UPDATE: I bought the HG and I am very very very very impressed! It gets me the low gain tone/compression that I had in my head. It also works well with other amps that I plugged it to.
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I thought about getting an LTD, but the thought of having a switchable channel like the Half Gainer got me thinking. I'd run one channel as a boost for the Direct Drive, then the other channel for a mild overdrive..