imguitardan
08-01-2010, 10:54 AM
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/0801101133.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/0801101139.jpg
Hey All,
I've had some Pimps for a while but never was capable of sharing 'til now. I bought his MKI a while back and got the second one he built (originally for forumite jazzandmetal?).
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/SkinpimpMKI003.jpg
I have since been smitten. This MKI is tight, thick and articulate with better cleanup and no sputter that MKIs are known for. It has TONS of output volume and just kills in the band mix. I've compared it to my D*A*M Sola MKII and the voice is VERY similar yet it has a more immediate attack and is less compressed than the MKII with more sizzle.
7xYHW6wu_j8
I was lucky enough to win the Alaska Raffle for Skinpimp a while back and got another MKI from him (lucky because that's my favorite fuzz). Since he knew I already had the "Not Of This Earth" MKI, this "Misfits Tattoo" MKI that he made for me is much nastier and darker with more sputter and gate.
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/0801101140c.jpg
This sounds to me like the clips that Philip did of the original MKI...
ZokhE4ogJjw
I got to know Ryan a little bit when we did a pedal trade. He was SUPER friendly and helpful (he even tuned my BYOC MKII and sent me some OC84s to drop in (along with a different resister for R1 to appropriately set up the gain stage...or something like that:huh) see the group shot above).
I then got a MKII/FF Skinbender from him. This was the pedal I've wanted for so long. Ryan was nice enough to do some custom graphics for me (on that and the Buzzaround) even though he doesn't (and likely won't ever) do that anymore.
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/0801101134.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/0801101140.jpg
The MKII is just awesome and the extra knob (in the middle) is to adjust the gain of one of the transistors and makes this thing SUPER versatile. Roll it all the way up and you've got a stock MKII but pull it back and it cleans up like a Fuzz Face (no kidding). It's more open than my D*A*M Sola MKII with a lot more gain (but again, I can get close when I pull the Attack knob (far right) all the way back and use the middle knob as the gain). The knobs also can affect the tone somewhat with the Attack knob being like a treble/gain control and the middle being a bass/gain control. Plenty of output volume too (I generally set the volume at about 2:00.)
The Fuzz Face side cuts out the boost trannie and (to be fair) is not really a Face Face, it's a two trannie Bender so it's not as woolly and cleans up thinner. I love to have the option and this pedal is an awesome pedal to have on your board that can really do it all. This, to me has more of a Beatles vibe, it's softer in attack than the MKII and has less sustain.
The Buzzaround is a super cool pedal that has that MKII vibe when you riff but is tight and articulate when you chord (and when I say tight, I mean metal doods would LOVE it).
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/0801101134a.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/0801101140a.jpg
This thing has a lotta gain, a lotta volume, and a nice sweep on the tone knob. You can get scooped Muff type tones on the left and mid focused Bender tones to the right (along with a big volume boost when you roll it to the right). A super cool pedal (again with custom graphics picked by me- lucky...I know).
The Cold Poison is a pedal Ryan sent me when I was complaining that I wanted a Tone Bender type fuzz that could clean up so that with the guitar volume on 3 it would be clean, at 5 would be OD, at 7 would be distortion and at full would be a fuzz (this was before I got the MKII/FF which does exactly that)...Ryan said that he's got a proto Fuzz that would do that exactly and sent it up to me. The Cold Poison is a three transistor Fuzz that has a tone knob. The overall voicing is that it's thick in the mids (more so than any of my other 'Pimps). I compared it to my friends' Super Bee and with the tone rolled back to 9:00 could nail that tone but clean up much better (IMHO). But that's WAY too dark for my tastes so I like the tone knob at about 3:00. It's also got a lot of output volume (noticing a trend?) and it's really interesting that the Attack knob at full has a LOT if gain but pulled back just a touch, you can almost hear one of the transistors pull back and it's not nearly so sizzle-y. Since it's a proto, you don't get a close-up of the guts ('cause it was really something Ryan built for himself and kept tuning so I don't think the insides are up to his standards). There is no Cold Poison in production but he said maybe in the future, he'd do it.
So there you have it. Pron for the eyes (and if you live within two blocks of my house, for the ears). I've spent at least 15 years not giving a damn about fuzz but after dialing in my dirt, fuzz was the next (and way more fun) frontier. I feel like the MKI is the one for me and that maybe I should save my money and stop searching. The problem is that there is just SO much good fuzz out there (I have a Hudson White Heat (Vox Tone Bender) on the way:bonk).
Anyway, enjoy and for all the guys out there wondering whose MKII to buy, keep this in mind. What you are paying for (IMHO) is the expertise of the guy tuning the circuit and the hard to source transistors. The BYOC MKII has OC75s (the "right" trannie for a MKII) but before Ryan tuned mine, I wasn't that into it. It had a TON of gain, was (and still is) kind of noisy, and was overall unimpressive. It still sounded like a MKII (it was and still is) but what we are looking for is a magical MKII. We know that builders like D*A*M and Skinpimp have the ears to give us the optimized circuit that we seek. That's what we're paying for and in most cases, I'd say its worth it.
Gotta go play...:rockin
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/0801101139.jpg
Hey All,
I've had some Pimps for a while but never was capable of sharing 'til now. I bought his MKI a while back and got the second one he built (originally for forumite jazzandmetal?).
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/SkinpimpMKI003.jpg
I have since been smitten. This MKI is tight, thick and articulate with better cleanup and no sputter that MKIs are known for. It has TONS of output volume and just kills in the band mix. I've compared it to my D*A*M Sola MKII and the voice is VERY similar yet it has a more immediate attack and is less compressed than the MKII with more sizzle.
7xYHW6wu_j8
I was lucky enough to win the Alaska Raffle for Skinpimp a while back and got another MKI from him (lucky because that's my favorite fuzz). Since he knew I already had the "Not Of This Earth" MKI, this "Misfits Tattoo" MKI that he made for me is much nastier and darker with more sputter and gate.
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/0801101140c.jpg
This sounds to me like the clips that Philip did of the original MKI...
ZokhE4ogJjw
I got to know Ryan a little bit when we did a pedal trade. He was SUPER friendly and helpful (he even tuned my BYOC MKII and sent me some OC84s to drop in (along with a different resister for R1 to appropriately set up the gain stage...or something like that:huh) see the group shot above).
I then got a MKII/FF Skinbender from him. This was the pedal I've wanted for so long. Ryan was nice enough to do some custom graphics for me (on that and the Buzzaround) even though he doesn't (and likely won't ever) do that anymore.
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/0801101134.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/0801101140.jpg
The MKII is just awesome and the extra knob (in the middle) is to adjust the gain of one of the transistors and makes this thing SUPER versatile. Roll it all the way up and you've got a stock MKII but pull it back and it cleans up like a Fuzz Face (no kidding). It's more open than my D*A*M Sola MKII with a lot more gain (but again, I can get close when I pull the Attack knob (far right) all the way back and use the middle knob as the gain). The knobs also can affect the tone somewhat with the Attack knob being like a treble/gain control and the middle being a bass/gain control. Plenty of output volume too (I generally set the volume at about 2:00.)
The Fuzz Face side cuts out the boost trannie and (to be fair) is not really a Face Face, it's a two trannie Bender so it's not as woolly and cleans up thinner. I love to have the option and this pedal is an awesome pedal to have on your board that can really do it all. This, to me has more of a Beatles vibe, it's softer in attack than the MKII and has less sustain.
The Buzzaround is a super cool pedal that has that MKII vibe when you riff but is tight and articulate when you chord (and when I say tight, I mean metal doods would LOVE it).
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/0801101134a.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii211/imguitardan/0801101140a.jpg
This thing has a lotta gain, a lotta volume, and a nice sweep on the tone knob. You can get scooped Muff type tones on the left and mid focused Bender tones to the right (along with a big volume boost when you roll it to the right). A super cool pedal (again with custom graphics picked by me- lucky...I know).
The Cold Poison is a pedal Ryan sent me when I was complaining that I wanted a Tone Bender type fuzz that could clean up so that with the guitar volume on 3 it would be clean, at 5 would be OD, at 7 would be distortion and at full would be a fuzz (this was before I got the MKII/FF which does exactly that)...Ryan said that he's got a proto Fuzz that would do that exactly and sent it up to me. The Cold Poison is a three transistor Fuzz that has a tone knob. The overall voicing is that it's thick in the mids (more so than any of my other 'Pimps). I compared it to my friends' Super Bee and with the tone rolled back to 9:00 could nail that tone but clean up much better (IMHO). But that's WAY too dark for my tastes so I like the tone knob at about 3:00. It's also got a lot of output volume (noticing a trend?) and it's really interesting that the Attack knob at full has a LOT if gain but pulled back just a touch, you can almost hear one of the transistors pull back and it's not nearly so sizzle-y. Since it's a proto, you don't get a close-up of the guts ('cause it was really something Ryan built for himself and kept tuning so I don't think the insides are up to his standards). There is no Cold Poison in production but he said maybe in the future, he'd do it.
So there you have it. Pron for the eyes (and if you live within two blocks of my house, for the ears). I've spent at least 15 years not giving a damn about fuzz but after dialing in my dirt, fuzz was the next (and way more fun) frontier. I feel like the MKI is the one for me and that maybe I should save my money and stop searching. The problem is that there is just SO much good fuzz out there (I have a Hudson White Heat (Vox Tone Bender) on the way:bonk).
Anyway, enjoy and for all the guys out there wondering whose MKII to buy, keep this in mind. What you are paying for (IMHO) is the expertise of the guy tuning the circuit and the hard to source transistors. The BYOC MKII has OC75s (the "right" trannie for a MKII) but before Ryan tuned mine, I wasn't that into it. It had a TON of gain, was (and still is) kind of noisy, and was overall unimpressive. It still sounded like a MKII (it was and still is) but what we are looking for is a magical MKII. We know that builders like D*A*M and Skinpimp have the ears to give us the optimized circuit that we seek. That's what we're paying for and in most cases, I'd say its worth it.
Gotta go play...:rockin