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I picked up three of the Hardwire pedals the day I bought the tubes for my Jet City. The first thing I noticed about them is how robust they are...they're definitely solid built and have a nice weight to them. I have a feeling they'll hold up very well to daily use and gigging abuse.
Another noteworthy aspect of these pedals is the positive "click" you get with every adjustment of the knobs. I don't really know how to describe it, but it definitely screams quality. No loose adjustments or cheap pots in these. The knobs are silent all the way through their adjustment range and have very broad range of adjustment. I really like the versatility of each pedal.
You get some goodies with the pedals. The only really useful one is the rubber guard that slides over the knobs to prevent you from hitting them while you're on stage. It comes with velcro backings as well as a small square of illuminating tape you can place on the pedals. I find the lum tape to be very lackluster, so I just used my own that I picked up at the base PX. Overall, the little extras may not prove to be absolutely necessary, but it's really cool that they're thrown in with the pedals.
As for the pedals themselves, I'll break it into a paragraph for each.
Tube Overdrive: Definitely my favorite of the Hardwire's. It was two modes: "classic" which sounds like a slightly less mid-heavy TS-808 and a "modified" one that sounds a lot like the MXR Wylde Overdrive but with even more gain. I dialed in a pretty convincing ZZ Top tone on my clean channel using the "classic" mode with the level at 2 o'clock and the gain at just over noon. With the gain all the way up, it can do a great classic rock rhythm tone. I don't really like running the modified section, it has too much high end and when you dial off the treble on the pedal it makes it muddier instead of warmer. However, if you keep the gain at about 11 o'clock, it does a nice, crunchy 80's rhythm type tone. I prefer to run this pedal in front of my lead channel with the level cranked, bass at noon, treble rolled back a little, and the gain at 0. This really tightens the bottom end up and is a great lead tone. Pinch harmonics flat out scream and chords still retain their definition. Love it.
Stereo Chorus: So far, I've only really explored on three of the modes: Studio, Boutique, and Analog. This pedal only seems to really like being played clean and sounds pretty nasty on the lead channel. However, on the clean channel, it sounds so lush and thick that I don't care about not using it with solos. The "studio" mode is a very slow, deep chorus sound with a lot of high end. Think Queensryche. The "boutique" mode isn't as crisp as the "studio", but it sounds like it takes a bit of your mid range out. Chords sounds great and I like it for strumming and slow arpeggio work alike. The "analog" is my favorite and reminds me a lot of the chorus sound in the TC Electronic G Major. Just a really nice chorus sound.
Delay/Looper: I use this pedal for two things: its "Analog" delay. This pedal sounds so much like the Carbon Copy I used to own its scary. There's longer delay in this pedal then the MXR, which is a plus to me since I like using it with the level turned down with a long delay for my leadwork. I have to keep playing with this one, but so far I'm in love. If you want a nice slapback delay, this pedal does that, too. The looper is fun to play with, but it doesn't translate your tone very well at all. It seems to cut out a lot of your high end and just sounds messy. But I didn't buy the pedal for looping, so that's not really a negative in my eyes.
Overall, I really like these Hardwire pedals. I'm planning on picking up the Metal Distortion as well as the Reverb pedal in the future. They're solidly built pedals with great tone and are very user friendly. Try them out if you get the chance but be warned: you'll end up buying one. Or two. Or three.
Another noteworthy aspect of these pedals is the positive "click" you get with every adjustment of the knobs. I don't really know how to describe it, but it definitely screams quality. No loose adjustments or cheap pots in these. The knobs are silent all the way through their adjustment range and have very broad range of adjustment. I really like the versatility of each pedal.
You get some goodies with the pedals. The only really useful one is the rubber guard that slides over the knobs to prevent you from hitting them while you're on stage. It comes with velcro backings as well as a small square of illuminating tape you can place on the pedals. I find the lum tape to be very lackluster, so I just used my own that I picked up at the base PX. Overall, the little extras may not prove to be absolutely necessary, but it's really cool that they're thrown in with the pedals.
As for the pedals themselves, I'll break it into a paragraph for each.
Tube Overdrive: Definitely my favorite of the Hardwire's. It was two modes: "classic" which sounds like a slightly less mid-heavy TS-808 and a "modified" one that sounds a lot like the MXR Wylde Overdrive but with even more gain. I dialed in a pretty convincing ZZ Top tone on my clean channel using the "classic" mode with the level at 2 o'clock and the gain at just over noon. With the gain all the way up, it can do a great classic rock rhythm tone. I don't really like running the modified section, it has too much high end and when you dial off the treble on the pedal it makes it muddier instead of warmer. However, if you keep the gain at about 11 o'clock, it does a nice, crunchy 80's rhythm type tone. I prefer to run this pedal in front of my lead channel with the level cranked, bass at noon, treble rolled back a little, and the gain at 0. This really tightens the bottom end up and is a great lead tone. Pinch harmonics flat out scream and chords still retain their definition. Love it.
Stereo Chorus: So far, I've only really explored on three of the modes: Studio, Boutique, and Analog. This pedal only seems to really like being played clean and sounds pretty nasty on the lead channel. However, on the clean channel, it sounds so lush and thick that I don't care about not using it with solos. The "studio" mode is a very slow, deep chorus sound with a lot of high end. Think Queensryche. The "boutique" mode isn't as crisp as the "studio", but it sounds like it takes a bit of your mid range out. Chords sounds great and I like it for strumming and slow arpeggio work alike. The "analog" is my favorite and reminds me a lot of the chorus sound in the TC Electronic G Major. Just a really nice chorus sound.
Delay/Looper: I use this pedal for two things: its "Analog" delay. This pedal sounds so much like the Carbon Copy I used to own its scary. There's longer delay in this pedal then the MXR, which is a plus to me since I like using it with the level turned down with a long delay for my leadwork. I have to keep playing with this one, but so far I'm in love. If you want a nice slapback delay, this pedal does that, too. The looper is fun to play with, but it doesn't translate your tone very well at all. It seems to cut out a lot of your high end and just sounds messy. But I didn't buy the pedal for looping, so that's not really a negative in my eyes.
Overall, I really like these Hardwire pedals. I'm planning on picking up the Metal Distortion as well as the Reverb pedal in the future. They're solidly built pedals with great tone and are very user friendly. Try them out if you get the chance but be warned: you'll end up buying one. Or two. Or three.
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