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NPD: Verellen Meatsmoke

cataract

cataract

Supporting Member
Feb 14, 2007
5,402
15,770
Athens AL
#1
Been wanting one of these for YEARS now, and it’s finally mine.
I think I’ve found the be all / end all end of my chain //
72E58D5B-C767-4C25-A57E-45CCCB1363DE.jpeg

This thing literally smokes.
Low gain settings remind me a lot of my old SVT, super warm and inviting.. cranking the gain on the first channel really brings that delicious pushed tube amp vibe..
The Boost switch can take you anywhere from above mild tube breakup to absolute “you no longer have a face” goodness..
Haven’t had a chance to run this with the rest of my board feeding into it but I can’t wait to hear how it pairs with my all time favorites (Nuñez Annex / Rusty Box / MBD-1)
BDCDD179-C8DE-405B-A31A-4B7E41F3E1F9.jpeg
 
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#4
cataract said:
Been wanting one of these for YEARS now, and it’s finally mine.
I think I’ve found the be all / end all end of my chain //
View attachment 2989748
This thing literally smokes.
Low gain settings remind me a lot of my old SVT, super warm and inviting.. cranking the gain on the first channel really brings that delicious pushed tube amp vibe..
The Boost switch can take you anywhere from above mild tube breakup to absolute “you no longer have a face” goodness..
Haven’t had a chance to run this with the rest of my board feeding into it but I can’t wait to hear how it pairs with my all time favorites (Nuñez Annex / Rusty Box / MBD-1)
View attachment 2989762
Click to expand...
Are you using the Annex predominantly as a drive?
 
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#5
NoxNoctus said:
I thought about trying this, have a Gold Lion in there and I've tried a Mullard as well. What do you recommend?
Click to expand...

I absolutely love the bugle boy 12au7 in there . I have the Meatsmoke amp as well and have the same tube in that as well . It's a great tube for that preamp!!!!!
 
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#7
BunchyMutt said:
Are you using the Annex predominantly as a drive?
Click to expand...
I’ve been running the Annex at the end of my chain as an always on, set to mild breakup— but with its boost switch having its own volume control it’s been easy to use its onboard boost as a drive.. I’m thinking that pushing the Nuñez through the Meatsmoke set to low gain will just be unworldly good (on top of the ‘smoke’s boost + the plethora of other dirt I’ve got on tap!)
It’s gonna be fun dancing around with all of these unity settings!
 
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#9
cataract said:
Nice. I’ve read that the Gold Lion’s are pretty great.. did you swap out both of the tubes in your Meatsmoke or just one?
Click to expand...

I have tried a bunch of options. First I had the one channel preamp, then the two channel. I now have a custom 2 channel

I have tried and love the gold lion in thee first tube space and the Bugle boy in channel two.

My custom preamp is more like 2 independent channels. It only has 1 tube and both channels are designed to be cleaner than the stock 2 channel. Channel 1 is ultra clean for tubes lol . And channel 2 is identical to the regular channel one . It currently has a 12au7 bugle boy. But I have tried and love the gold lion . It brighten it up and adds some clarity to it when pushed into break up.

Also . Some old Mullards are great. And my current fav is an old Ultron 12ax7 .Which is a Phillips I believe.

Whatever pre or amp I have by Verellen I try as many tubes as I can. The stock JJs don't do it for me in the second position . Just too much break up for me
 
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#13
Dub56 said:
That's really funny, I just got my Meatsmoke pedal yesterday too! This thing is phenomenal, I love it. It sounds great with all my other pedals (spoiler alert--I think you're going to like it with the MBD-1:thumbsup:)
View attachment 2990595

Congrats on the Meatsmoke! Seriously, I love mine, I'm sure you love yours too
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Yusss I’m still pinching myself (are you? Haha) Kind of weird having this thing a few feet away that I’ve lusted after for years! On top of that, I posted that b&w photo on social media and a friend of mine messaged me asking how much it’s worth because she’s had one since the first run Kickstarter and she’s looking to sell.
There’s been a first run Meatsmoke in my town just not being used for years. CRAZY! Glad I got the v2, though.
 
#14
cataract said:
Yusss I’m still pinching myself (are you? Haha) Kind of weird having this thing a few feet away that I’ve lusted after for years! On top of that, I posted that b&w photo on social media and a friend of mine messaged me asking how much it’s worth because she’s had one since the first run Kickstarter and she’s looking to sell.
There’s been a first run Meatsmoke in my town just not being used for years. CRAZY! Glad I got the v2, though.
Click to expand...

Indeed, I am! This thing is exactly what I wanted. For me though, I just recently found out about this beast AFTER buying all sorts of other pedals to try to emulate the specific "Tubey" vibe I'm looking for (of course :meh:). I practice through headphones a lot (3leaf Enabler), and I really wanted something to give me that "tubey" sound I'm used to with my Mesa. Speaking of the Mesa, I'm also excited to try this thing running into the effects return of the Mesa. I can't imagine that not sounding good. lol

Also, I was planning on selling off a couple of other dirt pedals (Vintage Ultra, Terraformer) to recoup some costs when I got this Meatsmoke.... but it sounds too good with all of them. It just makes them all sound better! So much for that plan :whistle:

Also, that's too funny about the V1 in town! I would imagine there aren't an absolute ton of them out there. I will say that I'm glad I went with the V2 as well, but I'm sure the V1 sounds great too.
 
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#20
DirtyDuke said:
I was able to get Ben to add the switches for ultra low and high to both channels. It's like having the amp at your feet!!!
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No kidding? I'm going to contact him for that mod sounds cool he did make me some some custom wood sides that I love. I've had mine for about four years now and it's the end all pedal.
 
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