Carl Martin Hot Drive 'N Boost MK II

Pure analog. Not true bypass but in a great way.

UTILIZATION

Straight forward.

SOUND QUALITY

Use it with Vox AC15 heritage hardwired amp with blue alnico speaker. Telecaster guitar, Gibson 339 guitar. I play rock, blues, country rock, punk and everything in between except for metal. Have had many ODs in my life, some more expensive, some less. Non as good as the MK3 HDB. Sound is addictive. I have compare it side by side with other good ODs and ended always trying to make the other pedals sound as this one. The boost option is just amazingly rich and useful.

OVERALL OPINION

I don't find the clear out plug useful, but that's me.
I've had many ODs, as I've said, none like this one. I will never depart from it.

Analog Yes!
Digital ugh!

UTILIZATION

Plug and play!

SOUND QUALITY

Excellent it magnifies the sound of my tube amp (clear channel)
She distinctly heard a group without having to turn the volume as a patient.
Light Coats crunch to hard (not heavy!) For rhythm is perfect.
Warning pairing it with a kind DD3 delay and it flat solos sound is even more beautiful and piercing. We almost take for Carlos Santana!
The boost can be useful but if the sound setting group is well done it is used little or not. His sound is clearly different slice of the bass.

OVERALL OPINION

I've had a year and this is the best pedal in this type OD / Disto flexible as I know. Besides, I do not try something else. Warning I use it with an amp all-tube Egnater Renegade 212.
Only minor, the case is a little high.
Purchased from okaz but it is rare that the guitarists have custody!

CHARACTERISTICS level not much things to say is simple.
Overdrive with a knob of three rglages could not be more simple, and a boost with a rglage indpendant.
A small subtilis all of the same, there are two kinds: one allowing the use of boost and driver, and an output Clean Out, allowing only the use of Boost.
Practice!

UTILIZATION

The complexity of use is that of a conventional pedals! So easy! Four good EQ knob and forward.
Simple but effective.
No need for manual is plug and play.

SOUND QUALITY

Its level is that all the accelerated
An extremely good pedals that covers the sonic palette of rock in all its forms.
Overdrive of the lightweight, a big crunch, she knows everything. It possde some characters, but always respects the hardware on which it is connected.
Big influence of scratches and the amp much empty.
I just apprcier able to go a bit further into the gain, but hey ....
It is particulirement transparent, no breath, no interference.
Internal power supply (9v) stabilized is practical unless you have a block of power supply SPECIFICATIONS.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for four months, and I am satisfied. This as my current config Tte Orange Rockerverb 50, enough for me and I do not use more than Boost (hyper-effective elsewhere.
Good pedals. The report quality bargain price (around 130) is quite correct.
Carl Martin quality. It's solid. The switch seems a little feeble, but shows no sign of fatigue is that it's good then

A pedal "two in one" incredible. Distortion type old tube amp and a boost of +20 db. In fact it is a preamp. I already tried (in this form) but they had a tendency to distort the original sound. Here is the foot.
An input jack and two outputs are available. A CLEAN OUT output (for use only boost) and OUTPUT (for use distortion and boost)

UTILIZATION

Regarding the settings. We can no longer single!
There are three knobs LEVEL WAVE GAIN to equalize the sound of the distortion. BOOST and a knob for adjusting the desired volume increase.
Even without a manual pedal is affordable. The manual provides tips quite interesting as some typical settings for blues, rock, hard rock and heavy rock and some tips on using your amplifier.

SOUND QUALITY

Attention is the key to pedal hard rock n roll. Distortion approaching that of a light amplifier (I compared with my JCM 800 LeadSerie), with settings that let you move from one rock to blues disto disto heavy rock. Playing on the guitar pickups and pedal settings we have everything we want in the field of rock. For metalheads, it's not worth it. Sad, but good!
But where it gets crazy is when you use the BOOST (pedal has two switches, a distortion and a boost). To perform a solo without the rest of the group can cover you, it's ideal. Up to 20db more. HUGE. I use the volume pot on January 1 quarter of its potential and is already almost too much. Longer need to savagely attack the strings, no need for compressor distorts the sound. The true sound of the amp louder (much louder) simply.

In addition to the bypass is a real treat. The clean sound is really clear, no noise. To this we must add that the power lies in the pedal so no transformer (and breath).

I use this pedal with a Jackson Dinky AR and a JCM 800. A real treat? Bluesy rock sound to its wholesale Heavy Rock, nothing escapes me. A true happiness.
NOTES: pedal shows its limits when you go to with the big rock in open RE #. Here I would advise the Tech21 XXL (see review)

OVERALL OPINION

After 15 days of use I wonder how I managed before Scratch'N. Everything is good in the carl martin I'd try to say. If this application is exclusively reserved for rock hard rock. The same pedal METAL version would be a killer.
Before this I tried a Pre-1/Booster Nobels, which had comparable opportunities except it had no distortion and it distorted a little sound. IT was just a boost (very effective incidentally).
It is true that the price is high but well I really think it's worth. When we bought it we understand that price, which is quite low actually.