Die, Hipster, Die!

So, it was kismet- Noisemaker effects listed on Cheaper Pedals? Yes, please! A great company, being distributed by another great group of people- that's important to me. I'm no nationalist. I don't care if it's Merkin or Chinese, or Auf Deutsch- because I like it when everybody has a decent job. But, I'm much more inclined to buy from a nice person than from either a machine or a jerk. Matt and Elliott are nice people. That's a rare thing when it's nice people, up and down the line- I can't say all the way up and down- I don't know about Matt's parts resource- could be sweatshop labour, I don't know- and I can tell you that my local USPS are a bunch of jerks, with exactly two exceptions. Still, it's more than a bit more secure than ordering from, say, Danelectro.

However, I'm sure the question would obviously be- why not just buy from Matt, directly? Because Elliott is a good person, and in a position to do good- not everyone is combing through the Reverb and Etsy lists, like I am. But, people do google search terms- and I can see 'cheaper Pedals" making it into a google search, can't you? So, Elliott can make sure than people who otherwise never would have heard of Noisemaker Effects not only can become aware, but can purchase them. It's the same reason why you book at show at a bar, instead of at a BBQ, or why you put your record out on a label instead of on your own  hand press. Yes, there's a slight loss of purity, but it's worth it for the increased visibility. There's good reasons not to, of course, but if the Bar, record label, or in this case, Pedal salesman is one of the "good guys" who can fault you?

All that having said- what did I get? The Dead Hipster. I got that one for three reasons- it's low gain, so I can use it as a boost. It's one Matt, himself, uses. If that's not enough, I also got it because it is not transparent. See, I've heard complaints about the Dead Hipster coloring the sound, and I just think- why would you get a low gain dirt pedal that doesn't color your sound? I mean, at that point, you're better off just getting a low watt Tube Amp. I know that Epiphones are showing up at pawn shops for under a hundred bucks. I think you want a dirt pedal to either really distort your signal, like a fuzz, or Metal pedal, or you want it to bring out certain frequencies. I've already established that I like mids- I literally made a low gain pedal to do exactly that- bring up the mids to ungodly levels. So, the Dead Hipster brings the "jangle"- which would be your upper mids, to lower treble range. I'm not quite ready for a treble booster, but bringing out those upper frequencies is exactly what I want in a low gain distortion- I want overdriven Tele to lipstick tube Dano tones. I know Matt likes that too- because if you listen to any of his sound clips, everything he plays has the upper mids cranked. If you are looking to boost your signal, highlighting the upper mids is like an Amp's "presence" getting cranked- it's a sure way to be heard- because upper mids are far more directional than lower mids- you're literally cutting through with the smaller wave form. But, that brings me to the main reason why I got it- low distortion, big boost. I noticed with my Donner Party that Matt makes LOUD pedals, so I knew he was my man for a boost. So, why didn't I get a Suckerpunch or a Loudmouth? I really considered both, but like I said- jangle. Why just boost when you can shade the EQ in the direction you want?
So, I got it today. That was fast. I ordered on Monday, late. It's Thursday. I plugged it in with the Epiphone and Vox first- instant Rockabilly roar. Then I went Strat into Vox. Quite a bit more reedy and wiry, I think with a little tweaking, I could get overdriven Tele bridge tones out of it. Tried it Strat into Fender- huge amounts of attack and snap, very percussive. I goosed the gain, and got into a really vicious punky tone- like Joe Strummer on 1st album Clash, so I play the intro riff to "Clash City Rockers" and was amazed at how closely it nailed the tone. This inspired about 45 minutes of New Wave riffing, everything from Cr@SS to Tom Petty, it might not have nailed all those tones, but it was close enough for cover band work. I didn't get time to do the rest of my tests - Epiphone into Fender, Strat and Epiphone into Crate, Strat and Epiphone into Sovtek, etc- but here's my statement-if you want slightly overdriven New Wave to late 50's garage rock, here you go.