Jet Age Eric
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Cliff notes: GORGEOUS clean boost/rocking "dirty" boost that just may be your ideal OD.
As my sig and most of my posts will attest, I have a "relationship" with Solid Gold FX that allows us to see other people and does involve the exchange of money (from my pocket to ...); yes, it's unsavory. I've wanted an SGFX Nitro for two years, ever since I heard it in "Dirty" setting, but I couldn't really rationalize the purhcase of a clean boost, esp. since I'd already sold my excellent Smart People Factory (RIP) Ego Booster due to disuse.
Now that I've got five flavors of fuzz on my board for soloing, I thought I should revisit a clean boost for diversity of tone. Enter: The Nitro. It arrived yesterday, and my review follows, but first: The Nitro has two Modes--Dirty and Clean--and two Tone stacks--Rich and Bright.
As my sig and most of my posts will attest, I have a "relationship" with Solid Gold FX that allows us to see other people and does involve the exchange of money (from my pocket to ...); yes, it's unsavory. I've wanted an SGFX Nitro for two years, ever since I heard it in "Dirty" setting, but I couldn't really rationalize the purhcase of a clean boost, esp. since I'd already sold my excellent Smart People Factory (RIP) Ego Booster due to disuse.
Now that I've got five flavors of fuzz on my board for soloing, I thought I should revisit a clean boost for diversity of tone. Enter: The Nitro. It arrived yesterday, and my review follows, but first: The Nitro has two Modes--Dirty and Clean--and two Tone stacks--Rich and Bright.
- Dirty mode rocks as I remember. With the Rich stack in, Nitro keeps my eq shape intact but beefs it up AND adds a bit of shimmer; it's still my amp rig just ... enhanced. With the Bright stack, the top becomes Vox-y, but the midrange and low end content is still very much my amp's so, again, an enhancement of tone, but with a distinct flavor (as opposed to a full on Voxification).
On solos, Dirty/Rich sounds like a muscled up Hendrix (I use an ASAT Special w/trem); on rhythm, this combo adds a very JCM800-y grind to my BFDR-type amp. On solos, Dirty/Bright, surprisingly, sounds like a slightly less scuzzy Neil Young. Stacked, I wasn't crazy about Dirty/Rich (a little too much) for solos, but Dirty/Bright sounds like all of Clapton's best post-Cream tones wrapped into one. For realz. - Clean mode is GORGEOUS. Clean/Rich makes an AMAZING light overdrive. Again, it's your tone but enhanced with glittering shimmer and rock unicorns and ... I dunno. On solos, strings ring out beautifully forever. Again Vox-y but rounder, fuller--brilliant. If I ever thought playing a clean solo was boring (and I did), I now know that need not be the case. Clean/Rich is really present and full. All the Clean settings are big and open. Stacked, both settings are as above; I prefer Clean/Bright.
For rhythm, if I didn't already have my Blackout Effectors Mantra w/low-gain mod, this would be my low-gain OD. The Mantra's awesome eq makes it a little easier to dial in for perfect rhythm tones, and the slightly more explicitly Marshall-esque voicing of that pedal makes for nice diversity in my rig. That said, both pedals are wonderfully touch sensitive, big, and open, with just the right amount of dirt. Clean/Bright again feels Vox-y, and reminds me of Pete Townshend's solo (career, not solo-in-song) electric tone, which is weird because I don't think he's ever used Voxes.
I feel the same way about the High Octane: I have an amazing low-gain OD (Mantra), I have the world's best medium gain (SGFX Superdrive), why do I need another low- to-mid OD (and I'm not even counting the Nitro!), but there it is, with its mosfet/clipping toggle, DARING me to ignore it ... 
-E
