ACTIVE EQ - AMPTWEAKER Depth Finder ...this has to be heard to be believed ....killer effect !!! This ain't your grandads EQ

 AMPTWEAKER DEPTH FINDER 

$90.00 USD

This is not an EQ as such but it is a basic tone shaper. Some of you have read my Post AMPLIFIERS & GAIN in it I explain what is going  on with a tube amp and how it affects the tone.
Speaker damping and its affect on the signal being blocked trying to get into the speaker and how it 'chokes' the transformer causing a sag then a boost when the transformer recovers. It adds an almost gasping sound. Add to that when you crank a Marshall tone stack at high volumes the cabinet resonates and creates a great thump.
All this contributes to form a big bass resonance that is very fat and punchy!
Some OD makers are aware of this and will add a bit of extra bass but the problem
is that this should be treated as a separate thing because some players want none of it
and some like me cannot get enough!!!

Jame Brown poses with some
guitar player who likes his designs

Actually audiophiles would be in horror if they heard it. LOL
Fender and Vox use a circuit to try and minimize the dampening. Marshall did nothing to stop it in their PLEXI and it has become part of an iconic sound. Then add to the fact that one is expected when designing a cabinet to have a soft absorbent material on its sides to eliminate the resonance.
The famous Marshall 1960a 4x12 cabinet has none.  LOL

Often an OD can sound better by pulling back the highs
but too often you have to compromise your setting or your tone gets muddy.
The presence adds back clarity and definition so you can cut the highs down to where you want.
The pedal does not add an irritating fake treble boost. No it is more about upper mids and definition.
I like to feature the upper mids with just a touch of highs but I need some sparkle and
I can not get that unless I push up the highest frequencies which brings up the level of the highs so much that it is in essence louder then those upper mids and buries them. Soooo this boost is perfect.
It just cleans up the top end and leaves it sounding natural.

CONCLUSION
I use a Speaker simulator to make my single 12" open back cab sound like a 4x12 Marshall tone stack. It helps fatten the sound and add some faux speaker resonance but like you ...I want moooore!!!

So only 4 days from putting in my order I have my pedal.

The first thing is that I was surprised to find it is just a conventional mini pedal
casing. I have no problem with this as I love saving space on my board but I would have preferred it was designed to lie upright instead of horizontal. A lot of guys would like a foot switch or even a mini toggle would have been nice. You can get a single pedal loop switcher for less then $20.00 USD so there is cheap solution.
Not having an LED is not a big deal until you have to troubleshoot issues when you are not getting an output signal. A lot of guys are at or nearing as much as 20 pedals on their board. I am just shy of 70 on 2 linked boards myself.

Well these are only quibbles lets get on with the sound.
It does exactly what it is meant to do the result is that it fattens the sound big time!!!!
The sound is in many ways invisible ...unless you turn it off.
In a way it is almost like the difference between the sound of a combo amp and that same amp pushing a 4x12 cab with a closed back. If you have tried this it gives you some idea.
I say some idea but it is what it is ...and unless you have played a tone stack at tinnitus levels you will not have experienced the sound.

BOTTOM LINE
I am glad I have it. It may work out as an always on pedal because except for my faux 12 string stuff I always have an OD on ...some are very low gain to play things that would even transfer to my Martin but leaving it always on may work. If it doesn't I already own a few single loop pedals.
So in any case even if you just bought to put behind your OD for shredding it is well worth having. It sounds great dimed ...many pedals do not. Having tried using real EQ's this both different and better at getting the extra balz you wished you had in your rig.
In short a great pedal worth the price!!!


LATER THE SAME DAY
So I am writing this on a break at band rehearsal. My GOD it works so damn good I can only get the Bass boost up to 9 o'clock and the presence to 11 0'clock. I had the knobs dimed on my practise amp
.
HALF WAY THRU REHEARSAL
I have 26 OD's and 4 Fuzz boxes and on every tune I had to knock off some lows and and add a touch more highs just to get on with the next tune. 

I will have to re-set every knob on every dirt box to get each box the best it can be ...but the benefit is big time!

NOV. 18/20
I got the Wampler EQuator parametric EQ pedal. It did such a great job of cleaning up, fattening and brightening my tone that I could pull 2 pedals off my board. BUT IT DOES NOT REPLACE THE DEPTH FINDER ...I am glad I bought it first or I may have not ...thinking it was just a lesser Para EQ.

SO ...JUST BUY ONE !!!  tell James that Paul sent you.


IF YOU ARE CRAZY FOR A HEAVY BALZY SOUND TRY THIS!

I added an 
ADA GUITAR CABINET SIMULATOR GS-2

I set it up to a Marshall 4x12 cab setting and it is always on. It makes any combo sound like it is going thru a stack. Add the Amptweaker Depth Finder and

you have a sound to die for even at bedroom levels!!!

I have spent a small fortune buying then 
having to sell speaker simulators. For recording some are OK but for live playing they all suck! Except for this one
I think it is because the ADA is all analog
so I should not be surprised.

It is easy to use ....first ignore all the bells and whistles on the back panel and just use the 1/4 inch input and output like any pedal. Click on the the Vintage switch and the 12 inch switch and the sealed switch.
Finally put the mic knob an at 10 o'clock. You can tweak it a bit but somewhere around 10 will give you that classic sound. Place the pedal last in the chain on your board.
Stick the Depth Finder in front of it. Turn on your OD and ....BINGO! 
You have a killer OD sound!!! so go ahead ...blow out the back wall!!!