’s a LOT of money. The Katana 50 cost $230 and that was stretching it. My wife was kind enough to get it for me for my birthday/Christmas last year. And it works good. It takes pedals well and even has a great sounding overdrive in the brown channel.
I’d love a Corvette but can barely swing a Camry. It oftentimes comes down to what we can afford.
Sheesh I never thought of my $600 brand new Blues Junior as a budget amp!
@@ThePedalBored Tube amps are great but I prefer solid state. And the katana is also an awesome amp. I have a katana and an orange crush 65 as my main amps. And I own a couple of tube amps, a carvin and a blackstar, but I like the solid state. Oh I also have a Vox hybrid that also sounds good, with pedals. The internal effects aren't good.
Morning glory win!
Suuuuuper!!!
Great demo. I checked it out while wondering if I "need" to upgrade from the Blues Crab to something pricier, and the answer is a resounding "no". For what I like in this pedal (my favorite lo- to mid-gainer), the Crab does it all as well as the others (yes it's a little noisier, no I don't care). If I were to pick one of the costlier pedals it would be the BlackBox: same basic tone, more options all of them useful.
Took the words right out my mouth. Blues crab gets the job done BUT if money were no object I'd definitely take a black box.
I agree in that it does not make me want to buy one at all lol. Your demo has saved me some money 😎👍🏻
Simon Allaway Ha! Excellent. Glad to help.
Amazing demo! Now I need one those too. lol! Could you do one on the amp modeling side of bluesbreaker pedals, like the Charlie Brown from JHS?
I have a list of about 15-20 demos I've got planned to get through first, but I'll make a note!
@@ThePedalBored no hurry, I love your content! :)
Got so lost in your playing that I lost track of why I came here :-) I guess I'll have to rewatch to see which pedal did best.
228560smur Oops
You likely have heard John Mayer, it’s that breathy voiced boring stuff being piped in to your dentists office. I’ll count it as a blessing if I can go through life never hearing “Your Body Is A Wonderland” ever again.
As far as the pedals go, I’ve always been curious about Blues Breakers but after hearing these 4 based on them I can’t say I’m terribly smitten. Must not be for me.
Not that you did anything wrong, your demos continue to be the absolute best. I guess I’m just not a Blues Breaker kinda guy.
I’ll be very interested in seeing your SD-1 shootout, as that is one of my very favorite drives.
Keep up the excellent work, you’re a great asset to all us pedal nerds!
I really appreciate the track! It makes me don't care of the pedal.
Ha! Not my intention, but thanks!
@@ThePedalBored Same. Damn that's good! What are you playing exactly?
@@Stoffendous something I composed myself. It’s kind of in a Noel Gallagher / Oasis style I reckon, which turns out to be appropriate given the name of the JHS pedal 😀
Music the best 👍!
Four years...where did you go man
Hi friend, new subscriber, You has tried the Nux Morning Star? Is a Bluesbreaker, the question is: It is better than Mooer bluescrab? (I have the Mooer but I feel it rob me sound and quality signal a little bit)
Thanks for the subscription!
I haven't tried the Nux but their Klon - the Horseman - is very good so I expect the Morning Star is too. I just tend to go for Mooer pedals as the cheap/mini one in my videos because they're more easily available.
@@ThePedalBored Okay today arrives my new Nux Morning Star, and is much better than Mooer bluescrab, if the info can help someone. (The sound is close to Morning Glory)
@@johannmunoz_gtr why do you think so? Out of the reviews and videos i watch i assume the mooer is better!?
What about the Nux Morning star? Better than Mooer?
It is bluesbreaker style?
to my ears it's a bit too quick switching between pedals and sounds but anyway that's an amazing demo. Thank you so much for it.
I got the snouse and the internal too switches change the sound dramatically
Josh Muz There are MORE switches?!
The Pedal Bored hahahaha oh man I just realised what your saying, my bad I didn’t notice that one your using had external dip switches. Sorry. Haha
But what about Marshall’s own Bluesbreaker II? The one that looks like a gray PC mouse. It seems like the “successor” to the OG black box Bluesbreaker. Any thoughts on that?
I read about it and by all accounts it's a completely different circuit to the original, whereas these pedals are all clones or tweaked versions.
The Pedal Bored whoa I never knew that before. Thanks! Always loved the way you compare pedals in the channel, real easy to digest for my rather low attention span lol
I had a BB II for a little while, and never really connected with it. It always sounded a little sterile to me.
I Have the BB2 and Its completely different of the original BB. I have also a Tomsline Bluesy and this one yes, sound like the original BB.
Have you ever tried the .45 ?
I have a question the timmy od fits in this category?
Fer Ramirez No, the Timmy is its own thing, not (as far as I know) based on any particular older circuit.
I need a bluesbreaker for lighter gain stuff. Do you think the blues crab would be just as good as any others considering I'm not going to ever touch it? It kind of seems like the advantages to the others are the tweakability and high gain tone quality. But if I'm just using it as an always on does it really matter?
The Blues Crab is £40 new. The rest are £150+...yeah, I'll take the Mooer.
The loop is so good
Is the gain knob a dry/wet control like the klon?
I don't think so, no, just a trad gain control.
What song is this? Great video.
I really liked your "As usual with Wampler pedals, there's considerably more bass than you'll ever need"...
I have the same opinion on Wampler: too bass-heavy tones!
shredgd5 well you can always dial it back
In this case, yes.
Ironically, that feature is what has made the Tumnus so popular compared to other klones. In this demo, it's rolled off at one point to sound almost identical to the MG.
I know your comment is years old, but perhaps the Wampler pedals account for low tunings and baritones? Maybe even bass? Makes it way more versatile. 😊
Where’s the Greenchild Thresher? Awesome BB pedal
Yeah, there's definitely a few more I could have in there - the King/Prince of Tone especially I think - but I like to stick to four pedals for these things.
have you ever tried harley benton's blues breaker clone? dealbreaker its called, any opinions?