Aguilar Storm King: Misunderstood and underrated

[Evan J]

I was on the hunt for a cheap fuzz and then I ran across the Storm King, a pedal I tried 3 years ago. At the time I thought the pedal sounded cool but had trouble getting it to work in my rig. Didn’t seem functional.

I later had the Tone Hammer and I sold it for the OE Bassrig. But I missed how good the AGS sounds when pushed by upstream dirt.

Now that I understand the Tone Hammer dive circuit, the Storm King makes SO MUCH more sense.

Why it’s misunderstood:

Lots of reviews complain about loss of low end. But I’m convinced that most of these reviews don’t understand the shape knob. It’s meant to tighten up the low end and boost the mids. But if you keep the shape knob below 9 o-clock you have PLENTY of lows leftover. It’s only when the gain goes absolutely bonkers do the highs start to get overwhelming. But there is a whole lot of usable gain range until you reach this point.

Here are a few great uses I’ve found:
- Tube sim at the end of my rig. Works just like the Tone Hammer. I like it even better than the OE Bassrig cab sim for live use.
- Low gain always-on growl in conjunction with an EQ pedal (the AGS / Storm king circuit is designed to take EQ beautifully. Scoop those mids!)
- Mid gain fat and tubey sounds.
- High gain smooth fuzz. Almost synth-like

I got it $125 used.

Would highly recommend for folks who like the Aguilar vibe.

 

[el murdoque]

The so called "Tightening of the Low end" that happens with the AGS engaged is not as bad as they make it sound in my experience.

I sent white noise through my Storm King and recorded the response with the shape knob at min/noon/max:

You can see that with the shape from min to noon, the lows are completely untouched, only when you go past that, you will get a gentle roll off in the lows, along with a bump in the mids.

What I do think is hopelessly underrated about this pedal is how good it is at low gain drive sounds.
In most video reviews, the reviewer mentions that it sounds good with the gain low, plays two seconds in that setting and then proceeds to crank it.

It is a very nice pedal. It's small, inexpensive and surprisingly versatile. I like it a lot more than the Agro.

 

[FrenchBassQC]

I was on the hunt for a cheap fuzz and then I ran across the Storm King, a pedal I tried 3 years ago. At the time I thought the pedal sounded cool but had trouble getting it to work in my rig. Didn’t seem functional.

I later had the Tone Hammer and I sold it for the OE Bassrig. But I missed how good the AGS sounds when pushed by upstream dirt.

Now that I understand the Tone Hammer dive circuit, the Storm King makes SO MUCH more sense.

Why it’s misunderstood:

Lots of reviews complain about loss of low end. But I’m convinced that most of these reviews don’t understand the shape knob. It’s meant to tighten up the low end and boost the mids. But if you keep the shape knob below 9 o-clock you have PLENTY of lows leftover. It’s only when the gain goes absolutely bonkers do the highs start to get overwhelming. But there is a whole lot of usable gain range until you reach this point.

Here are a few great uses I’ve found:
- Tube sim at the end of my rig. Works just like the Tone Hammer. I like it even better than the OE Bassrig cab sim for live use.
- Low gain always-on growl in conjunction with an EQ pedal (the AGS / Storm king circuit is designed to take EQ beautifully. Scoop those mids!)
- Mid gain fat and tubey sounds.
- High gain smooth fuzz. Almost synth-like

I got it $125 used.

Would highly recommend for folks who like the Aguilar vibe.View attachment 7401392View attachment 7401393

That is a very nice pedal board...

 

[dannybuoy]

It’s my favourite low-gain pedal to pair with my passive P bass. Kick button deserves to be enabled at all times! I bought mine used at a good price because the button had fallen off, but I don’t mind since I leave it always on.

However I wish that the gain staging was recalibrated so I can get even lower gain out of it (it’s pretty unusable past noon), also the pedal puts out a lot of white noise / hiss. It’s not too noticeable with a tweeterless cab and/or speaker sim, but still way noisier than other drive pedals in my collection.

 

[pisces_bass]

Are any of you stacking the storm king with the THDI? I use the AGS for always on low gain grit and I wonder about using the SK up or downstream for higher gain distortion.

 

[monsterthompson]

I like it a lot more than the Agro.

My Agro definitely felt like it was weak in the lows. It had things I liked, but not enough to keep for long.

I’ll have to revisit some storm king demos.

 

[el murdoque]

My Agro definitely felt like it was weak in the lows. It had things I liked, but not enough to keep for long.

I’ll have to revisit some storm king demos.

Aguilar Storm King – The Dirt Jounal

thedirtjounal.com

In my blog entry, I've recorded some low gain settings.

 

[Evan J]

The so called "Tightening of the Low end" that happens with the AGS engaged is not as bad as they make it sound in my experience.

I sent white noise through my Storm King and recorded the response with the shape knob at min/noon/max:

You can see that with the shape from min to noon, the lows are completely untouched, only when you go past that, you will get a gentle roll off in the lows, along with a bump in the mids.

What I do think is hopelessly underrated about this pedal is how good it is at low gain drive sounds.
In most video reviews, the reviewer mentions that it sounds good with the gain low, plays two seconds in that setting and then proceeds to crank it.

It is a very nice pedal. It's small, inexpensive and surprisingly versatile. I like it a lot more than the Agro.

This and your blog post make me feel very validated. Good to know that my ears are working.

If you just go by the general internet consensus of this pedal, you would think it’s a lemon. But thanks to the poor reviews, it’s now and screaming deal in the used market for a high quality circuit.

Also great blog! Exactly the kind of reviews I’m looking for.

 

[Evan J]

Are any of you stacking the storm king with the THDI? I use the AGS for always on low gain grit and I wonder about using the SK up or downstream for higher gain distortion.

Haven’t tried it but my gut says use it for downstream unless you need the TH DI. I feel like the storm king responds best after an EQ/Preamp.

 

[Evan J]

the pedal puts out a lot of white noise / hiss. It’s not too noticeable with a tweeterless cab and/or speaker sim, but still way noisier than other drive pedals in my collection.

It is quite compressed. So some occasional noise makes sense I suppose. With the OE built-in buffers in my chain it’s dead silent. Unless of course I’m using a single pickup on my 60s style Jazz.

 

[Evan J]

That is a very nice pedal board...

Thank you! I am attempting a “year without gear” where I buy nothing gear related. So I wanted to make sure I had a somewhat future proof rig. Only the good stuff.