Talk to me about the Pharaoh

[zRobertez]

So its totes worth

[wdinc01]

Totes. And as mentioned, you can pick up on of these used for around $100 with all the options. There's always some up on TGP. And if you look around you can probably find some in a custom color if you so desire. Mine is orange.

[Holy Schnikes]

Coming home from work pretty tired this is what I read:

Pharaoh is my tuner, volume pedal, and E600D or Sunny Day Delay

I was all How does he do that?

Lol, I wish.

[benjuro]

Only things on my current board longer than my Pharaoh is my tuner, volume pedal, and an E600D or Sunny Day Delay I like to rotate. I srsly haven't pulled it off ever since getting it years ago. The sound is unlike anything else, heavy as hell but not super high gain. This pedal taught me that high gain doesn't always equate to heaviness, a very valuable lesson! Just a HUGE sound with tons of bass that actully holds together. Tone controls are powerful and it's the best fuzz I own when it comes to stacking, retains it's lowend goodness while letting the added frequencies blend right in. Something like the Algal Bloom that brings more high end heavies is a perfect match when stacking or simply boost the shit out of it with a good OD. Oh, the low gain settings are great too but I find myself in high gain mostly, silicon or diodes out.

Also, like benjuro mentioned, you haven't truly experienced a Pharaoh (or any BAT pedal for that matter) if you haven't run it at high volume. That's what these pedals were designed for, plain and simple. So many fuzz pedals do low volume very well but when you get a chance to try 'em in a band situation, that tone you grew to love in the bedroom is no longer present at realistic volume levels. BAT stuff only gets better with volume and Mark designed the entire lineup to perform in that fashion.

My other favorites would be the Revelation Superbass and Ritual. I'm may prefer the Rev over my Pharaoh and I absolutely LOVE my Pharaoh. The Ritual is a nastier option with a hint of velcro heaviness, lots of gain, lots of volume. Neither of these pedals sport tone controls, a far cry from the Pharaoh, but they honestly don't need 'em. Voiced perfectly IMO, sounds like your guitar tone only heavy as fuck. Again, low gain on the Rev is killer too.

And in the interest of full disclosure, I don't play doom.

Yeah this is what I was TRYING to articulate, hahaha. Superbass just barely--BARELY--bumped my Pharaoh from my board.
The BAT stuff is definitely designed for real life real volume jams. Tones change in a very radical way with lots of volume, and so many pedals that sound awesome when your girl is sleeping upstairs sound like tin cans in front of a roaring amp.
Germs is good to have for sure for another flavor, but I'm with Schnikes--I use mine with diodes out 90% of the time, and it is the most glorious wide-open sounding heaviness ever.
I seriously wrote Mark like a gushing love letter after I jammed my Pharaoh for a few days. In this case, less gain can actually be far heavier...
and I do play doom

[Holy Schnikes]

I seriously wrote Mark like a gushing love letter after I jammed my Pharaoh for a few days. In this case, less gain can actually be far heavier...

Haha, I did the same exact thing. I have a feeling we're not alone either, Mark probably has an email folder full of tone-based love letters from grown men all because of the Pharaoh.

[hollowhero]

I had a pharaoh a while ago...I didn't play that loud or like to stack fuzzes, so it didn't really click with me. Now that I've manned up, I think I'll need to give it another go

[benjuro]

i've written him plenty. full of smileys and hearts.

i'm frankly PISSED to see you guys preferring the superbass > pharaoh! what the hell! even mark said it was his favourite, and here i am without one. god-damnit. satan? SATAN? by the power of will i shall attain it. sometime later this year when i get a proper income again.



edit: okay i'm not pissed

Good, don't be pissed. They're different beasts. If I had to choose one...I don't know, I'd probably keep the Pharaoh. Both are beasts though, for sure, and obviously Pharaoh has a lot more range in terms of different tones, but it's not like it'd be redundant to have both...this is an email quote direct from Mark, since he's THAT guy--cool enough to talk to me about the differences.

Since you have a Pharaoh, I would characterize the SB this way...Take your Pharaoh and instead of a hi/lo switch, you have a knob to control the input headroom (knob 1 on the SB), knob 2 is the fuzz control, knob 3 is volume. The SB has no tones, so get close to that on the Pharaoh, set the tone full counterclockwise, and high full clockwise, that is close to a tone bypass on the Pharaoh. Set the diode switch to bypass...this approximates a SB fairly close.

The SB works exceptionally well in being able to dial in the desired amt. of dirt into a dirty amp, and it has very little compression until it's all dimed up. SO that's why it works well into a dirty amp,It has alot of output to push your preamp into natural breakup, so running the fuzz low, volume high creates a good amp pusher.

The voicing of the Revelation (and the Ritual, for that matter) are really so perfectly dialed in, that you don't need a tone control. The Rev SB suits my doom rig pedalboard better now, but for other things I might prefer the fuzz of the Pharaoh.
Don't make me choose, dammit...

[benjuro]

On the germanium setting, a Pharaoh must be slightly less pummeling, but at real volume, the difference between those diode settings is less pronounced.

[dotlikeimpact]

Protip: SS/BS Mini + Pharoah =

[ryan summit]

teehee
love letters to mark
i dont think its just us
members only jacket>pinky ring>ibanez jem>pharoah>pignose(batt.op)
this guy exists
and he loves him some black arts
and his vhs copy of basic instinct

[benjuro]

members only jacket>pinky ring>ibanez jem>pharoah>pignose(batt.op)

[Butch1970]

It did seem like a pedal that appreciated being played at high volume though, I will say that

Not a good option for anything other than serious volume. They (any BAT pedal, really) just don't do quiet.
But if you're up for it...there is nothing like it, and they stack unbelievably well. I believe many probably get turned off by the Pharaoh because of the way the tone controls work, it does take some fiddling to get comfortable with. I see them now popping up for $100...a lot of toanz for that money.
THE DIODES-OUT SETTING WILL LEVEL CITY BLOCKS. FOR REALZ.

I didn't quite get this comment about the Pharaoh until this evening when I assembled a bunch 'o dirt side-by-side on a pedal board (EQD Speaker Cranker>Crimson Drive>Dream Crusher>Pharaoh).

The Pharaoh has tons of character, but was sounding a bit muddy/less distinct at general living-room volume than my EQD dirt........then I remembered the comment quoted above, and now I think that description is totally warranted.

However, stacking, even at that volume produced some great sounds. Whether it was the DC>Pharaoh or CD>Pharaoh.....great stuff

[zRobertez]

fyi, PHUCKING FARAOH INCOMING

[zRobertez]

Okay! Just messed around with it for an hour or two along with my other dirt and a chorus

I only played in my room at a low volume so i'll still have to try at practice next. So far, i think I like the silicon diodes the best... if those are the ones on the left....
Other than that I have no idea. It seems so variable with everything if you know what I mean. Even after a nice sit down with it like I just did, it was hard to decide on a setting to stay at for more than like 2 minutes. It's deffy what I was looking for though! It feels really raw but dark at the same time. And I love to use the word raw to describe dirt

I feel like the tone knob on the right only has a significant effect sometimes. I couldn't tell when. Im gonna call it the grind knob cause it seemed as you turned it down, it toned down the grindy more distortion feeling tones until it was just fuzz. The other tone knob on the left added more bassyness as you turned it down and more of that rawness as you turned it up so I could really tell what it was doing.

I'd say the only part I don't like about it yet is that when you turn one knob, you have to adjust all the others to get a similar feel again.

BUT ITS DIGGY. NEED 2 PLAY MOAR

[misterstomach]

Okay! Just messed around with it for an hour or two along with my other dirt and a chorus

IMG_4437.JPG

I only played in my room at a low volume so i'll still have to try at practice next. So far, i think I like the silicon diodes the best... if those are the ones on the left....
Other than that I have no idea. It seems so variable with everything if you know what I mean. Even after a nice sit down with it like I just did, it was hard to decide on a setting to stay at for more than like 2 minutes. It's deffy what I was looking for though! It feels really raw but dark at the same time. And I love to use the word raw to describe dirt

I feel like the tone knob on the right only has a significant effect sometimes. I couldn't tell when. Im gonna call it the grind knob cause it seemed as you turned it down, it toned down the grindy more distortion feeling tones until it was just fuzz. The other tone knob on the left added more bassyness as you turned it down and more of that rawness as you turned it up so I could really tell what it was doing.

I'd say the only part I don't like about it yet is that when you turn one knob, you have to adjust all the others to get a similar feel again.

BUT ITS DIGGY. NEED 2 PLAY MOAR

the tone knob on the left is kind of a general tone knob like you might find on any pedal. counterclockwise is bassy and clockwise is trebly. the knob on the right is just for highs, so you get more treble as you go clockwise. the idea is that this allows you to take advantage of the incredible low end available that the pharaoh offers by turning that left tone knob towards the left and allows you to add back in the lost highs to your taste with the right tone knob. you will not be able to appreciate how awesome this is at low volumes because that is not where this pedal shines. at low volumes it will definitely sound like what you've described, moving the knobs around to achieve the same sound in different settings. but when you play loud is when you will really be able to feel that awesome crushing low end. and also when you will be able to appreciate the open diodes setting, which became my favorite.