of an outboard studio compressor than a comp
pedal—a pretty delicious addition to an already
lovely single-coil and 6L6 tone recipe.
Sweeping the Frequency knob up to maximum gave individual notes and arpeggios a
bright, but not-quite-spiky presence—
especially nice for bridge pickup work—that also
left a lot of room for shaping sound with a
guitar’s volume or tone knob. If your amp and
guitar were feeling like a cramped canyon cottage, the Stone Deaf’s clean boost function is
a little like adding a sunroom on the back—it
creates a lot of bright, airy space. It can also
take the sound of a very aggressive distortion
like the Rat and add even a touch more girth
or snarling focus, depending on where you set
the Bandwidth and Frequency knobs.
The dirty circuit is where a lot of rock
players will live with this pedal. It’s certainly
not a high-gain distortion path, nor does it
crank out the most hornet-buzzing fuzz. But
switch the Bandwidth all the way to fat and
the Height and Frequency knobs all the way
clockwise, and a humbucker-equipped Les
Paul will turn into a throaty, roaring monster
that makes chords thick and wooly, and leads
simultaneously warm, rotund, and defined. It’s
no wonder that Josh Homme has taken to this
pedal as well its inspiration.
The Verdict
Where simpler or more radical distortion circuits transform your tone entirely, the Stone
Deaf PDF- 1 is really best at lending more
color and control to your existing rig. And if
you’re more-or-less content with sounds you
get, but just need a little more breathing room,
command over equalization, or a stretch of
sonic two lane where you can open up the
throttle a little, this Stone Deaf is an elegant
and very capable tool.
Rating:
Buy If...
you want to expand your range
of color and command with
a tried-and-trusted rig.
Skip If...
you’re looking for over-the-top or
high-gain distortion and fuzz.
Stone Deaf FX
Street $225
stonedeaffx.com
or use a mobile device to download
audio examples of the pedal at
CLICKHere…
