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hybridrocknroll
June 7th, 2012, 04:51 PM
Got my Sovereign in, and all I can say is that it stands up to the hype. I'll post a video review after this weekend, but I'll throw a few details out here now for starters. This is my 1st real review, so please don't judge me too hard. I got a good solid hour to mess with it, going from bedroom level all the way up to "Shouldn't play that loud and stand next to the amp" volume.
To start with, I'll say that this thing is super versatile. It's called the Sovereign Distortion, but MF has it listed as the Sovereign Overdrive. I can see why they mislabeled it. It nails both! I started off with all knobs at Noon, both switches down. Straight out of the box like this the pedal sounded like a well saturated OD. Not over saturated, but plenty of gain to start with. 1st I messed with the gain knob, and man is there some gain on tap! Just with the gain knob at noon, I nailed China Grove by the Doobies, then at 3 I was pushing AC/DC. Dimed the gain is super-saturated and heavy. There was a bit too much gain for me dimed, but there's more than enough for lovers of high gain.
Next I moved on to the Mid-Behavior knob. Essentially counter-clockwise scoops the Mids, clockwise bumps them. The closest approximation I can give is that it's in direct correlation with the Pinnacle's Vintage/Modern switch. < 12 is in the modern setting realm, >12 dabbles towards the vintage mode.
The switches are where you really start to get into the distortion part of the pedal. The Boost switch is similar to adding another 1/4 turn to the gain knob. Dimed gain with the Boost engaged is like cranking a Marshall and throwing a distortion pedal on top of that! GAIN TO THE MAX! Borderline obscene, but completely epic. The Mid-Behavior knob really works it's paces while boosted. With the gain at 2, boost engaged, and Mid-Behavior at 2:30 I could nail early Van Halen (Panama, Hot For Teacher), then I lowered the Mid-Behavior knob all the way down and the gain at 3 and hit Pantera (Cowboys From Hell) instantly. The gain structure is soooo versatile, it's a bit unreal. I did notice that the pedal reacted to me adjusting the bass on my amp really well. I was playing through a Dr. Z RXJr and when I cut the bass up on the amp, the pedal pushed the bass frequency into a plexi-style KRANG. It's not an "Amp-in-a-box" according to Wampler, and that's mainly because it covers more than a few amps in its range.
The Bright/Even switch is exactly as described. I noticed that the Bright side really was a treble booster, pushing the high frequencies towards the front of the pack. Playing a Tele with the bright switch on was a bit harsh for me, but it worked great by turning the Tone knob back a bit to even out the ice-pickiness. I could see where it would add some clarity and spank to humbuckers.
As far as the Volume and Tone knobs are concerned, they work exactly as their namesakes. The tone really adds some clarity, but doesn't push it into the ice-pick zone. The volume has great output, and I found that I was turning it up when the Mids were scooped and backing off of it a bit as I went clockwise on the Mid-Behavior knob. Speaking of volume, folks are probably wondering how the Sovereign reacts to playing with the guitars volume knob. I noticed right away that this pedal is designed to be used in conjunction with the guitars volume. On the guitars I used (Crook Tele and Jazzmaster) that I could back the guitars volume back down to 6-7, and there was very little volume loss whatsoever, it just rolled off some of the gain. It's the perfect thing for when you want that extra shot of gain for a solo. As I continued to roll the volume down, more note clarity came through and had great blues tones. FWIW, I felt that it became a tad thin sounding when I had the Mids scooped with a ton of gain on at low guitar volume. This is just a personal thing, it's not a bad sound, just not my 1st preference. As far as acting well with pickups, it's top-notch across the board. My single-coils we're thickened up and sounded like they would jump out of the speakers and bite you, and the P90's were Fat and searing. This pedal definitely gives your rig a kick in the pants.
Overall, I'm very impressed by Brian's new offering into the world of dirt. Few things that stuck out as a reminder for me. There's a hair of volume increase when flipping to bright, so keep that in mind. The gain on tap is crazy, so with the boost and gain all the way up, you can lose some notes behind the sheer wall of gain (I'd say there's easily more gain available than on the Pinnacle). Not bad at all if that's what you're into.
Thanks for reading my 1st run at a review, be brutally honest on the critiques, I'm trying to legitimately start comprehensive reviews that are actually helpful. Take care.
Alex
To start with, I'll say that this thing is super versatile. It's called the Sovereign Distortion, but MF has it listed as the Sovereign Overdrive. I can see why they mislabeled it. It nails both! I started off with all knobs at Noon, both switches down. Straight out of the box like this the pedal sounded like a well saturated OD. Not over saturated, but plenty of gain to start with. 1st I messed with the gain knob, and man is there some gain on tap! Just with the gain knob at noon, I nailed China Grove by the Doobies, then at 3 I was pushing AC/DC. Dimed the gain is super-saturated and heavy. There was a bit too much gain for me dimed, but there's more than enough for lovers of high gain.
Next I moved on to the Mid-Behavior knob. Essentially counter-clockwise scoops the Mids, clockwise bumps them. The closest approximation I can give is that it's in direct correlation with the Pinnacle's Vintage/Modern switch. < 12 is in the modern setting realm, >12 dabbles towards the vintage mode.
The switches are where you really start to get into the distortion part of the pedal. The Boost switch is similar to adding another 1/4 turn to the gain knob. Dimed gain with the Boost engaged is like cranking a Marshall and throwing a distortion pedal on top of that! GAIN TO THE MAX! Borderline obscene, but completely epic. The Mid-Behavior knob really works it's paces while boosted. With the gain at 2, boost engaged, and Mid-Behavior at 2:30 I could nail early Van Halen (Panama, Hot For Teacher), then I lowered the Mid-Behavior knob all the way down and the gain at 3 and hit Pantera (Cowboys From Hell) instantly. The gain structure is soooo versatile, it's a bit unreal. I did notice that the pedal reacted to me adjusting the bass on my amp really well. I was playing through a Dr. Z RXJr and when I cut the bass up on the amp, the pedal pushed the bass frequency into a plexi-style KRANG. It's not an "Amp-in-a-box" according to Wampler, and that's mainly because it covers more than a few amps in its range.
The Bright/Even switch is exactly as described. I noticed that the Bright side really was a treble booster, pushing the high frequencies towards the front of the pack. Playing a Tele with the bright switch on was a bit harsh for me, but it worked great by turning the Tone knob back a bit to even out the ice-pickiness. I could see where it would add some clarity and spank to humbuckers.
As far as the Volume and Tone knobs are concerned, they work exactly as their namesakes. The tone really adds some clarity, but doesn't push it into the ice-pick zone. The volume has great output, and I found that I was turning it up when the Mids were scooped and backing off of it a bit as I went clockwise on the Mid-Behavior knob. Speaking of volume, folks are probably wondering how the Sovereign reacts to playing with the guitars volume knob. I noticed right away that this pedal is designed to be used in conjunction with the guitars volume. On the guitars I used (Crook Tele and Jazzmaster) that I could back the guitars volume back down to 6-7, and there was very little volume loss whatsoever, it just rolled off some of the gain. It's the perfect thing for when you want that extra shot of gain for a solo. As I continued to roll the volume down, more note clarity came through and had great blues tones. FWIW, I felt that it became a tad thin sounding when I had the Mids scooped with a ton of gain on at low guitar volume. This is just a personal thing, it's not a bad sound, just not my 1st preference. As far as acting well with pickups, it's top-notch across the board. My single-coils we're thickened up and sounded like they would jump out of the speakers and bite you, and the P90's were Fat and searing. This pedal definitely gives your rig a kick in the pants.
Overall, I'm very impressed by Brian's new offering into the world of dirt. Few things that stuck out as a reminder for me. There's a hair of volume increase when flipping to bright, so keep that in mind. The gain on tap is crazy, so with the boost and gain all the way up, you can lose some notes behind the sheer wall of gain (I'd say there's easily more gain available than on the Pinnacle). Not bad at all if that's what you're into.
Thanks for reading my 1st run at a review, be brutally honest on the critiques, I'm trying to legitimately start comprehensive reviews that are actually helpful. Take care.
Alex