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NPD : Southhampton Fifth Gear - Beastly
- Thread starter AngelCrusher
- Start date
The 5th gear is really made for this exact functionality.
The FG is one of those pedals that just makes you want to play just to hear it. Eesssoogoooooo
I've played the Beta -- it has a baked in high cut and bass bump, so it's not a transparent pedal like the FG appears to be. I also didn't really love the breakup on it at higher gains, it sounded almost like a second signal draped over my clean signal. ymmv, etc.
Im throwing some guitar parts on my record and of course I tried the 5th gear out on guitar. I run a strat through some effects and a small tube amp. I wanted to hear what the 5th gear did at a higher frequency focus so this was a perfect opportunity. At about the same setting - (10 o'clock), the guitar just tightens up and pops right through the mix when the 5th gear is engaged. It is a fantastic tone shaper. I found if I selected the bridge pickup and engaged the pedal, I got a nice sharp, cutting rhythm tone with no effort that is still warm and not harsh (have to love tubes). When the pedal is off the guitar simply does not cut through the mix as easily. The guitar tone I'm looking for is a very tight rhythm tone focused in the high end. This allows me to high pass pretty aggressively so the keys have their space and so does the bass. 5th gear is amazing for this.
Totally different pedals IMO and IME. The Beta is a warm, vintage, and tightly compressed overdrive that adds a bunch of bottom end to your signal. Great for "Motown" tones, but not exactly what I would consider a flexible pedal. The Fifth Gear is as we've described it in this thread, a light OD/dirty boost that seems to make your mids richer and more present and fattens up your tone, and although it isn't really "touch sensitive", I don't find it to be very compressing at all.
Sounds like it's closest comparison would be the Earthquaker Devices Speaker Cranker. Both yellow, both one knob, both based on the Electra Distortion.
The Speaker Cranker I had was great although it did cut off some of the sub lows. If this sounds similar but with more wallop and a smaller box, I could be game!
The Speaker Cranker I had was great although it did cut off some of the sub lows. If this sounds similar but with more wallop and a smaller box, I could be game!
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Yes it does sound very similar, but I don't notice any low end loss with this pedal, and the size is an advantage as well. I love ED pedals a lot - the Dispatch Master is fantastic.
The FG is definitely great at pushing tubes.
FG> YBA200-2 is great
FG> P-15 is great
FG> Meatsmoke Pre is great
FG> JohnK AU Drive is amazing
FG> YBA200-2 is great
FG> P-15 is great
FG> Meatsmoke Pre is great
FG> JohnK AU Drive is amazing
The Fifth Gear is actually based on the Speaker Cranker, which was based on the Electra Distortion. I've not tried a Speaker Cranker before, but it would seem that Southampton's own tweaks and take on it has eliminated any of the low end loss that version has.
As if I needed another reason to try an AU Drive sometime...
pretty much exactly re: Beta -- if you have the board space for what is essentially a one (maybe two) trick pony, it's almost peerless (at least among the pedals I've tried) in terms of what it does well, but it's not flexible enough to make the cut for me. Touch sensitivity in an OD is also key for me at higher gains, and it's not...like at all.
Remember guys. Hamish is a guitarist. We messed around a bit with adding low end but it was too much
The FG sounds great on guitar and bass
The FG sounds great on guitar and bass
Step 1: Trade Barbershop ME for Modele B: Complete!
Nice! Do you keep the setting the same on the FG for the YBA as for the Meatsmoke Pre and etc?
