HT-DISTX Review

The HT-DISTX is a no compromise, ultra high gain, filth machine. The tone has been benchmarked against the best high-gain valve amps in the world and will transform your mild mannered classic into a fire breathing monster. The patentapplied - for ISF control takes you from ‘Classic British’ to ‘Modern American’ and anywhere in between and the no compromise speaker emulated output lets you get it all down to tape or disk.

Ease of Use:	10
Sound:	8
Reliability:	8
Impression:	10
Overall rating:	9
Users rating:	8.5
Comments:	3

overall: 9

Reviewed by: hellview_666, on march 22, 2008

Purchased from: Big Deal Music

Ease of Use: Unbelievably easy to use; just set your gain level, adjust the Bass, mids and treble, then decide on the ISF tone (fully CW for a British, woody tone and fully CCW for an American, growling-mids tone). There are some default settings on the back of the manual provided: american high gain, british high gain and classic crunch. // 10

Sound: I am using a Parker P42 with stock Parker Stinger pickups, and playing through a Laney LX65R. The HT-DISTX beats the living crap out of the gain channel of the amp, giving off a great valve gain tone and reacting like it should. Turning it to the American sound gives off a very good Marshall default tone, whilst set to British it creates a brilliant Hiwatt or Laney sound, if not a little more woody. It does get a little noisy once the gain is set as high as possible, and rightly so. This beast packs so much gain, I can understand why it is labelled as 'Pure Valve Filth'. I've heard that it doesn't like Wah pedals, but I don't own one. Every other effect I have tried with it sounds fantastic, and it has given my amp a new lease of life. The only down side I had with this pedal is the claim in the manual that the mids will give a richer lead tone. For me it just made the tone sound too thick once hte mids were cranked. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I would depend on this and maybe gig without a backup. It's built like a tank, and about the same size and weight of one as well. As much as the weight is a factor, it is very much worth it for me, and it is understandable since the pedal houses a valve. // 8

Impression: I play a lot of high gain modern rock, alternative rock, grunge and metal, but this thing suits anything if you tinker with the settings enough, and since it reacts just like a valve amp it's well worth it. I compared this to a Boss Metal Zone, DigiTech Grunge and Boss Hyper Metal, and I felt the HT-DISTX was much better and more natural sounding of all of them. I have played a Boss OC3 Super Octave through this and instantly got a CKY tone, which I love. Defiantely a pedal worth owning. // 10

Comments

[Vrstone87]

how much was it?

лол

[hellview_666]

Vrstone87 wrote:

how much was it?

лол

hmmm..stupid UG didn't put the price I added on. It was £99.99

[p2fyre]

i tried this at the weekend..

The tone is very similar to Alice in Chains. It's not a tight metal sound that some people will be looking for. But if you want a full / beefy tone.. this is the pedal for you. It's quite a noisy pedal.. so you're best using a noise suppressor after it.

If you want a tight but thick metal sound, the Digitech Metal Master is the daddy!

The Boss MT-2, or ML-2 (Metal Zone and Metal Core) are very thin and tinny sounding.

The DISTX is going to be loved by people who like that kind of hard rock.. alice in chains, black label society sound. But be warned! it is very noisy!!