Ascension switch propelled that sound
even further into the stratosphere—adding
a killer boost and livelier harmonics.
There is no doubt Rivera knows his
amps. And the Blues Shaman feels like a
pedal built by someone who understands an
amplifier as a living, breathing beast. The
Blues Shaman nails that tweed sound and so
much more. I can envision situations where
I’d happily take the setup I used for this
review over a ’50s tweed Deluxe simply for
the versatility the Blues Shaman adds.
Double Shaman
The Double Shaman is two very different
pedals in one. Its two channels—L.A. and
Austin—range from the ’80s hair-metal
feel of a modified Marshall on one to hot,
Gibbons-/SRV-style Texas tube tone on the
other. Both channels have simple layouts,
with Level, Tone, and Drive knobs, and a
Stack/Combo toggle. There are also two
stomp switches for Destination (channel
selection) and On/True-Bypass.
Given that I came up during the hair-band era and actually owned several modded Marshalls back in the day, it was a
fun trip down memory lane to jump into
the L.A. channel. Plugged into the same
Blackheart/65Amps half-stack I used with the
Blues Shaman, I fired up a Godin Redline
HB and cranked up the Drive control. Lo
and behold—hair metal on demand!
Much like the amps we modded back
in the Reagan years, the L.A. channel has a
ridiculous amount of gain on tap, and the
mids sounded focused for maximum cut
and wailing tone. In Stack mode, there was
plenty of attack and clarity, though it comes
with the same trade-offs you experience in a
modded amp: With the ridiculous amount
of sustain you get from so much gain, you
also lose some of the dimensionality that
comes with less-extreme voicings with lower
gain settings. It’s not a super-versatile tone,
but if you’re nostalgic for Warren DiMartini’s
solo tone on “Round and Round” or you
want to lay into some Dokken-era Lynch
sounds, this pedal was made for you.
The Tone control was quite flexible
and handy when changing from guitar
to guitar and matching just the right
amount of attack and presence. It even
made my low-gain Strat kick like it was
loaded with humbuckers. In Combo
mode, the L.A. section’s tone became
brighter and a little looser on the bottom.
