We recently reviewed a cool little space-saver pedal called the Lil’ Guy Boost from a company called Stacks Sound, and it turned out to be a great pedal all around, so I’m excited to bring a review today of another one of their stompboxes. The Dirt Hammer Distortion is a saturation wizard, able to create big, fat, thick walls of distorted sound, while still keeping your guitar’s tone intact, and can be sensitive to your picking attack as well.
The control panel on the Dirt Hammer is set up for easy use, and features a great EQ section as well. The Volume and Gain knobs control the, well, volume and gain for the pedal. Loads of volume here, more than you should ever need, but able to take you there if you in fact do. The Gain has a pretty broad range, too, for a distortion pedal, as it can get warm overdriven tones when dialed back, and get screaming, cranked-out lead tones when pushed to the max. Starting off with the Gain at about 9:00, I slowly turned the knob up and up to check out the different tones, and by the time I reached MAX, I had been blown away by the different levels and tonal attributes that the Dirt Hammer could produce with ease.
The EQ section is great as well – one knob is a Low Cut, the other is a High Cut. They click into position as you turn them, too, so once you find your perfect setting, you can just set it and forget it. Both controls are their own tone shaping tools, and they interact with one another terrifically, produces broad, bold sounds, but still keeping your guitar’s original sonics in tact. This EQ section, mixed with the Gain amount from the other control, all together give you some magnificent choices for where you want to take the overall sound of this pedal, and will guide you in the right direction every time.
With each of their pedals being hand-built, and after hearing this one and the Lil’ Guy Boost, it seems to me that the folks at Stacks Sound are going to be creating awesome guitar and bass gear for years to come. Thanks to everyone their for graciously letting us take the Dirt Hammer for a test drive – I can’t wait to review some more pedals down the road. Go see what else they’ve got currently, too, and stay tuned for what they’re going to dazzle us with next.
Submitted by Mike B, Website
Demo Rock pedalboard by West Coast Pedalboard
