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Raise your glass to this Totally Wycked overdrive / distortion


Phil O'Keefe

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Ever tried a TWA Hot Sake? It's a very cool pedal that straddles the line between overdrive and distortion. For my in-depth thoughts about it, please check out my review right here on HC.

 

http://www.harmonycentral.com/expert-reviews/totally-wycked-audio-hs-02-hot-sak-overdrivedistortion

 

 

 

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And as always, if you have questions or comments about the review or the pedal, this is the place for them. :wave:

 

 

 

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It sounded OK on a couple of guitars he played. Sounded overly metallic on single coils though. Some of that thin tone may have come from whatever he was playing through. Sounded like it was micing up a small amp with a 8" speaker. That might explain why he had the bass cranked up most of the time trying to make the amp sound larger then it actually was. If it was a small combo I suspect the pedal would sound a whole lot better through a richer sounding amp with 12" speakers.

 

I couldn't see where the mids were being set. A black marker on a black knob is invisible. They should use knobs with white pointer so you can see where knobs are set in low light environments. Black on black sucks when you need to make adjustments on stage and have to tweak things quickly when playing.

 

The other things I didn't like were the recessed switch for switching caps. That hole invites dirt to get in there from shoes and god forbid liquids to be spilled in there. If they have to have it recessed, either put a dust cap on there or move it to the side. Having an opening to the PCB shows a lack of forethought into failures.

 

The other is the bypass relay. They touted it as something good. Its not. Its good the relay defaults to bypass when the power is removed but it can be a problem, especially a relay small enough to fit on a small board like that. That relay needs to be energized when the pedal is on which means battery life is going to be super low. Relay coils tend to over heat and open too making the pedal fail completely.

 

I'm not sure why they didn't just bypass the circuitry like any other pedal using a typical DPDT or 3PDT switch. Those switches have been around forever and will still likely be around 10 or 15 years when it needs replacing. My guess would be they went with the relay because it allows them to use a cheaper SPST switch.

 

Luckily they have a 3 year warrantee. I suspect they will loose their shirt on warrantee claims. A hole in the chassis that allows dirt in and a switching relay. I'd suggest a dust cap and switching to a SS relay or dumping the relay and using a standard switch.

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