Today’s guest review comes to us from Wesley S. – find him on Instagram (@wesleystuart1) and say Hi!
Emerson Custom (though mostly known for their wiring kits) has also dipped their fit into the pedal making business; one of their two offerings being the Paramount Overdrive. I recently bought this pedal as I just wasn’t satisfied with the drive tone I’d been getting from my rig and hated how the pedal I was using was destroying the natural sound of my beloved Strat. This pedal has been absolutely perfect. I’ll split this review up into three sections: Sound, usability (controls), and build quality.
Sound: First, although the Paramount isn’t advertised as a “transparent” overdrive to the extent of Emerson’s EM Drive, it really is pretty darn transparent. Rather than changing the natural tone of the guitar and amp like a Tubescreamer style drive, the Paramount very subtly alters the sound of the guitar and simply adds a bit of grit onto the tone. It’s not a total change to your tone, just a nice addition to it. The Paramount is a light to medium drive pedal, ranging anywhere from a slighyt crunchy edge to a big, full, and hairy sound. Great for just about every genre except for something really heavy, such as metal. I’ve been using it primarily as a rhythm drive, which I sometimes run into my Tubescreamer and love the sound of it in both applications.
Usability: The best part about this pedal is the incredible versatile and practicality of the controls. The volume knob has heaps volume on tap, absolutely no problem there. I keep the volume well below 12 o’clock and am easily reaching unity volume. The gain knob is also very usable and it never loses its clarity, even with the control maxed out. It can also be set up to work very well as a clean boost. Finally, the tone knob on the Paramount is the most usable tone knob I have every heard. Where as most tone controls are complete mud all the way to the left, and piercingly harsh all the way to the right, this tone control is absolutely usable all the way through. To the left it has a warm, bass-y tone without sounding muffled, and to the right it gets crisp and clear without screeching. I usually have mine set around 1 O’clock due to the bassy nature of my amplifier.
Build Quality: Lastly, the build quality of this pedal is phenomenal. It feels absolutely solid, the jacks are secure with no buzzing issues, and the knobs have a nice feel to them when turning them. They have just the right amount of resistance to prevent accidental control changes when clicking on other pedals. The graphics are also very stylish and clean, making the pedal have a lot of aesthetic appeal and inspiration, which adds a lot to the overall experience. It also has a nice blue light.
All in all, I would absolutely recommend this pedal to anyone looking for a great-sounding, well built overdrive that won’t destroy the tone of their guitar.
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