The TightMetal is a smorgasbord of vicious distortion options and a smooth, natural-sounding noise gate that expands its usefulness.
Brown has since gone into business for himself with the Amptweaker pedal line, which has been a hit with the underground rock and metal crowd, as well as a new generation of blues and classic rock guitarists. His new pedal, dubbed the TightMetal, tends toward the thrashier side of the sound rainbow. But it’s a versatile tool too, with a smorgasbord of vicious distortion options and a smooth, natural-sounding noise gate that expands its usefulness.
The Devil in the Details
The TightMetal addresses the concern that most metal pedals only offer a caricature of the tone of bigger, metal-oriented amps without any of the feel and reactivity that makes those amps a more direct connection between players’ hands and the music.
Brown’s concern for real-world performance situations is evident in many of the pedal’s player-centric features. The rollbar keeps knobs and settings secure on hectic stages, the simple, yet effective magnetic battery drawer couldn’t be any more convenient, and a dedicated LED illuminates each knob when the pedal is used with a power supply. The pedal can also be powered by either a 9- or 18-volt power supply, with the latter causing the tone to open and clean up more, and react more like a 100-watt amplifier with a sharper, more immediate attack.
The pedal features true-bypass switching, and once you’ve switched the effect on, it’s controlled via four main knobs—Gain, Tone, Volume, and Tight. The latter is a powerful voicing control for morphing the tone from loose to tighter and chunkier.
One of the TightMetal’s primary missions is to maximize the impact of quick palm-muted riffs without sacrificing harmonic content. Just in front of the knobs, you’ll find two slide switches that are critical to achieving that objective. The first of these, the Mid slider, emphasizes the midrange when you move it to the left. But move the slider to the right or Thrash direction and the low end is boosted while the mids are scooped. The noise gate meanwhile, is activated when the pedal’s Gate switch is moved to the right, or Chomp setting. Combining the most aggressive settings for each control delivers nothing short of thrash heaven.
The TightMetal also features Amptweaker’s standard series effects loop, which can be set for either Pre or Post to position the TightMetal in the effects chain. Some really neat tones can be coaxed out of the pedal using this feature. You can place a compressor in the loop and set the loop to Pre to smooth things out even further. You can also use delays and reverbs with the loop set to Post to craft huge, spaced-out, post-rock soundscapes.
Evil Tendencies
This is one fierce-sounding little box, with more gain on tap than just about any pedal I’ve encountered. Thankfully, it stays solid and tight—as intended—when combined with the right amplifier, and a sense for how to mute and pick with focused precision.
Pedals with high-gain, thrashy-metal tendencies tend to work best with big-sounding and bassier clean amps. So I chose a 1976 Marshall Superbass head coupled with an Emperor 4x12 with Weber C1265 speakers for a 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom—which is just about a perfect match for the TightMetal’s blistering onslaught.
Even with the Gate off, the pedal was tight in the low end, which worked great for some Slayer-inspired, palm-muted riffs. The Tone control, meanwhile, has a huge range, but I had to keep it below the 12 o’clock position to ensure that the treble didn’t become completely overpowering. Of course, if death by high end is your thing, the TightMetal has more than enough cut in the treble frequencies to do the job. But most players will get by with the Tone knob set anywhere below 1 o’clock.
The amount of distortion that can be dialed with the TightMetal should probably be measured in tons. With the Gain control at 10 o’clock, there was enough distortion to handle ’80s glam metal and bluesier hard rock. And as I brought up the gain, the sound got spongier in the mids, taking me into grungier and eventually, doomier territory. This is where the Tight control is most effective—enabling me to square off the rounded ends of the tone and transform it from a wide wall of devilish sound to a focused punch in the jaw.
Kicking in the gate only made the TightMetal angrier. And I tip my hat to Amptweaker for developing and implementing one of the most natural-sounding gates I’ve ever heard in a pedal. As I played with varying amounts of attack, the gate closed quickly on the end of each note but without any of the unnatural decay or ragged edges that are typically a byproduct of aggressive gating.
The Verdict
If you’re a metalhead in the market for a pedal that handles tight-fisted metal riffage, it’s hard to top the TightMetal. There’s more than enough gain for the most savage metal and a noise gate that reins in the background noise that goes with extreme distortion and enables extremely percussive palm muting and stops.
If you play with a brighter-sounding amp and guitar, you’ll need to keep your treble in check and tweak the pedal’s Tone control to make sure that the top end doesn’t take your head off. But if you long for tones from just a little south of heaven, the TightMetal just might be the chalice that can quench your thirst.
Watch the video review:
Buy if...
you’re an insatiable thrash fiend in need of supremely tight and gated distortion.
Skip if...
the battle-din of metal isn’t your calling.
Rating...
Street $180 direct - Amptweaker - amptweaker.com |
Tobias bass guitars, beloved by bass players for nearly half a century, are back with the all-new Tobias Original Collection.
Built for unrivaled articulation, low-end punch, and exceptional ergonomics, the all-new Tobias Original Collection comprises an array of six four and five-string bass models all offered in both right and left-handed orientations. The Tobias range features Classic, Killer B, and Growler models, and each is equipped with high-quality hardware from Babicz and Gotoh, active electronics from Bartolini, and the iconic Tobias asymmetrical neck design. Crafted from the finest tonewoods, Tobias Original Collection bass guitars are now available worldwide on Gibson.com, at the Gibson Garage locations, and at authorized Gibson dealers.
The bass world has been clamoring for the return of the authentic, high-end Tobias basses, and now, Tobias has returned. Combining the look and tone of the finest exotic tonewoods, such as quilted maple, royal paulownia, purpleheart, sapele, walnut, ebony, and wenge, with the feel of the famous Tobias Asym asymmetrical neck and the eye-catching shapes of the perfectly balanced contoured bodies, Tobias basses are attractive in look and exceptional in playing feel. However, their sonic versatility is what makes them so well suited to the needs of modern bassists. The superior tone from the exotic hardwoods, premium hardware, and active Bartolini® pickups and preamps results in basses with the tonal flexibility that today’s players require. Don’t settle for less than a bass that delivers everything you want and need –the look, the feel, and the sound, Tobias.
“I’m thrilled to release Tobias basses, emphasizing the use of exotic woods, ergonomics, and authenticity to the original Tobias basses,” says Aljon Go, Product Development Manager for Tobias, Epiphone, and Kramer. “This revival is a dream come true, blending modern craftsmanship with the timeless essence of Tobias.”
“It’s amazing to see this icon of the bass world return,” adds Andrew Ladner, Brand Manager for Epiphone and Kramer. “These models are truly a bass player’s bass, and true to the DNA that makes Tobias world-class—the ace up the sleeve of bass players around the globe since 1978. Today’s players can find that unique voice and feel that only Tobias can offer.”
For more information, please visit gibson.com.
Price unveiled her new band and her new signature model at a recent performance at the Gibson Garage in Nashville.
The Grammy-nominated alt-country and Americana singer, songwriter, and bandleader tells the story behind the creation of her new guitar and talks about the role acoustic Gibson workhorses have played in her musical history—and why she loves red-tailed hawks.
The Gibson J-45 is a classic 6-string workhorse and a favorite accomplice of singer-songwriters from Bob Dylan to Jorma Kaukonen to James Taylor to Gillian Welch to Lucinda Williams to Bruce Springsteen to Noel Gallagher. Last week, alt-country and Americana artist Margo Price permanently emblazoned her name on that roster with the unveiling of her signature-model J-45. With an alluring heritage cherry sunburst finish and a red-tail-hawk-motif double pickguard, the instrument might look more like a show pony, but under the hard-touring and hard-playing Price’s hands, it is 100-percent working animal.
The 6-string was inspired by the J-45 she bought at Nashville’s Carter Vintage Guitars after she was signed to Third Man Records, where she made her 2016 ice-breaker album, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter. But her affection for Gibson acoustics predates that, going back to when she found a 1956 LG-3 in her grandmother’s home. The guitar had been abandoned there by her songwriter great uncle, Bobby Fischer.
“I played it for years before I found my J-45,” Price recounts. “At Carter Vintage, I tried a lot of guitars, but when I picked up that J-45, I loved that it was a smaller guitar but really cut through, and I was just really drawn to the sound of it. And so I went home with that guitar and I’ve been playing it ever since.”
“Having a signature model was something I had dreamed about.”
Of course, Price was also aware of the model’s history, but her demands for a guitar were rooted in the present—the requirements of the studio and road. The 1965 J-45 she acquired at Carter Vintage, which is also a cherry ’burst, was especially appealing “compared to a Martin D-21 or some of the other things that I was picking up. I have pretty small hands, and it just was so playable all up the neck. It was something that I could easily play barre chords on. I could immediately get everything that I needed out of it.”
If you’ve seen Price on TV, including stops at Saturday Night Live, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, you’ve seen her ’65. And you’ve also seen, over the years, that part of the soundhole’s top has been scraped away by her aggressive strumming. It’s experienced worse wear from an airline, though. After one unfortunate flight, Price found her guitar practically in splinters inside a badly crushed case. “It was like somebody would have had to drive over this case with a truck,” she relates. Luckily, Dave Johnson from Nashville’s Scale Model Guitars was able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
After that, an alternative guitar for the road seemed like a requirement. “Having a signature model was something I had dreamed about,” Price says. Friends in her songwriting circle, including Lukas Nelson and Nathaniel Rateliff, already had them. Four years ago, a tweet asking which women they thought should have signature models appeared, and one of her fans wrote “Margo Price.” Smartly, Price tagged Gibson and retweeted. Codey Allen in Gibson entertainment relations spotted the tweet and agreed.
The double pickguard was chosen for Price’s J-45 because of its symmetry, as a nod to the Hummingbird, and due to her heavy strumming hand.
Photo courtesy of Gibson
“The neck is not quite as small as my J-45, but it is just a bit smaller than many J-45s fives, and very playable no matter what size hands you have.”
“And so we began our journey of building this guitar,” Price says. “I debated whether it should be the LG-3, which I still have hanging on my wall, or the J-45. I went to Montana and visited their [acoustic] factory and sat down with Robi Johns [senior product development manager at Gibson acoustic], and we ultimately decided that the J-45 was my guitar. Then we started talking about the specs. We did pull from the LG-3 in that the body of this signature guitar is a bit smaller. It still has a really loud, clear sound that rings through. The neck is not quite as small as my 1965 J-45, but it is just a bit smaller than many J-45s, and very playable no matter what size hands that you have.”
The pickup that Price selected is a L.R. Baggs VTC Element with a preamp, and she took a prototype of the guitar on the road opening for the Tedeschi Trucks Band. “I am used to playing with a really loud band, with drums and sometimes a couple electric guitars, and I wanted to make sure that this guitar just cut through,” she says. “It was really important to me that it be loud, and it cut beautifully. It’s got a mahogany body and scalloped bracing, which makes it very sturdy. This guitar is a workhorse, just like me.”
The Margo Price J-45’s most arresting characteristic, in addition to its warm sunburst finish, is its double-sided pickguard with an etching of a quartet of red-tailed hawks in flight. It’s practical for her strumming style, but it’s also got a deeper significance.
“We talked about all sorts of things that we could put on the pickguard, and I’ve always been a big fan of the Hummingbird, so what we did is a bit of a nod to that,” Price continues. “I’ve always been drawn to red-tailed hawks. They are supposed to be divine messengers, and they have such strength. They symbolize vision and protection. I would always count them along the highway as I’d be driving home to see my family in Illinois.”
Birds of a feather: “I’ve always been drawn to red-tailed hawks,” says Price. “They are supposed to be divine messengers, and they have such strength. They symbolize vision and protection.”
Photo courtesy of Gibson
With its comfortable neck, slightly thinner body, and serious projection, Price notes, “I wanted my guitar to be something that young girls can pick up and feel comfortable in their hands and inspire songs, but I didn’t want it to be so small that it felt like a toy, and that it didn’t have the volume. This guitar has all of those things.” To get her heavy sound, Price uses D’Addario Phosphor Bronze (.012–.053) strings.
Price says she and her signature J-45, which is street priced at $3,999, have been in the studio a lot lately, “and I have a whole bunch of things I’m excited about.” In mid March, she debuted her new band—which includes Logan Ledger and Sean Thompson on guitars, bassist Alec Newman, Libby Weitnauer on fiddle, and Chris Gelb on drums—in a coming out party for the Margo Price Signature Gibson J-45 at the Gibson Garage in Nashville. “I’ve been with my previous band, the Price Tags, for more than 10 years, and it’s definitely emotional when a band reaches the end of its life cycle,” she says. “But it’s also really exciting, because now, having a fiddle in the band and incredible harmony singers … it’s a completely different vibe. I’ve got a whole bunch of festivals coming up this year. We’re playing Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and I’m so excited for everyone to hear this new iteration of what we’re doing.”
With its heritage cherry sunburst finish and other appointments, the Margo Price Signature Gibson J-45 balances classic and modern guitar design.
Photo courtesy of Gibson
Get premium spring reverb tones in a compact and practical format with the Carl Martin HeadRoom Mini. Featuring two independent reverb channels, mono and stereo I/O, and durable metal construction, this pedal is perfect for musicians on the go.
The Carl Martin HeadRoom Mini is a digital emulation of the beloved HeadRoom spring reverb pedal, offering the same warm, natural tone—plus a little extra—in a more compact and practical format. It delivers everything from subtle room ambiance to deep, cathedral-like reverberation, making it a versatile addition to any setup.
With two independent reverb channels, each featuring dedicated tone and level controls, you can easily switch between two different reverb settings - for example, rhythm and lead. The two footswitches allow seamless toggling between channels or full bypass.
Unlike the original HeadRoom, the Mini also includes both mono and stereo inputs and outputs, providing greater flexibility for stereo rigs. Built to withstand the rigors of live performance, it features a durable metal enclosure, buffered bypass for signal integrity, and a remote jack for external channel switching.
Key features
- Two independent reverb channels with individual tone and level controls
- Mono and stereo I/O for versatile routing options
- Buffered bypass ensures a strong, clear signal
- Rugged metal construction for durability
- Remote jack for external channel switching
- Compact and pedalboard-friendly design
HeadRoom Mini brings premium spring reverb tones in a flexible and space-savingformat—perfect for any musician looking for high-quality, studio-grade reverb on the go.
You can purchase HeadRoom Mini for $279 directly from carlmartin.com and, of course, also from leading music retailers worldwide.
For more information, please visit carlmartin.com.
Handwired in Hollywood with NOS components, these pedals deliver classic tones reminiscent of iconic rock albums. Get authentic vintage tone with modern reliability.
Rock N’ Roll Relics, known for crafting beautifully aged guitars, is stepping into the world of guitar effects with two new stompboxes: The StingerBoost and The Stinger Drive. True to the brand’s vintage aesthetic and rock ‘n’ roll spirit, these pedals are handwired in Hollywood and built to look, feel, and sound like they’ve been gigged for decades.
The Stinger Boost: This single-transistor boost features a Dallas Rangemaster-style circuit, with a NOS (New Old Stock) Fairchild Silicon transistor and a NOS Sanyo Germanium transistor. The circuit is modified beyond a typical Rangemaster to provide wider bandwidth for more of a full-range, mid-focused boost. The rest of its small components are all high-quality NOS, sourced from 1970s stockpiles. It’s completely hardwired and uses vintage-style clothwire, including a true bypass footswitch switch.
The Stinger Boost delivers classic midrange honk that cuts through any mix. Its switchable silicon and germanium circuit lets you dial in everything from glassy bite to warm, vintages aturation. The germanium mode provides a smooth and warm boost, and the silicon circuit delivers a brighter, hard-edged push. The pedal’s single Boost knob offers everything from a subtle push to a full-on vintage-style gain boost. Think back to the classic lead tones of theBeano album, the melodies of Queen, and the blues shredding of Rory Gallagher: that’s what you’re getting with the Stinger Boost – capable of over 30dB of gain with a midrange bump.
The Stinger Drive: Inspired by the iconic MXR Distortion+ and DOD250 pedals, the StingerDrive features Volume and Gain controls to dial in rich, midrange-forward drive with a smoother high end than traditional circuits. Built using a mix of NOS and modern components, this pedal delivers sought-after vintage tone with modern reliability.
The Stinger Drive features an LM741 asymmetrical hard clipping circuit utilizing a germanium diode and silicon transistor, pushing forward loads of even-order harmonic distortion. It provides more volume than a vintage overdrive and also more gain which, at its maximum, stands on the knife’s edge of oscillation for really hairy tones.
Combining old-school looks with modern reliability, each Rock N’ Roll Relics pedal is hand-agedand uniquely relic’d, making it look like it has spent 30 years on the road. Open one up, andyou’ll see true vintage-style wiring, with all components on full display—just like they did back inthe day.
- NOS transistors & hand-selected components for authentic vintage tone
- 9-volt operation via external power supply or on board battery
- Individually hand-aged enclosures for a one-of-a-kind look
- True bypass switching
The Rock N’ Roll Relics Stinger Boost carries a $279 street price and the Stinger Drive carries a $289 street price. They’re available from Rock N’ Roll Relics dealers and direct from RockNRollRelics.net.
For more information, please visit rocknrollrelics.com.