Way Huge Fat Sandwich Harmonic Saturator
The overabundance of distortion and overdrive pedals available today has
made it awfully tough for one to stand out from the pack. Large numbers
of them are copies of legendary designs with a few tweaks here and there
to address some of the issues players have had with those devices. Others
are based on new concepts that try to creatively stretch the boundaries of
what “good” guitar tone can be, and provide tonal options that can make
the instrument sound completely different altogether. Sailing through this
crowded arena is the Fat Sandwich Distortion. Bearing the Way Huge name
may draw some intense scrutiny, but the Fat Sandwich holds up to just
about anything
you can throw
at it.
The faceplate
has the same
basic layout as
the other two
pedals in the line:
Volume, Tone,
Distortion, and
two mini controls
that adjust specific
frequencies.
In addition, there
are two internal
controls to adjust
the corner frequencies
of the
overdrive (similar
to the controls inside the Pork Loin), and a Sustain control to add even more
distortion to the sound. Plugging in a Gibson Flying V into an early eighties
Marshall JCM 800 50W head, the Fat Sandwich was fired up with everything
set at 12 o’clock, volume to taste.
One of the surprising qualities of the unit was the very focused tonality of
the drive, not harsh in the least. The feel of the distortion is modern, but
with more give in the lows and mids, yielding a very spongy tone. Certainly
one of the best features of the original JCM 800 line was how great they
sounded cranked. After dialing up a mild drive from the preamp and pushing
the master up, engaging the pedal caused the amp to open up and
surrender an incredible rhythm tone, with wonderful note separation and
control. It simply rocked—that made it really difficult to take a break, even
after two hours of playing.
The two controls on the face of the device,
Presence and Resonance, control the response
of the high and low-end frequencies. Pushing
up the presence and maxing the gain gave up
a killer eighties metal and hard rock tones, and
with the volume knob rolled down it was very
responsive to pick attack—really responsive. A
higher setting of the Resonance control with the
gain turned down was perfect for vintage rock
tones in the vein of Kossoff and Red-era Robert
Fripp. The sound and feel was tight but giving,
and a blast to play. This is definitely the
sleeper in the new Way Huge line, and could
easily hold it its own against most boutique
distortion pedals.
Buy if...
a versatile, dynamic distortion is just
the ticket.
Skip if...
the idea of such extensive control
scares you.
Rating...
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