Aguilar Tone Hammer - Review

afroman · #1 02-14-2009, 12:16 AM

I had a Fulltone Bassdrive that I was very very happy with.
But as I'm always looking at other stuff I decided to get a Tone Hammer and compare them.

To me the Bassdrive has a better Overdrive/Distortion sound. It can get way crazier and with the Boost you get 2 overdrive sounds with selectable volumes for each. The Tone Hammer can get really really close to my fav Bassdrive setting, but doesn't have the ability to get as nasty as the Bassdrives Overdrive + Boost sound.

In the end I kept the Tone Hammer and sold the Bassdrive.
Why? Well...

The Tone Hammer can get pretty much the exact same sound as the Bassdrive plus it has lots of EQ options (the EQ is really good) and it has a DI which is a big plus. The parametric mids are what ultimately sold me on the TH. It does take a little time to get the mids just right when using the AGS. The mids are what changes the character of the THs overdrive.

Overall I'd be happy with any of them, but one of them had to go.
The TH won on pure features and versatility. The Bassdrive wins as a pure overdrive.

Marill · #2 02-14-2009, 03:03 AM

are you powering it with the adaptor or batteries? the 18v requirement is a hassle if all your other effects are 9v

afroman · #3 02-14-2009, 08:23 AM

I power it with 18V with my Pedal Power 2. Works perfectly.
I ran the Bassdrive in 18V mode too, so my comparison is very accurate.

stingray69 · #4 02-14-2009, 08:38 AM

Nice review - thanks!

Ryan Mohr · #5 02-14-2009, 10:13 AM

So are you using it as a dedicated overdrive and EQ for dirty tones, or as a clean preamp too?

afroman · #6 02-14-2009, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AqueousView11

So are you using it as a dedicated overdrive and EQ for dirty tones, or as a clean preamp too?

Right now Im using it as an overdrive unit.
But in the future i want to incorporate it into recordings and having 2 DI signals (one dirty one clean) from the TH and the other from my amp.

I would use it for EQ and overdrive but the volume boost of the AGS makes this very hard to do. I could lower my bass volume but I think this volume boost is the only downfall of the TH.