Hawkins Brothers Audio "Permission To Land" (The Darkness' New Overdrive Pedal...Is It Any Good?!?)

Описание: As a long-time fan of The Darkness, I couldn't resist checking out their new signature overdrive pedal - released as part of the Permission To Land 20th Anniversary campaign. Dan Hawkins in particular has always been one of my guitar heroes, so anything that promises to deliver his tone and has been signed off by the great man himself has to be worth looking at, eh?

The pedal was designed over the course of a year by Dan, Justin and Softy (Dan's guitar tech) and built in Prague by David Karon - the brains behind Distortion Inc and KHDK brands.

Circuit wise, the Permission To Land is very interesting. It has two independent gain circuits that are set off a single gain control, but you can then bring both in or out using their independent volume controls. Dan's side is more Marshally; Justin's side is more hard-edged and fizzy - so you can have either, or both firing at once. They're then summed together before hitting the 3-band global EQ & master volume.

But you also get a Lead Boost on just the Dan side - which to me sounds a little like a Treble Booster; shelving off the lows and hoofing the upper mids/treble frequencies to both up the gain and also really make it cut. And then - there's a Lofi filter switch to make it sound like the beginning of I Believe In A Thing Called Love...that AM-radio type effect. Cool, eh?

Find out more about this pedal (including if they're still available!) here: https://www.hawkinsbrothersaudio.com

What do you think? Does it nail the PTL sound? If not - is it still good? Comment below!

Amp is a Vajra JTM45 clone running into a Zilla Studio Pro 2x12 cabinet loaded with Celestion AlNiCo Gold & G12M Heritage Greenback speakers. Recorded with Aston Spirit Condenser, '70s Sennheiser MD441 and sE RNR1 ribbon mics, with a Schoeps CMC6 room mic. Spring reverb is a Dr Z Z-Verb unit.

0:00 Intro
4:12 Dan Side
6:57 Lo Fi Switch
7:27 Lead Boost
8:49 Justin Side
10:16 Both Sides Blended
13:12 Outro

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