OVERDRIVE- HAMPSTEAD SOUNDWORKS Comet Interstellar Driver ...

 HAMSTEAD SOUNDWORKS  

 - COMET -  

INTERSTELAR DRIVER

$295.00 USD

It is meant to have a very wide gain stage but to get that very high gain you must use an internal switch. There is a second switch inside to cut the highs if the pedal is too bright. The layout is Level, Bass, Treble and Gain is straight forward but a switch lets you put the EQ before or after the dirt.

Before will had more saturation even sustain and after will give you more headroom and therefor transparency and clarity. Finally inside the pedal is a high gain switch to take it even into Fuzz territories. Another cuts highs. 

CONCLUSION ___

It falls close to the transparent thing started with pedals like the Bluesbreaker going into old single clean channel Fender amps. 

It is not trying to copy anything. It has a tool from the toolbox approach.

It is the kind of Drive if left in its lower gain settings  finds friends with a schooled approach to the guitar with probably lessons, theory etc. Or, alternatively if you do a folk or indie alt thing. 

The internal switches are a set and leave situation. The extra gain is ...I just have to 

say it ...make the pedal sound like to garbage!!! I have no idea what the point was?? 

Hampstead make pedals designed to give you higher gains that are a hundred 

times better, they should know better! It is a feature that should only be 

mentioned on the back page of the manual with a warning.😡

If the pedal is set from quite low to around 2 PM on the gain knob it sounds very good. 

Higher gets muddy.