Ever since I first the opening notes of ‘Battery’ off of Metallica‘s 1986’s masterpiece album ‘Master of Puppets‘ as a youngster, I’ve been a fan of Kirk Hammett‘s playing. Today’s pedal is not only a pretty kickass overdrive, but it comes to us from Kirk’s new pedal company, KHDK Electronics, making it just a bit more special coming from one of my idols. The Ghoul Screamer Overdrive is a supercharged take on a certain classic green “Screamer” pedal, but with more options and a killer sets of tones.
As with the classic green overdrive boxes of the past, and the majority of copies of those pedals through the years, the Ghoul Screamer features Volume, Tone and Drive controls. Simple enough, right? WRONG. This drive gives you 5 different toggle switches to control every aspect of your overdrive, and some you never even knew existed in the first place. With all the switches in the Up position, you get a classic overdriven sound, one that you might expect from a greenish TS-type pedal. As you adjust these controls, the sound starts to take shape in many different ways, letting you dial it in for your specific type of music, tonal variation and overall sound quality.
The toggles consist of Bass (bigger, tighter bass sounds), Highs (for more presence, with an extra crisp and clear tone) and Body (gives your mids a much-appreciated boost), with the final two switches offering varying degrees of clipping, adding in more compression and sustain. These options give you a broad spectrum of sound qualities to experiment with, producing everything from a slightly dirty boost to a smooth sustain and crunchy grit-type sound, and about a million others in the mix. Want that original TS sound? Put all the switches in the Up position, and you’ve got one of the best screamer-type overdrives around.
Dynamic and sensitive, but bold and customizable in the same breath, the Ghoul Screamer is an overdrive that many faithful Tube Screamer fans have been waiting for years for. Straight from the conceptual mind of arguably one of the most influential guitarists of the last 30 years, this tasty pedal gives you loads of options, loads of tones and room to experiment and explore to find a sound custom tailored just for you. Thanks to Kirk and David from KHDK Electronics for sending the Ghoul Screamer our way to check out, we’re looking forward to testing more of their line of pedals in the near future, and hopefully for years to come. Cheers!
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