Renowned amp builder James Brown is taking
a 21st-century approach to designing gear
for his new company, Amptweaker. Instead of
guessing what products might be successful,
Brown is connecting directly with players via
e-mail, online forums, and social networking
sites to gather ideas and suggestions on what
they would most like to see in a new amp or
pedal. Brown believes Amptweaker products
will be stronger as a result of combining his
ideas with those submitted by active members
of the guitar community.
After receiving hundreds of product ideas
online, Brown discovered that the overwhelming
majority of guitarists were requesting
overdrive/boost/distortion pedals with uncommon
features. Brown incorporated a number of
these into his first Amptweaker product—the
TightDrive stompbox.
Lean, Green Machine
Handmade in the US and housed in a robust,
14-gauge steel chassis, the TightDrive looks
sharp and feels solid. The pedal’s top is conveniently
angled, allowing you to stomp on the
forward-facing footswitch without hitting the
control knobs. The latter slope toward the rear,
so they’re visible yet out of the way.
The TightDrive boasts several unique features.
For example, the battery is housed in a sliding
drawer that’s secured with a magnetic
latch. Cool—changing the 9-volt cell requires
no tools. Also, a battery switch lets you turn
off the juice when you’re not using the pedal,
so there’s no need to unplug the input cable.
LEDs illuminate the knobs (when you’re using
a power adapter), so it’s easier to make sonic
adjustments on a dark stage.
A handy effects loop lets you couple other
pedals to the TightDrive, and with the
loop’s Pre/Post switch you can place these
effects either before or after the TightDrive
in the signal path. When you bypass the
TightDrive, effects in the loop are also
bypassed. This feature is particularly useful
if you use certain
effects exclusively
with the TightDrive,
because you can
turn them all on
and off with one
move—no tap
dancing necessary.
Brown points out
another useful feature
of the effects
loop: “Although not
the original design
intent, an important
surprise addition
that the effects
loop brings is the
ability to further
tweak the pedal by
adding EQ or additional
gain/boost
pedals either before or after the TightDrive.
Several artists who currently use the pedal
have found this to be exciting since it puts
the mod capability directly in their hands
and lets them dial in their exact feel and
tone with a single-button system—without
getting out the soldering iron or understanding
electronic circuitry.” Other goodies
include a true-bypass footswitch and a DC
adapter jack.
The TightDrive has four knobs: Volume, Tone,
Gain, and Tight. The latter is a direct result
of players telling Brown they wanted a way
to tighten up the distortion to keep the low
end from getting buzzy or floppy. Using the
Tight control, you can adjust how smooth
or aggressive the low end feels and sounds.
We’ll see how this works in a moment.
Taking a Spin
You can use the TightDrive to coax crunch
sounds from a clean channel or amp, or push
a lead amp further into overdrive. Testing the
TightDrive using a variety of guitars and amps,
I found its response and sound differs from
amp to amp.
For example, I routed a Charvel So-Cal with
DiMarzio pickups through the TightDrive and
into an Egnater Tourmaster 4212, and it added
nice crunchy distortion to the clean channel
and gave chords more attack when I played
through the overdrive channel. It added highend
sizzle even when I dialed the pedal’s Tone
knob all the way back. To compensate, I had to
substantially increase the bass on the amp.