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NPD: Talons


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I really didn't need another drive. I love my Elements, and my NOC3 Pure Drive has been on my board longer than any other pedal, but when I saw it, man, GAS got the better of me and I had to hear it 1st hand.

Picked it up at Fat Tone, they're probably my favorite when they have what I want because they're in Ohio so it's usually here the next day. Also, as Ohioans, they sometimes get special editions of EQD stuff that you don't find everywhere else.

Anyway.

Wow, quite glad I went for it. It is truly awesome.

First thing you'll notice is that it's really not a high gain metal pedal. It's much more natural feeling and in the upper notches of the drive knob, it get's a little fuzzy. You can tighten things up with the eq section, but if it's tighness you want, hair metal is about as gainy as it gets. After than it's more of a fuzz... or perhaps a more vintage voiced distortion. Of course though, if you dime the gain, and give it lots of bass, you're in muff-y territory.

Personally, I like the low gain tones the best. I generally use the Elements with my bridge pickup as my main crunchy distortion sound, then the NOC3 with my neck/middle pickup position (generally with some reverb or slapback) for a surfy overdrive. After two practices and a gig, I have decided I like the Talons more than the NOC3 for the OD, so out with the old and in with the new. It just sounds better in the mix, is more tweakable, and (I'm sorry to say) feels more "amp-like' facepalm.gif to me. idn_smilie.gif

The Elements has it beat for bone crushing br00tz, but as an extremely versatile drive box that can go from clean to any flavor of low gain overdrive to medium/high gain distortion to fuzzishness, they totally knocked it out of the park.

I made enough room to just add this to my board, but now that it's kicked the NOC3 off, I have ordered a Hoof because 3 years is too long to have a board with no fuzz. Right?

Ok, Imma go play with it now. If there is actual interest, I can do a clip.
Earthquaker_Talons.png

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Quote Originally Posted by LSDis4me

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Good review, glad you compared it to The Elements.

 

Yeah, I think that if only for the way it looks, it will get compared to it a lot, but they are two different animals. Some overlap, but they are just different.


 

Quote Originally Posted by ToonHollow

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Awesome review, I'd love to hear a clip of this beast.


It almost sounds like a more versatile, less squishy Monarch because it can also get into Muff territory at high gain settings. Have you tried it with 18V?

 

Cool, thanks. wave.gif


I haven't played a Monarch, but yeah, from the clips I've heard, that's a somewhat reasonable comparison. I can do that bassy Orangy tone, but its far more open at lower gain settings. I have not tried it at 18v. I'd like to but it would eat up too many power jacks on my PP2. At 9 though, it's no slouch. Plenty of headroom.

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Quote Originally Posted by notjonahbutnoah

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I haven't played a Monarch, but yeah, from the clips I've heard, that's a somewhat reasonable comparison. I can do that bassy Orangy tone, but its far more open at lower gain settings. I have not tried it at 18v. I'd like to but it would eat up too many power jacks on my PP2. At 9 though, it's no slouch. Plenty of headroom.

 

So far I haven't found an OD that works very well with the AD30 (only treble boosters and certain fuzzes), this might work really well. Thanks again!
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Quote Originally Posted by The Villano Dude

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Comparable to the Elements eh? I am definitely interested in a demo.

 

Sorta yeah. There's some overlap, but all in all, they have different strengths and weaknesses.


 

Quote Originally Posted by ToonHollow

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So far I haven't found an OD that works very well with the AD30 (only treble boosters and certain fuzzes), this might work really well. Thanks again!

 

It's hard to say since my amps are on the fendery side of things, but as versatile as it is, I reckon there'd be a setting that would do the trick, depending on what you're going for.


 

Quote Originally Posted by Sovtek50

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Do you mean this Fat Tone? They're actually in Illinois, not Ohio. Great store and great people.

http://www.fattoneguitars.com/Default.asp

 

Oh hell, I mix up my neighbor states a lot. My bad dawg. But yeah, I've bought a lot of pedals through them and always had good service.
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Quote Originally Posted by Sovtek50

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So, how do you like the pedal? I've been very happy with my Monarch, so I'm trying not to get too interested in this thing, but it looks pretty sweet.

 

I dig it. I reckon it'll hang around for quite awhile.


Yeah, I really didn't need another dirt box, but curiosity just got the better of me. Glad I grabbed it though, sounds fantastic.

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