Black Arts Toneworks: Starting the Metro Plexi Superbass build

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Starting the Metro Plexi Superbass build

First step was to modify the chassis to accept the IEC 14 plug in place of the standard power cord. I used a dremel tool to open up the stock hole to a square hole to accept the connector.

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Pharaoh

For musicians who love their guitar and amp’s tone. The Pharaoh pedal, while its roots and DNA are classic fuzz, has a few twists. The Pharaoh has a wide range of clipping and tonal options. From a cleanish boost, to a light OD, all the way to saturated fuzz. It sounds clear and natural, strong and bold. Your guitar sound isn’t high jacked, and your amp’s tone is not destroyed. The Pharaoh utilizes a dual tone control. The tone circuit is designed to suffer little volume loss, and give a natural sound. Your guitar and amp still sounds like your guitar and amp. No drastic cuts or boosts. The tone section allows your amp to do the heavy lifting. The Pharaoh starts with a hi/lo input switch, not unlike that of your favorite tube amp. Lo for more headroom/less clipping. Hi for less headroom/more clipping. A standard fuzz knob. A full range tone control with the addition of a high end compensation knob to allow you to replenish the highs cut by the tone control when boosting lows. The diode selector switch allows for different modes of clipping. Silicon Diodes for a raspy distorted sound, Diode bypass for more volume /headroom and less clipping. Asymmetrical Germanium clipping diodes give a warm, tubey old school sound. The two switches can take the Pharaoh from a clean/ fat boost to light OD which cleans up well with your guitar’s volume knob, all the way to hairy open fuzz. The Pharaoh utilizes signal caps large enough to pass all frequencies through, uncut. Again, a natural sound. This is especially important for bass player; you’ll get huge fuzz with NO low-end loss, and without squishy flubby tones

LSTR

The Pharaoh's unruly brother, LSTR provides the opposite of the Pharaoh. The LSTR is an all-out rock machine tuned and blended to deliver the signature Black Arts low end along with more fuzz than mamma allows, unique tone controls and LSTR's understated, striking beauty. LSTR is from the same BMP family, but unlike the Pharaoh, which is dialed back a little, LSTR is the action! LSTR is GO! LSTR can deliver fuzz bordering on distortion; tones go from the traditional muff scooped sound to the Pharaohish wide open tones. Point your tone knobs toward each other for the traditional BMP scoop, and away from each other to get into the more wide open Pharaoh tones.

Black Forest

What you have here is a throwback to the glory days of rock and roll, with a Black Arts twist. The Black Forest takes a celebrated circuit and drags it through the dirt. More gain, more fatness. A six way selector allows you to set your gain/low end/voicing along with Fuzz, Bass, Treble and Volume. This forest grew with the helping hand of a tone god. Treat it with care; allow future generations to behold the beauty that is the Black Forest. Behold the ugly beauty of old rock and roll. The beauty of big, fat gnarly tone. It is your duty, it is our destiny

Revelation

A Revelation. A Stripped down all out amp pusher. The Revelation SuperBass has a trio of controls. Pre Gain, Gain, and Volume. LOTS of volume. Pre Gain sets the overall gain level of the device, the gain control dials in the correct amount of distortion and the volume knob absolutely slays the front end of your amp. Think of the Revelation as an extension of your amp’s pre section. Use it to push your amp into super creamy saturation, use it to boost your riffs into full and thick exaggerations of your amp’s base tone. The Revelations do not alter your tone, just makes MORE of it. The SuperBass version of the Revelation is a rounder, more dynamic take on the circuit. A bit bassier, gruffer, throatier sound. Works equally well for guitar or bass, choose the SuperBass for a fuller, fatter sound. The SuperLead version of the Revelation is a rawer, more aggressive take on the circuit. A bit gnarlier, mid focused, aggressive sound. Specifically tuned for guitar, and baritone guitars, choose the SuperLead for a fuller, fatter, more saturated and aggressive sound. Choose the Revelation to hammer your amp.

TESTIFY!!

"The Timmy of Fuzz pedals."

Mariful, CA.

Mark,

I'm loving the Pharaoh. I played with it a little bit today.
Did a quick side by side with it and the Bluebeard.

I used to think the Bluebeard was versatile, not compared to the
Pharaoh. The Pharaoh is definitely the most versatile straight ahead
dirt box I've ever played through. It sounds absolutely huge. It's
loud. It can really move some air, there's tons of volume on tap. At
some settings it was a little overwhelming for my poor little practice
amp.

The Pharaoh's very organic and open sounding. It has a nice low end
response to it. The Bluebeard is more compressed and is in general a
brighter sounding pedal. It's hard to say which I prefer, they each
have something special going for them. It's going to take me quite a
while to sort through all the tones the Pharaoh is capable of
producing.

I haven't tried stacking the Pharaoh with other dirt boxes yet. I'm
sure that's going to open up entirely new dimensions in it's
flexibility. I did run it in stereo into two amps. The result was
massively huger than huge. I'm going to enjoy this pedal a lot.

Jason, Philly

The Pharaoh definitely reigns supreme! I've had the pleasure of playing it loudly all day and it sounds super badass! I love how wide open this thing sounds, just sings with pure dynamic heaviness and awesome touch sensitivity. None of the nasal, choking, piercing sounds a lot of fuzzes produce, the Pharaoh just blooms smooth fuzz out of my speakers. The tone controls make it really versatile, but in all honesty, when I first plugged it in, tones were at 12o'clock, adjusted fuzz and volume, high gain and diodes in and just zoned out playing it for over an hour! When I first switched it on, I noticed it was quiet as a mouse, until I hit a note, fuzz heaven.

When I finally started adjusting things, I realized this is the best sounding fuzz I've ever owned that also demonstrated this much versatility! I get amazing low gain, overdrive style tones, punchy distortion, and all out smooth, thick, juicy fuzz with low end fully intact, just amazing. I hate when fuzz pedals take over your guitar and amp tone and impart their own. The Pharaoh is definitely not guilty of this, just lets your guitar breathe through it while adding a healthy dose of heaviness. Oh yea, it looks amazing as well, super cool cosmetic design! And the price is superb, thank you!

Shannon, Missouri

I am pleased to announce that the Pharaoh is the best pedal EVER! Seriously it rules! I only had about 20 minutes to run it with the 100 watt rig and it was fucking awesome! just straight up perfect. It has to get over the last little hurdle of playing along with the band (Thursday!) but I know it'll be perfect. It's just what the doctor ordered. I get exactly the low end I want without the squishy farty bullshit I got with the bass muff and it's considerably more full and open sounding with the juicy harmonics than the musket. And I really like those pedals alot. Had I not been smart enough to buy the Pharaoh I'd have stuck with that Musket for forever maybe.

Darren, Seattle

People- after the honeymoon with the Pharaoh is over-here is my final say on it. It is simply the best fuzz I have ever used, I can't imagine my life without it now. The Riffer is a great guy to deal with too. By the way, mine is number 13. The first Pharaoh in Europe too. How cool is that?

Marlon, Portugal

_WOW....just fucking WOW!!! This pedal is an evil beast. Does what I need it to do and more. Perfect for that Matamp sound but so much more than that. Through my SLP and SG it was nuts....through my Music Man 75 and Jazzmaster .....it was nuts. I love this pedal and fully support B.A.T.

Jesse, VA

Alright Mark,

so i put it through the paces for a few days and found that this may actually be the only stationary piece on my pedal board outside of the tuner. i always change my board in and out. the only other three pedals that don't change are a reissue ampeg scrambler, my original maestro parametric filter and electro harmonix micro-pog. considering out of the mountain of pedals i own (boutique and vintage alike), that is saying something. i love the fact that it is a big muff with more functionality (and then some) or the fact that you can change the diodes in and out as well as the high and low pass. the fact that it can behave like a boost or blend with the volume of the amp (how i personally like to run it) is nothing less than an impossible dream when it comes to most pedals. they tend to sag or lack "tone" when running the volume too low, not here. pure analog goodness and the workmanship is well above par. i like the homegrown feel of the volume/fuzz/tone(s) appearance, it makes the pedal seem a little more of a secret weapon. i already have had several people comment on this in the studio, my favorite quote was "that's punishing, in a good way."

well, that said, thanks man and really am enjoying the pedal if you couldn't tell.

any other ideas in the works? very interested for sure.

harlowe from Nashville

I got my Pharaoh today!!!!!!!! I have to say Mark did an unbelievable job on it!! Absolute perfection!! First thing I did was open it and gaze at the beautiful wiring job. It is VERY well done and of course hand numbered inside. Now I haven't spent a lot of time with it yet but it is what I think most everyone in the DR is looking for. The manual is very well done and informative. First off, the Pharaoh is VERY flexible. With the diode clipping switches you really can go from a nice boost with the faintest drive to an all out nasty clipped fuzz approaching the Matamp/Electric sounds. The two small switches do exactly what Mark says they do. The high/low input switch really makes the pedal two completely different pedals in one! On the low input does a nice job at keeping the clipping at bay unless you really turn up the fuzz and even then it's not over the top saturation, more on the side of a nicely driven plexi with great mids and solid attack.It does a good job at boosting yet doesn't seem to really hammer the front end of the Traynor like other "boost" pedals do. That's not to say that's bad. Honestly it's a nice change from other boosts. For me, I will use that part to help grind some more ass out of the YBA-1 while giving me some more EQ-ing. Now on to the high input..........DAMN........it's just so...........DAMN!!!!!!! The diode switch set to in with the high input is fu@king great!!! It's so heavy sounding with a bit of "wet" to my ears. I had to change the oil in my amp......there was so much sludge!!!!! The two tone knobs are also quite interactive with each other too, which just gives this outstanding pedal even more flexibility. A word of caution....... if you rocking out on the high input, with the "diode in" you might want to turn down a bit before switching to "diode out"!!! You'll see what I mean! I'm really looking forward to spening a lot more time with the Pharaoh and see what I can tweek out of it. I think it'll take some time to really get it dialed in, but that's the fun of it. I have only used this so far with my Traynor YBA-1 and a cheap 2x12 cab at living room levels. I can't wait to crank it through the Electric 6x12!!! I know Mark said he will build them "as long as there's an interest", so I guess he's gonna be busy for some time!!!!! When people get a chance to hear this pedal, they're going to want one for themselves. Mark my words.........this is going to be one of those pedals that people loose sleep over waiting for one to pop up on ebay/forums for sale!!!! Congrats Mark, if the ideas in your head can make it into pedals, you my friend will do quite well!!!!!!!!"

Jon from Pittsburgh

....10 minutes with the Pharaoh through my crappy 15 watt ss practice amp and I can tell this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Lots of versatility and great sounds at every setting I've tried so far... after blasting the full fuzz doomage for a few minutes first, of course. Alright- back to pissing off the lady and scaring the dogs.....

I've been drinking vodka and running the pharaoh through its paces with my shitcore practice amp. The fact that it sounds as good as it does in this setting is a great sign. The fact that the tones it's giving make me want to be a better player is both inspiring and daunting.

Mike from Seattle

With the bass setup the Pharaoh was great. In fact I have no other dirt that equals it for the bass rig. The others get too compressed or lose the lows .

Tom from Cleve-O

It's very quiet and transparent, which is exactly what I needed. Very versatile as well ! Great job man !

Mark, the pharoah killed the other night man ! My leads always get buried and the pharoah made them stand out perfectly !

Joey from Dallas

Just got done messing with the Pharaoh on my Orange Crush. Wow! The first fuzz/od I've owned that I actually took an instant liking to. Easy to dial in a range of sounds and not an amp tone killer like most the other ones I've used. I can't wait to try it through my big setup. I could even see myself running two of these. One as a boost for the Electric and one as my main od/fuzz for the Fender. Aesthetically it looks awesome. The green light looks really cool and so does the casing.

Greg from Houston

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Starting the Metro Plexi Superbass build

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Pharaoh

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