NPD: Rothwell Hellbender, Amp11, Pickle Vibe

[dezng]

NPD: Rothwell Hellbender, Lovepedal Amp11, Pickle Vibe (*Demos Video Added)

Rothwell Hellbender - Led Zep in a box! Particularly Page's 'live' 70s tone. Thumping low end and sweet highs even at low gain especially after an Xotic Ep Booster. IMHO, one of the best mid gain overdrive! Very open sounding! Was pleasantly surprised by this almost unknown pedal. Totally underrated.

Lovepedal Amp 11 - One of Sean's latest offering. I thinks its Lovepedal's take on a FD2 or Tim. Only spend 5mins with it. Initial impression is very very transparent, open and very very little coloring of tone. I think it can effectively use as a clean boost too. Gain not too high just nice. There's a bass and a tone knob. Haven't spend enough time tweaking them yet but I think it's interesting to have a added bass frequency on top of tone. Turning the bass adds significant response without mud. Nice! For those who is thinking of using the boost for leads will be disappointed cos boosting it seems to adds saturation instead of volume. Well I think must spend more time to tweak the knobbies tonight.

Lovepedal Pickle Vibe - Lush vintage swirling uni-vibe tones in a tiny package. Very Hendrixy!!

 

[dezng]

Some demos on the Amp11 (not by me!)

 

[dezng]

The Lovepedal Amp 11 is AWESOME!

Really.

 

[ShredCow]

Regarding the Hellbender, have you tried it at (a) reasonably loud volumes, (b) humbuckers/singles and with (c) extended tunings?

I'm always curious about low-mid gain overdrives that sound open + thumps. Very rare and very difficult to get right, both sonically and feel-wise.

Your experiences?

 

[dezng]

Hi

I didn't gig with the Hellbender but I did crank it up in acceptable bedroom level. Play exclusively on a Les Paul in standard tuning.

I really like how low-end of the Hellbender especially driving a EP booster before it. The EP booster did help with the bass frequency but nevertheless when I first pluck the Hell bender in, I immediately noticed the bass sounds tighter than most of the other overdrive pedals I've tried before. Not to the extend of a chug but the thump is tight and clear, not muddy at all. It's very vintage sounding. Very open. It's as open as the seventhheaven I had before but to me, this thing is much easier to dial in the tones I want.


The video below somewhat shows how it sounds like when crank at a bedroom level. This guy did some light palm-muting from 00.10s-00.20s. Kinda give you a rough idea how it sounds like straight thru without any other effects. IMHO, this video is the closet representation of the pedal.

Here's another vid. I think he did run the Hellbender with other effects but at 00.13s he also played some palm-muting on the low strings with harmonics after that. I'm not sure if he stack the pedal cos in reality the pedal is not so high gain.

Here's a clip by PGS solely to show Hellbenders abilities to handle some classic Led Zep tones.

 

[ShredCow]

I really like how low-end of the Hellbender especially driving a EP booster before it. The EP booster did help with the bass frequency but nevertheless when I first pluck the Hell bender in, I immediately noticed the bass sounds tighter than most of the other overdrive pedals I've tried before. Not to the extend of a chug but the thump is tight and clear, not muddy at all. It's very vintage sounding. Very open. It's as open as the seventhheaven I had before but to me, this thing is much easier to dial in the tones I want.

Hmmmm... what do you mean when you say that the EP booster "did help"? How did the EP booster enhance things?

That chewbecca demo was done on a dirty amp yes? The overall tone does sound very... inspiring. The dude is definitely rocking out. Nice note clarity and bite!

Have you tried a Blackstone Overdrive before? I'm thinking this Hellbender bears some similarity with that.

 

[dezng]

Yes. The EP Booster help enhance or rather boost the bass and treble frequencies without sacrificing clarity. I always left it on, clean or dirty. It can make a dull amp sounds huge and good tube amp sounds phenomenal. It's really great. You should try it. Best buy for me!

I think in the demo he did set his amp on a verge of breakup. Love his tone! Very honest vibe especially the way he record straight with no processing unlike those demos that were done professionally which can sometimes be a misinterpretation of a pedal with all the mixing. Nevertheless, the hellbender stacks really well too before or after another dirt.

Never tried the Blackstone but I'll check it out. Always on the lookout for good drive pedal.

 

[ShredCow]

Thanks for the insight and recommendations.

Who brings in the Hellbender? (yes, you can play the google card on me... heh.)

 

[dezng]

Nobody in town is dealing with Rothwell.

Got to buy online. PGS is offering free shipping to sg if purchase above $400. Not a bad option.

 

[ShredCow]

Wah. That's nice. "Offset" GST? Heh.

I wanted to buy a Schecter C8 from PGS last time but they sold out. PGS had the C8 with a hardcase while the other shops did not. Amazing deals there at PGS.

 

[dezng]

Yeah... if you buy guitar even better deal! Free international shipping if guitar purchase above $900.