anodized aluminum pedal
upon first seeing it. But
perhaps that is my own
idiosyncrasy.
Other misconceptions might
abound. Some jokesters will
contend that by increasing
the Sensitivity setting, the
pedal will cry more easily.
Nonsense. The Sensitivity
knob actually controls
distortion and compression
levels. For example, noon
struck a balance between
the need for a “harder,”
driving tone for chord work
and a slightly cleaner, but
no less charismatic tone for
melodic riffing. The tone
was restrained enough for
soft strumming, and did
not introduce any noise or
unwanted harmonics that
would deprive them of their
major or minor tonality.
Not content to let
the matter rest, these
ubiquitous jokers will likely
say that spinning the Accent
knob will take the tone
from the Jersey shore to
Savannah’s marshlands.
Don’t believe them. Accent
is a powerful knob that
controls brightness and, in
turn, the prominence of pick
attack. At noon, the Simble
Twimble produced smooth
distortion that was biased
toward the mid and low
end. Spinning the Accent
knob to even 3:00 opened
up a whole new world of
tone. Attack was actually
noticeable—at least when
compared to lower Accent
settings—and the distortion
took on a pleasant
brightness. The new
prominence of the upper
range gave the impression
of a rawer, more powerful
distortion.
Finally, don’t believe any
wag who says that the
Contour knob changes the
measurements of a digital
“dream tone” à la Weird
Science. Instead, Contour
adjusts the EQ to brighten
or darken the tone.
tend toward brightness.
I agree. It seemed like a
“finishing knob” for those
times when the tone was
almost right but needed
something more.
Overdrive connoisseurs and
Mad Professor acolytes will
hear many good things from
the Simble Twimble. I highly
recommend it.
WHAT WE LIKE
The old Simple Overdrive
distortion along with a
charismatic Predrive add up
to fantastic, balanced tone.
CONCERNS
You might want to take a bite
of the candy-colored housing.
Now, Contour and Accent
might seem to adjust the
same parameters, but I
discerned a sonic difference
between the two. The
Contour knob produces
subtler changes than does
the Accent knob. Mad
Professor suggests that the
Contour control works well
for people whose amplifiers
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