There goes my carefully laid out release.
Don’t you just hate it when that happens? This isn’t the first time of course, google cached a website tester that means the Pinnacle Deluxe v2 was leaked before the announcement, and only a few months ago when we released the Ethereal, some rather silly people had shown it as a new release almost 18 months before at a NAMM show or 2. Well, 3. But hey, who’s counting? *insert chuckles here*
The Paisley Drive Deluxe is coming, October 12th. Now, we weren’t going to tell you about this for a while yet, probably somewhere around 1st Oct, but there you go, you got it at least 10 or so days early. You may be thinking that a week doesn’t really matter, but for us this was a huge disappointment. Over the last 7 years or so I’ve been doing this, Brian and I have pretty well got this wrapped up, we know what to do and how to do it (since Alex joined us a couple of years ago it got even better) and the plan was in full swing… This is why the product page on our site was launched so quick, the FB header graphic was up quickly and the promo pictures where on FB and IG instantly after the leak… I had it all in place.. So, obviously, to make up for this – the next release will be announced to the dealers early yet under the pain of death if anyone leaks it! And you think I’m joking… I just don’t want another quiet Sunday morning ruined like this again (we must take a moment to give appreciation to my wife and kids who had to deal with me, loudly dealing with this, at 9am on a Sunday morning. I do think my kids learnt new ways of putting cuss words together in that first hour).
Although many people were VERY shocked to see us announce the pedal, it made me smile because we’ve already been teasing it for quite a while. For example, this graphic was the facebook header on our company page and it’s been in full glorious view since Sept 6th. I also published a photo on my personal Instagram a week ago that showed part of it, so the evidence was there – a couple of people picked up on it, but I love it when people only become aware of it after the event. Also, lest we forget, Brad’s tech leaked that this was coming waaaaaay back in March in an interview with Guitarist magazine. We also posted pictures of Brad’s rig on Sept 8th that clearly showed the prototype in his rig… So, you know, the evidence was there for all to see! It’s not easy to join the dots up, because we deliberately place them so far apart!
ANYWAY, enough of all that – here is the blog I was not ready to write yet, as I was hoping I’d have a few more gigs under my belt with it, but my hand has been forced so here I go. I used the Paisley Drive Deluxe on a gig last Friday. I didn’t know what to expect, the Paisley Drive for me is a special pedal – it was the first logo I designed for Wampler, I inadvertently named the pedal during (it was known as simply as the Paisley Overdrive in proto stage), so it kinda got me the job – 7 years later, here I am writing about the next generation of it. I love the original Paisley Drive so much, we named our dog after it, she’s the original Paisley Dog as far as I am concerned!
First impressions: well – I already knew what it was going to look like, as I did the confirmed graphical design for it back in February, and LONG before that I had got ready for this release and amended the original Paisley to co-ordinate with it way back in 2015. So, this has been in our minds for years. We just needed the main man to decide on what he wanted to be in it, so when over the last couple of years the Underdog started to get a run out in his rig, it looked like it was time to move it forward, Brian met with Brad and his techs a couple of time this last year to bash out the details, for example the routing and switching options, and the pedal was decided – into the process it went! But yes, my first impression was a sharp intake of breath. It is beautiful. Major props have to go to our production guys, this thing is flawless.
Channel 1: The first thing I noticed on it when plugging it in was how much gain was on tap from the Underdog side – the UD is probably the only one of Brian’s creations I’ve never played before, so it was all new to me, and boy does this thing cook! Considerably more gain that I was expecting, gravelly in a good way (the low mids are gorgeously wide), and has a great element of sag in the bottom end, not in the way the Pinnacle does, but it feels like when you hit the lower notes with a little palm muting it really jumps up and reacts. When you stick the fat switch in, the whole thing jumps up a level and starts to run into classic rock territory. I ended up running it at 15v as the band I am in doesn’t need that much gain, so I found the sweet spot right here. As always, when a little more gain and girth was needed I put the Tumnus on in front of it, and that most definitely takes you into rock territory.
Channel 2: Basically, extremely similar to the original Paisley. The three-way switch was removed and replaced with a 2 way switch. When the button is in, you get the original top setting (right on the newer one) – so that’s what I call the Trainwreck tone, or the Cliffs of Rock City right there, and when it is out, it’s like the bottom on the original (left on the newer ones) so a classic “Waiting on a Woman” TS feel. So, yeah, you get some classic Paisley from that side. The presence switch has been removed and is effectively set to “off”.
Stacked: Now, as in the Dual Fusion and Hot Wired, the real beauty of this pedal comes when you start running both channels together. Included in the Paisley DD is the same routing control that Tom and I came up with for the Dual Fusion, perfectly implemented by Brian and Jake, because if like me you use a looper, the last thing you want to do it have to press the loop switch and then press something else on the pedal. This way, it’s all done for you. I run 2 into 1, as the Underdog sounds glorious and when you stick the Paisley into it, with both set in the ‘out’ position you are going to hit the kind of creamy tones you would not expect from a pedal. Most of you that know me know I have an inherent dislike for most TS circuits, but when you run the Paisley on TS flavour and push it into the Underdog, something comes alive. These two circuits run together so well it’s just amazing we’ve not put them together before, feedback is waiting there but you are not fighting it, the guitar shines through the dirt, and when cranked, you move some serious air. Those two together sustain forever, I was hitting notes and they were ringing out like Parisienne Walkways – quietly and perfectly morphing into a feedback and once I moved the guitar the note moved up perfectly to another pitch. Think Flying In A Blue Dream intro. And I’ve never been able to find that so easily.
Every time we release a pedal, I excitedly play it for a while, understand it, and then it goes on the shelf for a while and I stick with my tried and trusted gain pedals for live. This one was plugged in at home to briefly hear it and make sure it was OK, I literally played two chords on each side, then put it on my live board as I was pressed for time. By the end of the first song I was smiling so much my face hurt, the bass player in the band (who is the biggest tone chaser I’ve ever met) was smiling back at me… I knew we were on to a winner.
Anyway, enough from me. Here’s Brett Kingman showing you how it’s done.
There are more demo’s to come… lots more!