Agro

lowdownstu · #1 11-28-2010, 01:18 AM

I got the aguilar agro yesterday and I'm pretty damn impressed. Only thing is I assumed I should run it before my Aguilar octamizer but it seems to peak it out. I ran it after the octamizer and all is good. Anyone else experience this?

Mark Olson · #2 11-28-2010, 01:26 AM

I always place octave pedals before distortion pedals. It gives analog octave pedals an easier time with tracking, and personally I'd rather distort my octave than octave my distortion. Sounds more natural if you think more in terms of tone (pitch) coming from the guitar and distortion coming from the amp.

P-oddz · #3 11-29-2010, 08:41 AM

+1 to running the Octave before the distortion.

And to the OP, that is how I run my Aguilar pedals as well - Octamizer going into the Agro.

ripman3 · #4 11-29-2010, 09:15 AM

Can you tell me about both of the pedals? I'm getting both for myself for christmas. How do they sound in the mix playing live?

Insouciance · #5 11-30-2010, 02:03 AM

I too want to know how the Agro sounds in a mix. I have my fuzzes down, but my (LM308) Rat doesn't cut through at all. I really, really want to find a distortion that tears through the mix.

Thanks!
Taylor.

lowdownstu · #6 11-30-2010, 04:01 AM

Got my first gig with the Agro this Saturday and I should be running it fairly high gain, it seems pretty cool in rehearsal so I'll update this weekend and I can tell you already the Octamizer is fantastic.
In fact next on the list is an Aggie twin filter, I'll find out myself but should I probably run this before the agro as well because of dynamics and touch sensitivity???

NathanTbass · #7 11-30-2010, 04:14 AM

Both pedals are awesome live. I have two Agro's set to different settings and an octamizer, and when I kick any of them on the whole place knows it! The octamizer is great if you are playing with a 3 piece or something that doesn't have a lot of instrumentation to fill up a room, and kicking it on in the chorus (with very subtile settings) really fills out the spectrum and makes things feel bigger than they really are. Pair that with some mild to crazy gain on the Agro and you have the power to start a riot. Really great tools for taking your tone to a new place in my opinion...but what do i know

I think you'll have a great time gigging these pedals!

P-oddz · #8 11-30-2010, 09:45 AM

Both are great pedals. The Octamizer I use much like the above poster to add some girth to select parts. It's really nice to beef up sound when teamed with a dirt pedal as well. But IME - the Agro I've had a little tougher time finding a happy home for. I love the sound of the pedal, and I use it for my more aggressive version of drive - but I still have yet to find where it shines.

I also use a Zvex Distortron, and these are used to drive my Bassman TV15 combo. The Agro seems to be a really precise distortion. It cuts through the mix very well, but I find more that I don't wan't to necessarily cut most of the time, but rather beef up individual parts. The Distortron seems to drive my amp better in that regard. It's got more sloppy overtones that fill out the space rather than slice through it. That being said though, I've used my Agro for recording over the Distortron mixed in with a clean signal, and love the tones.

YMMV, and I'd be curious to hear other peoples settings/what type of music played for comparison.

And all that being said, I do love me some Aguilar gear these days. Octamizer to Agro to Tone Hammer.