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rarson
Published on 03/25/08 at 18:56
The AMT Electronics Du Hast is a "distortion combo emulator." In case you haven't guessed, it's a distortion pedal that seeks to emulate the sound of the popular German band Rammstein. In fact, the pedal used to be called the AMT Rammstein, but I'm not sure why they changed the name.
It's got an input and output, battery clip (which requires a screwdriver to access), 9V jack, and four knobs, Level, Low, High, and Dist. Pretty standard for a stomp box distortion, and it's made in Siberia. Feels nice and sturdy. I like the orange color.
UTILIZATION
It's a simple setup with only four knobs. No manual, but none is needed. I like the fact that the stomp button doesn't click when you hit it. This might be a detractor for some who would like the feedback of a solid click, but I find that it makes the pedal much easier to switch. I wish more pedals had this kind of button.
I'm docking one point for making me use a screwdriver (and a fairly small one at that) to get to the battery.
SOUND QUALITY
Here's the thing I don't like about this pedal: I can't seem to get a good sound that I like from it. Reading other reviews, you would think that this pedal would be a replacement for any general-purpose pedal. In my opinion, that's not the case. It seems to do the Rammstein sound quite well, but I'm finding that this particular sound just isn't my style. And when I switch from another box, like my Little Big Muff, to this pedal, the box sounds flat in comparison. Even with the BBE Sonic Maximizer, no matter how much I tweak this pedal it sounds flat to my ears, compared to just about everything else. Maybe it's just the nature of this kind of distortion, but it doesn't seem to fit in with my other effects.
I also had a weird issue of getting a hum after playing with it and my other pedals for a while. It was only coming from the Du Hast. I decided to unplug it from the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power and try it with a battery, and the hum went away. When I plugged it back into the power supply, it was still gone. It hasn't returned, so I'm not sure what happened there.
This pedal is a bit noisy, too. You won't really want to use this in conjunction with a fuzz pedal, unlike some of my other fuzz pedals which can be stacked without a whole lot of extra noise. Overall, the sound just isn't what I'm looking for.
OVERALL OPINION
I have a love-hate relationship with this pedal. I want to like it. AMT is a good company that makes good products. And at times, I like the sound of this pedal. I think most people looking for a basic distortion would be well off taking a look at this pedal. But whenever I switch to another pedal, it just makes me feel like this pedal sounds flat and has no character. I just can't get myself to like it.
For the price, it's good if you like the sound, but I wouldn't buy it again, because it just doesn't seem to suit my tastes.
It's got an input and output, battery clip (which requires a screwdriver to access), 9V jack, and four knobs, Level, Low, High, and Dist. Pretty standard for a stomp box distortion, and it's made in Siberia. Feels nice and sturdy. I like the orange color.
UTILIZATION
It's a simple setup with only four knobs. No manual, but none is needed. I like the fact that the stomp button doesn't click when you hit it. This might be a detractor for some who would like the feedback of a solid click, but I find that it makes the pedal much easier to switch. I wish more pedals had this kind of button.
I'm docking one point for making me use a screwdriver (and a fairly small one at that) to get to the battery.
SOUND QUALITY
Here's the thing I don't like about this pedal: I can't seem to get a good sound that I like from it. Reading other reviews, you would think that this pedal would be a replacement for any general-purpose pedal. In my opinion, that's not the case. It seems to do the Rammstein sound quite well, but I'm finding that this particular sound just isn't my style. And when I switch from another box, like my Little Big Muff, to this pedal, the box sounds flat in comparison. Even with the BBE Sonic Maximizer, no matter how much I tweak this pedal it sounds flat to my ears, compared to just about everything else. Maybe it's just the nature of this kind of distortion, but it doesn't seem to fit in with my other effects.
I also had a weird issue of getting a hum after playing with it and my other pedals for a while. It was only coming from the Du Hast. I decided to unplug it from the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power and try it with a battery, and the hum went away. When I plugged it back into the power supply, it was still gone. It hasn't returned, so I'm not sure what happened there.
This pedal is a bit noisy, too. You won't really want to use this in conjunction with a fuzz pedal, unlike some of my other fuzz pedals which can be stacked without a whole lot of extra noise. Overall, the sound just isn't what I'm looking for.
OVERALL OPINION
I have a love-hate relationship with this pedal. I want to like it. AMT is a good company that makes good products. And at times, I like the sound of this pedal. I think most people looking for a basic distortion would be well off taking a look at this pedal. But whenever I switch to another pedal, it just makes me feel like this pedal sounds flat and has no character. I just can't get myself to like it.
For the price, it's good if you like the sound, but I wouldn't buy it again, because it just doesn't seem to suit my tastes.