Barber Electronics forum.

Hey!

The only OD I ever liked was the Silver LTD. I play a strat into a vintage DR or VR on every gig, and I felt like it was a god substitute for not being able to crank the amps at certain gigs.

As time wore on, I wanted the mids in a different place, and I stopped using it.

Then the Half-Gainer came out, and I thought of picking one up for the mids knob, but never got around to it.

Yesterday I tried a Dual UNLTD, and really liked it, so I bought it.

I used ut on a gig last night, and I have two questions:

Is the level of compression the same between the Half Gainer and the Dual UNLTD when playing with the same amount of drive?

Are bot units capable of reproducing the same range of high and low frequencies? Basically, can the Dual UNLTD be dialed in to sound like the Half-Gainer when it comes to bass and treble reproduction?

Thanks so much!

I haven't gone nuts with the internal controls on either yet (as I felt the stock settings were nice on both). But here is my take.

Both are comparably "open, clear, transparent." Compression is an interesting thing, both have compression, but in the scheme of things are quite uncompressed sounding. Neither are compressed in the way I typically think of OD pedal compression. I would say the compression is similar.

They are both "full range" EQ wise from my perspective. Full lows and highs. BUT the bass response is different. I feel the Half-Gainer is looser and the UNLTD is tighter and more modern sounding.

They are voiced differently. Crank the Mids on your unlimited and compare it to your LTD and perhaps you will get the feeling of the difference in "flavor." Of course the Half-Gainer is much more versatile in the mid range control than the LTD SIlver, but I suggest trying out the comparison since it sounds like you have a LTD Sliver and the Dual UNLTD on hand.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply!

I would compare it to the silver, but I don't have the silver any more. Otherwise, Id; probably be doing exactly what you suggest.

I really like the ability to get two different shades of drive out of the Dual UNLTD, but after using it on a gig, I feel that it's a little too "tight" sounding. Your comments re-enforce what I think I'm hearing and feeling. The settings I liked were with the tone knob at noon, the mids knob at 10:30, both volumes at unity with my amp set with the volume low, one gain at just under 9:00, and one gain at noon. I could never use more gain than what this puts out at noon - that's pretty much the hottest sound I'd want to hear or play.

I dont know whether the Custom Cool or the Half Gainer is the answer, or whether I should just stick with this - it's a pretty cool sounding pedal, but I want something that emulates my old Fender amps as closely as possible when I'm playing at low volumes. I think a touch less gain, and a little more "roundness/looseness" might be the ticket.

Man, is that pant job beautiful, or what?

i would love to see a custom with one channel 1/2 Gainer and the other with uLTD (with mids)