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aidan.04
Published on 05/01/08 at 09:42
TThe Womanizer from Damage Control is a tube preamp in stompbox form for electric guitarists. The dual 12AX7 tubes provide distortion with dual-cascading gain stages and acts much like the front end of a quality tube amp.
It has 1/4" in put and output, as well as a direct recording output, which when used emulates an open-backed 4x12 cabinet, so it can serve as a direct box for studio or live use if you wish.
The controls include gain and volume, pre and post eq, and an on-board compressor. Very cool.
UTILIZATION
I'm not a tube amp expert so I can't explain how they do it, but with only 2 tubes in Class A setup, the Womanizer has 4 stages of gain that let you travel from ultra clean to a classic heavy disorted tone, very akin to a cranked early Marshall.
It takes some time twiddling knobs to coax the different tones available out of this box. The versatility creates a bit of a learning curve I'm afraid, but you can't complain because good sounds are still easy to dial in.
SOUNDS
This box is like a dream come true for guitarist that want classic tube crunch without paying a fortune for a dual-channel tube amp. I own a low-end tube combo but its only a single channel amp, and I still rely on stompboxes for even moderate gain sounds. Moving beyond just a distortion circuit that is sypical of most overdrives, this employs actual TUBES which means you achieve real tube amp sound, crunch, and dynamic response!
The cleaner end of the spectrum is fairly transparent gain wise, but it does impart a tubey-ness to your tone that it complimented my amp. As I cranked the gain and dialed in just a touch of compression the tone gets righter and raunchier, but in very gradual degrees. At full blast, this thing is like a cranked tube combo. Not Boogie high gain mind you, but a more early and classic British tube sound. I would imagine the Demonizer would give more aggressive high gain distortion if thats what you prefer. But this preamp is very musical and will retain the individual notes of a chord, very tube-amp like.
I found that I liked to keep the compression minnimal, as it sounds better and more "open" in my opinion the less you use. Being heavy handed with this compression kinda kills the natural tonal characteristics in my opinion.
But I was very pleased with a lot of the sonic possibilities and overall pallete of tone available. I played my Ibanez Ghostrider with PAF humbuckers through this, and into my Epiphone Valve Special set fairly clean. It brought a new dimension to even the clean sound of my amp, and its gain structure interacted nicely with the amp so I imagine others would find similar results.
OVERALL OPINION
Basically, I love this thing. It lets me take my 200 dollar tube amp, and add an entire new level of gain never before possible and compression, for less money than I could have bought a larger dual channel amp, which would have created volume problems. I think a lot of other guys out there like myself have been waiting for something like this. If you already have a high quality tube combo, like a Mesa, Carvin, or Bogner then you don't need this. But if you are a Fender guy looking for non-fender gain structure, or someone with an amp that doesn't deliver the gain and options you wish then this is for you.
Its 300 dollar price tag is a chunk, but it will replace many of your overdrive boxes you have been buying to find distortion you are happy with. Buy this, or perhaps the demonizer if you play more aggresive rock.
It has 1/4" in put and output, as well as a direct recording output, which when used emulates an open-backed 4x12 cabinet, so it can serve as a direct box for studio or live use if you wish.
The controls include gain and volume, pre and post eq, and an on-board compressor. Very cool.
UTILIZATION
I'm not a tube amp expert so I can't explain how they do it, but with only 2 tubes in Class A setup, the Womanizer has 4 stages of gain that let you travel from ultra clean to a classic heavy disorted tone, very akin to a cranked early Marshall.
It takes some time twiddling knobs to coax the different tones available out of this box. The versatility creates a bit of a learning curve I'm afraid, but you can't complain because good sounds are still easy to dial in.
SOUNDS
This box is like a dream come true for guitarist that want classic tube crunch without paying a fortune for a dual-channel tube amp. I own a low-end tube combo but its only a single channel amp, and I still rely on stompboxes for even moderate gain sounds. Moving beyond just a distortion circuit that is sypical of most overdrives, this employs actual TUBES which means you achieve real tube amp sound, crunch, and dynamic response!
The cleaner end of the spectrum is fairly transparent gain wise, but it does impart a tubey-ness to your tone that it complimented my amp. As I cranked the gain and dialed in just a touch of compression the tone gets righter and raunchier, but in very gradual degrees. At full blast, this thing is like a cranked tube combo. Not Boogie high gain mind you, but a more early and classic British tube sound. I would imagine the Demonizer would give more aggressive high gain distortion if thats what you prefer. But this preamp is very musical and will retain the individual notes of a chord, very tube-amp like.
I found that I liked to keep the compression minnimal, as it sounds better and more "open" in my opinion the less you use. Being heavy handed with this compression kinda kills the natural tonal characteristics in my opinion.
But I was very pleased with a lot of the sonic possibilities and overall pallete of tone available. I played my Ibanez Ghostrider with PAF humbuckers through this, and into my Epiphone Valve Special set fairly clean. It brought a new dimension to even the clean sound of my amp, and its gain structure interacted nicely with the amp so I imagine others would find similar results.
OVERALL OPINION
Basically, I love this thing. It lets me take my 200 dollar tube amp, and add an entire new level of gain never before possible and compression, for less money than I could have bought a larger dual channel amp, which would have created volume problems. I think a lot of other guys out there like myself have been waiting for something like this. If you already have a high quality tube combo, like a Mesa, Carvin, or Bogner then you don't need this. But if you are a Fender guy looking for non-fender gain structure, or someone with an amp that doesn't deliver the gain and options you wish then this is for you.
Its 300 dollar price tag is a chunk, but it will replace many of your overdrive boxes you have been buying to find distortion you are happy with. Buy this, or perhaps the demonizer if you play more aggresive rock.