This fully analog overdrive offers Bass and Treble knobs for shaping tone, along with control knobs for Gain and Output volume.
Skyshatter Audio, a brand new company in Tulsa, OK, has introduced its debut pedal: the Shatter Drive overdrive is specifically designed for high-gain amps and drop-tuned guitars.
The Shatter Drive also features a 3-way toggle that allows the user to change their preferred clipping structure. Choose symmetrical for a crunchier tone or asymmetrical for a bit of a looser sound with added clarity. Choose the mind-blowing “Cross-Asymmetrical” mode for something beautifully in between.
With its 3-way toggle and flexible EQ the Shatter Drive allows the player to sculpt their sound, adding attack to the high end while retaining the power of their low end.
Features Include:
- Specifically designed for high-gain amps and drop-tuned guitars
- 3-way toggle switch for selecting clipping structure: symmetrical, asymmetrical, or cross-asymmetrical
- True Bypass Switching
- Fully Analog
- 9-volt operation using standard external DC source – no battery
- Hand-assembled in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Skyshatter Audio Shatter Drive Official Promo
The Shatter Drive carries a street price of $149.99. The pedal is available at select retailers in the Tulsa,OK region and can also be purchased directly from Skyshatter Audio’s website.
For more information, please visit skyshatteraudio.com.
MI Audio's new high-gain amp weighs in at 80 watts and runs off a pair of 6550s.
Sydney, Australia (December 2, 2013) -- Following on from the award-winning high-gain Megalith Beta amplifier and Megalith Delta distortion pedal, the 80W Megalith Gamma is set to be on the wish list of every metal rocker!
The “Megalith” name is quickly forging a strong following in the high-gain community, with the MI Effects Megalith Delta high-gain distortion pedal making a formidable impact in the stompbox world. The new Megalith Gamma is already met with high anticipation and looks to follow in its big brother’s footsteps.
The Megalith Gamma is a scaled back version of the Megalith Beta, but with a tough voice of its own. The Megalith Gamma has both Low and High (30W/80W) output modes that provide metal destruction from bedroom to stage! Running off two 6550’s the Megalith Gamma can also use other large octal power tubes such as KT88?s KT90?s, KT100?s, KT120?s, and other medium tubes such as EL34’s (with separate biasing). With two large power tubes and intelligent power-amp design, the big bottom end and punch of the Megalith Beta is still present, whilst also retaining the complex and sophisticated high-gain tone that the Megalith line is becoming synonymous with.
The CLEAN channel is a channel is unlike no other in any high-gain amp. Whilst most high-gain amps can deliver a brutal high-gain tone, flicking to the clean channel leaves most metalheads disappointed. Not with the Megalith Gamma! All the top-end is retained, along with the signature fat bottom end to produce a sweet, full clean tone that most amps are envious of!
The DRIVE channel has three gain modes, and has more gain on tap than most metal amps in the market. Tuning of the brutal gain tone is done via the three-band EQ, EQ SHIFT switch (selectable mid-frequency peak) and the ever powerful CONTOUR control. The CONTOUR (affecting only the overdrive channel on the Megalith Gamma) can go from fat, loose and vintage to tight, scooped and modern with a sweep of the dial! Shared EQ provides functional simplicity and a consistency in tone across both channels.
Place your favourite effects into the Megalith Gamma’s active, footswitchable FX LOOP with SEND and RETURN levels allowing for any effects unit or pedalboard to perfectly meld with the molten fury of the high-gain channel or the full-bodied clean channel. This pint-sized pugilist is designed to pack one hell of a punch!
Street: $1,999
Watch the company's video demo:
For more information:
MI Audio
The dual-channel TH100 is a lesson in brutal simplicity that hearkens back to Orange’s golden era of no-nonsense designs with immense power.
Specs
Tubes: Four EL84 power tubes, four ECC83 preamp tubes
Output: Class AB switchable between 100, 70, 50, and 35 watts at 8 or 16 Ω
Channels: Dirty and clean
Controls: Volume, shape, and gain for dirty channel; treble,
bass, and volume for clean channel; full/half output power switch, 4/2
output tube switch
Additional Features: Tube FX loop, footswitch jack (footswitch not included)
Ratings
Pros: Easy to dial in great tones. switches for halving power and number of active power tubes increase versatility. overdrive channel combines classic orange fuzziness and modern punch.
Cons: Shape control on the overdrive channel can add raspiness.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street: $1,499
orangeamps.com
The dual-channel TH100 is a lesson in brutal simplicity that hearkens back to Orange’s golden era of no-nonsense designs with immense power. Four EL34s generate 100 watts, but the front-panel half-power switch and a rear-panel switch that pares the tube array down to just two let you reduce it to 70, 50, or 35 watts.
The preamp has four 12AX7 tubes, and the clean channel has bass, treble, and volume knobs, while the dirty channel is governed by gain, volume, and shape (EQ) knobs. A series effects loop and channel footswitching round out the amp’s features.
The TH100’s huge-sounding clean channel won’t disappoint those who relish the bottom-heavy cleans and velvety highs of the classic OR120 amp from the early ’70s. With the amp set at full power and with all four power tubes in play, the enormous headroom makes it challenging to generate any real distortion—even with high-output humbuckers. And it’s ideal if you like loud clean passages or use pedals to lend color. Setting the amp to use just two output tubes softens the low end significantly, and setting it to half power and cranking the volume up halfway yields a smooth, rich overdrive with a humbucker-loaded Les Paul out front.
The amp’s overdrive channel dispenses mammoth-sized distortion that can be tailored to a wide range of rock and metal tones. The slight tinge of upper-mid fuzziness that’s a hallmark of Orange amps is there, but even in extreme gain settings, it never gets too overbearing. Small adjustments of the shape control can have a big effect on the presence, mids, and highs, and the knob is particularly useful for dialing back the intensity of all three for refined modern metal tones.
Setting the shape above 2 o’clock when using brighter-toned humbuckers can make the highs piercing, so it’s best to start at about noon and use it conservatively from there. That said, the TH100’s spartan control layout makes it really hard to get a bad sound out of the amp, and its copious headroom and blistering gain channel make it a no-brainer for players who crave house-leveling Orange grit and power, yet like a classic clean tone in the mix too.
Watch Ola Englund demo the amp:
See more Monsters of High Gain 2013 reviews and videos: