ilovefuzz.com

Alright kids, I got this yesterday. I kinda got carried away by curiosity and the ease to flip these buggers, so I sprang on one of the meatheads that were for sale at downstroke music. It is the newest version, as far as I know that's equivalent to a standard from back when there were standard and dark flavours. Inside it says that it was built by Linzi and it has a quote: "So, you've made a vow of silence. How fascinating, tell me about it."

It really sounds meaty, they chose the name wisely. At first I was not very impressed by this thing, but the more I play it (until now it has a little less than half an hour in total) the more I start digging it. It is not the doom machine I was half expecting. It is a pretty saturated fuzz with a little bit of sizzle going on. Chord work is not excellent but pretty good for such a saturated fuzz. It sounds like a brick wall, are you expecting it to be subtle?

The thing that is really interesting about this is the way it reacts to the knobs on your guitar. It's a whole lot like having a remote gain and tone control right on your guitar. That may be excellent for some but it sort of is also my beef with this pedal. At least with my Ampeg guitar I like the sound of it much better if the volume is rolled back a good deal. So there is a huge difference in volume between the effected signal and the bypassed. When the meathead is engaged there is almost no volume drop with rolling back the knob on the guitar until right before you hit rock bottom. There is a pretty impressive array of different tones there, but I feel like I'd be forced to leave it on all the time, so that there is no dropping out.

Here's a sample:
[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/ifmh/meatnoodle/s-Fwe3J[/soundcloud]

Ampeg AMG100 > Meathead > Koch Classic SE 12W tube amp.
I have run it through a compressor, the difference in volume was too much. I have only adjusted volume. The first half is with the tone rolled back, as soon as you hear a click I bypass the tone control for a much brighter sound.

Nice review/demo.
I have a clone on the way now, as a temporary trade.
Any news on the arrival of the Megalith?

It might have arrived today, have a nice note from my postman saying I could pick a package up tomorrow. But it might as well be some clothes for my daughter. You never know!

I will see that I can check out stacking the Meathead with various other stuffz I got lying here. I wonder how it reacts when you hammer it with something exciting like a TAFM. Or how it sounds into the TAFM. But my biggest interest is a direct comparison between this and the Mountainking Ruckus. I have the feeling I've got redundancy at hand there. This review is all pretty horribly made, I managed to tweak the photo but even that looked like shite at first. I will report back and try to record a couple of better samples.

Here is a comparison clip. I feel like keeping it a secret what's on here. Well, one is the Meathead of course. Any opinions, comments? (apart from "learn how to play in proper timing, you fucking amateur!")


[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/ifmh/meatcompare/s-NLlDC[/soundcloud]

Neat.

I just picked up a Deluxe for the second time; didn't jive with the first one, looking forward to trying a different unit. I also thought there'd be overlap with either a Lunar Module Deluxe or a Megalith - not so in either case.

[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/ifmh/teamawesomemeatmachine/s-sH1aO[/soundcloud]

Another demo: Meathead into TAFM.

Sorry for bumping this one up again, but I have just done a direct comparison between the Meathead and the Megalith which led to the conclusion that the Meathead can be disposed with. If you set the Megaliths tone stack like this: Slope all the way CCW, Notch all CW, Notch Shift should then make no difference but I had it set to 1, then dial back the input gain according to your Pickups (it was at 9 o'clock with HB and around 10 or 11 o'clock with SC) both pedals will sound and behave exactly the same. Guitar knob sensitivity and all the mumbo-jumbo. Just in case anyone was trying to decide which one to get.

Both can sound the same, the Megalith has a plethora of controls, the Meathead is really straightforward. I guess it's a matter of taste.

phantasmagorovich wrote:Sorry for bumping this one up again, but I have just done a direct comparison between the Meathead and the Megalith which led to the conclusion that the Meathead can be disposed with. If you set the Megaliths tone stack like this: Slope all the way CCW, Notch all CW, Notch Shift should then make no difference but I had it set to 1, then dial back the input gain according to your Pickups (it was at 9 o'clock with HB and around 10 or 11 o'clock with SC) both pedals will sound and behave exactly the same. Guitar knob sensitivity and all the mumbo-jumbo. Just in case anyone was trying to decide which one to get.

Both can sound the same, the Megalith has a plethora of controls, the Meathead is really straightforward. I guess it's a matter of taste.

Thanks for posting this.
The input gain is the key to getting more subtle tones and textures.
It seems most people think the Megalith is just an all or nothing doombringer.
Once you figure out the controls and how they interact with each other there are a lot of possibilities.

Oh no!
Do i have to order the megalith?

univalve wrote:Oh no!
Do i have to order the megalith?

You could just catch the next train to Bonn.

Temp trade is already arranged, but no way I'll let this great elder fuzz be taken from my hands. I shall be buried with it.

phantasmagorovich wrote:Temp trade is already arranged, but no way I'll let this great elder fuzz be taken from my hands. I shall be buried with it.

Yes, temp trade is coming. I just have a bunch of pedals still at another dude. When they are back i will ship so much to sir phantasmagorovich
but i asume i will order the megalith. (and i'm quite happy i do not need the meathead - but as far as i know, i can check it out too)

I didn't find the Megalith to really sound like a Meathead at all. even at those settings.
The Meathead is way more dynamic whereas the Megalith is just straight up, a brickwall of fuzzdom.
I think there is definitely place for both pedals on someone's board, but your the one playing it in the end, so yeah

I think the Meathead has a much more raw/vintagey sound to it, and the Megalith sounds real modern and synthy.

I want a meathead/clone so much

It says their out of stock on the site? Do you have to email them directly to see what they have or?? That's odd that they do that with such a small site...