Hottest Carl Martin products as picked by our Reviewers
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5.0 (1)
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| Ease Of Use: |
O.k. i got the pedal from Carl Martin the other day and hey it's christmas ,and since i didn't get anything i would give it a try. Glad i did .It took me about 30 minutes to dial in a really good tone through my Laney vc50 all tube amplifier.Here's the settings (gain 6th dot clockwise,attack 3 dots clockwise, edge 1 dot clockwise, and finally level 5 and 1 half clockwise). This gave me a Steve Ray Vaugn sound on my clean channel and it sounds wickedly wet and sonic. On the lead channel it gave me a wholenother world of distortion .It's like the same as my lead channel but gives it a sparkely...
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| Sound: |
Well i think i explained the sound above, in the ease of use area but here's some more. On the clean channel of my amp with the above settings is blues heaven exactly like s.r.v, but you need to use the neck pickup,the bridge is too flat which may be my guitar. It's a 1996 Dean Elite x.But on the neck i get classic rock blues tones so nice. Then on the lead channel i use the bridge pickup which gives the pedal a new more modern dynamic but with a classic rock potential . The pedal is sensative to my playing and i can moderate the intensity of the gain with ease with just my hands on the...
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| Reliability: |
I just recieved the pedal .And it looks very rugged ,it's metal and has nice metal input jacks , a led light, and nice cushiony bottom under the steel.There is no battery compartment to be found ,although the manual says it's a 9v. battery powered pedal with a power jack. Unless i have to take the screws out of the bottom ,i see no battery. But luckily i had a 9v. adapter for my wha pedal which worked fine. The paint looks thick and industrial. And who would have thought Denmark would know how to build such an American sounding pedal. Nice job guys.
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| Customer Support: |
I never had to deal with Carl Martin , but im sure an email would do the trick.
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| Liked about it: |
Obviously i like the sound of the pedal. Like i said a s.r.v sound for a lot less than the original ts-808 pedal.
And it can go from classic rock to a hard rock Nirvana or Poison guitar sound.It was alot more than i expected because it was free to me for reviewing it, so i didn't really know or ever hear of Carl Martin before, but im glad i do now. I really couldn't put my guitar down for playing the blues for about an hour haha.It's got a special quality, unlike alot of other pedals iv'e used before. They usally sound too harsh , fake , or too distorted and lose all the qualities of the amp...
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| Didn't like: |
Well as bad as i have to say it. I couldn,t find the battery compartment,and if it is in the pedal i would have to take out screws to put one in and that's not for me. The manual says 9v battery powered so it must be.
Other than that which is not a real big deal because i will use adapters anyway for power i cant find anything else to dislike, but if they could add the plastic type battery doors would be nice.Since it is a rock pedal don't expect it to do metal unless your amp can. Then im sure this will enhance the metal sound nicely too.
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5.0 (1)
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| Ease Of Use: |
There really isn't anything about the Carl Martin Hot Drive N' Boost mk3 that could make it easier to use, save for perhaps a slight word change on one of the knobs. From left to right you have Boost Level, Level, Wave, and Gain. Which one of these four phrases seems slightly out of the ordinary? You guessed it: "Wave". Thinking about it for a moment, it becomes obvious they're talking about waveform, and in my brain that equates to the standard "Tone" knob we're all used to. Yep! That is in fact what it does, too. Of course, this really has nothing to do with ease of use really.....
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| Sound: |
For this review I focused on my Ibanez JS1200 and Ibanez JEM7V. I have used the pedal in front of both my Boss GT-10 when plugged in direct to the mixer, as well as directly into my Carvin Legacy II head. First, I was rather impressed by an absolute lack of noise. Perhaps the fact that the pedal has its own wall plug & internal transformer is what allows it to be so clean? It seems plausible.
Immediately the crunch & rock type of sounds struck me as quite pleasing to the ear. The qualty of the sound can best be described as pure tube-overdrive, and I've found it very suitable for various...
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| Reliability: |
No issues yet, but it seems to be built like a tank -- as sturdy as they come.
The switches seem like they'll be pretty reliable.
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| Customer Support: |
I've not had any dealings with the Carl Martin company so far.
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| Liked about it: |
-- Very nice overdriven sounds, wide range of gain, smooth crunch.
-- Internal power supply (no changing batteries!)
-- Clean output will be useful for tuner eventually
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| Didn't like: |
I've actually not found a single thing (yet) that I dislike. I mean, sure, it could have its Wave knob labeled as "Tone" like we're all used to, but that's not a real complaint. I think Carl Martin really got things right with this unit.
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4.5 (1)
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| Ease Of Use: |
With only four knobs and two footswitches switches this isn't going to suit the 'total control' freak. But it is really easy to use. One foot switch turns it on, one footswitch changes between chorus setting one and two. One LED shows you its on while another LED shows you how fast the chorus is. It flashes faster the more chorus is applied. It has a proper in built power lead with a plug on the end rather than the usual cheap 'wall wart' type power supply.
The controls are Depth and speed, one set per 'channel' so four in all. Oh, I almost forgot its a stereo out (which can be used in good...
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| Sound: |
Its a very clean and clear sound, no extra noise is added and its a full 'studio quality' bit of kit. The chorus sound goes from the very subtle, slightly shimmering, doubling sound to a full maxed out underwater gurgle, with everything in between. The fact that its switchable means that if you want two different sounds in your set no need for two pedals or fiddle with settings mid song. One sound for your clean another for your dirty sound - no probs.
I have even been running this as an amp splitter with the chorus sound only just on and running the two outputs to two different amps - It...
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| Reliability: |
I've been using this (rehearsals and gigs) for over ten years now and its never let me down, built like the proverbial tank. It will probably outlast me.
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| Customer Support: |
Ive never had to deal with them, but I'm sure I saw a forum on Carl Martins web site where their tech boffin was actually on the forum giving out advice. Can't say fairer than that!
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| Liked about it: |
1. Lush, studio quality sound
2. Two sounds in one box
3. Reliable
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| Didn't like: |
The only thing I don't like is that it seems that the pedal can really only be run at the front of the amp. If I use it in the loop of my Fender Hrd I get a very slight, almost inaudible click as the LED switches on and off. You wouldn't hear it if you were playing, but it does bug me. I'm assuming its because the level out of the amp is line level rather than instrument level. Run it in front of the amp though and its completely silent.
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4.0 (1)
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| Ease Of Use: |
Any compressor can be tricky to get the right sound out of due to its nature. Everything will affect the sound of compression, from the output of your guitar, to the overall volume and gain in your amp. A number of pedal compressors are very simple in their settings, generally just Level and Gain. The Carl Martin is a different beast altogether. It is a very good equivalent to a rack mounted studio compressor in a pedal. As such, it has some different settings (threshold, comp, resp, gain). These can be tricky to dial in correctly, especially since some of the parameters affect the others. If...
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| Sound: |
I primarily used this in my 5150 head's effects loop, right after the preamp and before any modulation or delay. I used it in all settings, clean or high gain. I like compression at this stage, it give your tone that polished, studio edge when dialed in properly. When used here it's something you'd set up like compression for a clean tone, it's more of overall leveling effect, and keeps everything even and thick.
I've used the Carl Martin as well for clean sounds in front of an amp, before the input, and again it works very well here too, but would need to be dialed in differently.
I've...
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| Reliability: |
Heavy duty construction, solid switch, built in transformer, solid jacks. I would have no hesitation to play with this in the nastiest dive. The only concern I'd have with it is that it's a taller pedal than most and it's easy to bump the knobs when switching other pedals that might be behind it.
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| Customer Support: |
I e-mailed the guys at Carl Martin once with a question about settings, and they responded within a business day or two. The response was helpful with explaining how the pedal works and what the different settings do, and how they affect each other.
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| Liked about it: |
The best thing about this pedal is that it was virtually transparent tone-wise. The fact that it does double duty as a limiter or a compressor was an added bonus. Did I mention it's built like a tank, with a built in transformer, no wall-wart or battery.
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| Didn't like: |
It is a tough pedal to dial in properly, but then compression is tougher than most effects to dial in. It is a little on the large size, and may not play nice with your other pedals on a pedal board.
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4.0 (1)
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| Ease Of Use: |
Getting a good sound of the pedal is easy!! The manual shows a few examples that work well but ultimately, how tweaking of your tone your after is personal taste. A slight turn of the knob alters your tone, but not to the point its uncontrolable...its tight and smooth and the knobs arent lose, so your settings dont move!!
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| Sound: |
Gear used for the atached sound files are the following...
Ibanez UV777GR
Line6 XT PRO
Nuendo recording software
M-Audio BX-5a speakers
Planet Wave cables
The clean mp3 track, had a few teething problems when plugged in but not turned on. Therefore for the sake of the track, i cleaned it up a little. A slight hissing was present. But once activated the hissing disappeared. The rythm track is unaltered in any way, with slight reverb, just to open it up a little. The two guitars playing the melody are either on a low pass or a high pass setting...enough to compliment each other....
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| Reliability: |
I have absolutely no issues with the pedals dependability. She's built like a brick and if your a rough stomper of pedals (like me)... this is your box!! Wouldnt bother with bringing a backup. Knobs feel tight and secure, with the casing that would survive a grenade!! The only way I think its going to break, is to throw it against a brick wall....i dont see myself doing that!!!
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| Customer Support: |
Customer support has been prompt. We have a small issue with a little hissing but is getting address very professionally. You can tell they are a company, that cares for their product and thats what we want in a company. Keeping the customer happy!!! Thank you Carl Martin :)
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| Liked about it: |
1. Built tough.
2. Easy to use with heaps of tonal options!
3. Great knobs, smooth action.
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| Didn't like: |
Not much to not like really...it does what its supposed to do... well!!! But, I truely hate it when a pedal or piece of gear has a power cable running from the unit. This limits your options in my opinion, by the way its used. If in a pedal board, i like to have my pedals powered with a daisy chain cable. Instead of having to plug in another item of gear. With the problem of the different shape pins coming from another country adding to the frustration!!!
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