Nice demo. This pedal is a favorite of mine. It really sounds great straight into clean power amp too. Doesn’t even need to be a tube power amp. Really a great full amp in a box pedal. I have the old MGAT-1 Hyper Preamp too. They both sound great into front of an amp on clean channel, but I think the Golden Era sounds a little better than the Hyper Preamp when going straight into solid state pedal power amp pushing my cab. Wu is really a Marshall enthusiast to create such a great sounding pedal. Pedal is quiet and has good sensitivity and response to pick attack and guitar volume rolloff.
Couldn’t agree more, both MGATs have become some of my favorite overdrive pedals and pretty much just work however you run them. The original is still worth keeping for the higher gain sounds, but I agree the GE is just a bit more responsive to the guitar.
Your welcome! It’s lower gain than the original in general, but also a bit more lively with sizzle. Hopefully I’ll find some time soon to do a comparison of the suggested presets between the original and the golden era.
This one is more accurate to the vintage amps but doesn’t have a high gain JVM mode. The high gain mode is Mr Wu’s take on a modded JCM800 but supposedly the way the other modes react to the signal (for example the guitar volume knob) is supposed to be even closer to the actual amps. In practice, it’s generally brighter and more open sounding. I still have the original so I’ll try and do a comparison at some point, but some of the settings don’t come across well after RUclips compressed the video.
That’s tough as the pedal is pretty interactive based on the guitar and amp you use it with. The pdf is a good place to start for typical Marshall sounds. From there it reacts a lot like a Marshall so some of the rules apply as well, such as a lack of base in a Plexi until the gain is past 2 o’clock or diming the mids will tighten it up. Don’t be afraid to to go extreme with the settings either, a lot of times when going to a cleaner tone I’ll have the bass almost all the way up.
@yo_soy_pmd Ok, played around with the pedal some more to find a good starting point. These settings are about what I use going into my Bloomfield Drive with all of its knobs set to noon. All pedal setting are expressed in o’clock values. Volume to unity (just below 9), Gain a hair below 3, presence 12, Treble 12:30, Middle 1, Base 2:30. Switches are: top end down, low end down, densitity up, golden era down, gain structure up, gain saturations middle and right. For me at least these settings work on all 3 channels with my Strat.
Totally! I had bought a spare of the original worrying about all those small switches, but it’s had zero issues. Those small switches actually make a pretty big difference in this pedal and give all the variations that let you match, or customize, to authentic tones.
Nice demo. This pedal is a favorite of mine. It really sounds great straight into clean power amp too. Doesn’t even need to be a tube power amp. Really a great full amp in a box pedal. I have the old MGAT-1 Hyper Preamp too. They both sound great into front of an amp on clean channel, but I think the Golden Era sounds a little better than the Hyper Preamp when going straight into solid state pedal power amp pushing my cab. Wu is really a Marshall enthusiast to create such a great sounding pedal. Pedal is quiet and has good sensitivity and response to pick attack and guitar volume rolloff.
Couldn’t agree more, both MGATs have become some of my favorite overdrive pedals and pretty much just work however you run them. The original is still worth keeping for the higher gain sounds, but I agree the GE is just a bit more responsive to the guitar.
Thanks for the much-awaited demo of this version of the pedal! Some ZZ Top sounds in there, which I didn't expect, but am excited about.
Your welcome! It’s lower gain than the original in general, but also a bit more lively with sizzle. Hopefully I’ll find some time soon to do a comparison of the suggested presets between the original and the golden era.
what is the difference between this version and the regular one?
This one is more accurate to the vintage amps but doesn’t have a high gain JVM mode. The high gain mode is Mr Wu’s take on a modded JCM800 but supposedly the way the other modes react to the signal (for example the guitar volume knob) is supposed to be even closer to the actual amps. In practice, it’s generally brighter and more open sounding. I still have the original so I’ll try and do a comparison at some point, but some of the settings don’t come across well after RUclips compressed the video.
Hey man, could you share your favorite settings? Thx
That’s tough as the pedal is pretty interactive based on the guitar and amp you use it with. The pdf is a good place to start for typical Marshall sounds. From there it reacts a lot like a Marshall so some of the rules apply as well, such as a lack of base in a Plexi until the gain is past 2 o’clock or diming the mids will tighten it up. Don’t be afraid to to go extreme with the settings either, a lot of times when going to a cleaner tone I’ll have the bass almost all the way up.
@yo_soy_pmd
Ok, played around with the pedal some more to find a good starting point. These settings are about what I use going into my Bloomfield Drive with all of its knobs set to noon. All pedal setting are expressed in o’clock values. Volume to unity (just below 9), Gain a hair below 3, presence 12, Treble 12:30, Middle 1, Base 2:30. Switches are: top end down, low end down, densitity up, golden era down, gain structure up, gain saturations middle and right.
For me at least these settings work on all 3 channels with my Strat.
killer tone , but I´ve never seen such a complex small pedal XD
Totally! I had bought a spare of the original worrying about all those small switches, but it’s had zero issues. Those small switches actually make a pretty big difference in this pedal and give all the variations that let you match, or customize, to authentic tones.
It's gotta be good if it can make a PRS sound decent :)
Yeah, sorry for using such a crummy guitar for this demo! XD