Sonic Titan History

Power amplifier distortion from mount Zion.

Moderator: The Captain

User avatar
The Captain
Posts: 7014
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:05 am
Location: UK, Earth

Sonic Titan History

Post by The Captain »

Pretty short one so should be easy done. No major changes in the build style of the pedal over the years just mainly in colour....which I didn't keep tabs on too well.
Its birth is slightly interesting maybe....

How it began...
I originally designed the Sonic Titan for a fella I knew as John 7. He played geetar in a band called Cat Kills 6. They were fucking awesome. They reminded me a lot of The God Machine which I liked a great deal. John used a Drag'n'fly into a solid state amp which I thought was cool too and wanted a little more balls so asked me if I could design him something.
I gave it go and few months later we had a Sonic Titan. I ain't no engineer by any stretch of the mark. I like to think I have a good ear and a crude knack of being able get a sound out of my head and then somehow out of a speaker. A good analogy of how I designed the Titan is like say designing a new car by cutting two others in half and then reattaching your favourite bits with a hammer and nails.
The power amp section was from a data sheet and the JFET input idea was from a weird Dumble pre-amp I saw on ebay many moons ago. It was called a BBC-1 or something like. Pretty much a text book JFET pre-amp in a box but gave me the starting point and means to drive the shit out of that power amp chip.

As with all D*A*M pedals I thought I'd make a few and then do something else. I sold a few on eBay. Put a picture on my site. A friend of a friend then wanted one. A cool dude called Joe bought one. He hassled another cool dude called Joe who worked in a shop in London and it kinda rolled from there.
The bastard spawn that is Sonic Titan still lives for what ever reason. On a daily basis its probably the pedal I use the most myself along with the Meathead.

Oh yeah. In case any one wondered. It was named after the line in the Sleep song Holy Mountain "Sonic Titan rides out on clouds of new horizons" and not actually after the song Sonic Titan (also by Sleep)...I'd actually not heard that tune at that time. There also a wild Nebula tune called Sonic Titan too...just thought I'd mention that.

No#0-1 July 2005

Water slide decals from the beginning. Non of the Titans had dry letters transfers
Labelled as "Tube Amp Distortion"
Metallic blue paint, same as the Zeke's of the day.
MXR type knobs, a tad larger than the Eagle Plastics type.
Slightly different circuit giving less gain and a darker tone.

Image

Image

No#2-3 September 2005


As above but Hammerite blue and brighter gainier circuit.
Changed graphics and now stated as "Power Amp Distortion"

Image

No#4-9 October/November 2005

As above...
#4-7 Metallic Blue
#8 Sonic Blue
#9 Dark Violet

Image

Image

Image

No#10 March 2006......No#184 August 2008

Well my notes go dead after that :badteeth: All it states from here out are dates certain batches were made but nothing about the colour.
I recall thinking that the Titan should a yellow pedal once we had the first ones screened. The first being No#10. At that time we only sold the Titan as a special order and exclusively through Vintage & Rare guitars in London. I thought this would be short lived hence my lack of notes on the colour.

Direct Titans were yellow, V&R's were all colours of the rainbow. They kindly gave us free reign on the colours they received.
We eventually stated selling them to our Japanese distributor in late 2006. These were metallic white. And I think our Finish distributor had the very first few in the grey hammerite around that time too.
Once we started selling Titan to all our dealers they became primarily grey hammerite as standard with a few customs in matt white. The very early greys had a 10K Level pot, making them brighter than those white models of the time.

Image

Image

Image

Image

2007

Image

Image

Image

Image

The guts have pretty much been the same all along. A trimmer was added to bias the JFET and some filtering was removed from No#17 onwards

2008

Image

Image
User avatar
pigeontoe
Posts: 949
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:28 pm
Location: Buffalo, NY

Re: Sonic Titan History

Post by pigeontoe »

The Titan was my first D*A*M pedal. It is still my favorite pedal I own. The first one I got is white in colour, and I just recently picked up a grey hammerite blem (though I can't find any blem on it) from one of Captain's auctions. I like using both on the same board. One in front of all my fuzz to boost, and one after fuzz that I use as my main distortion/od. This is the most underrated pedal out there. It blows away any other distortion or od pedal I have tried. The reference to Sleep's Holy Mountain (the reason it caught my attention) is just icing on the cake. Highly recommended.
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.
User avatar
imlikeajungle
Posts: 911
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:31 am
Location: Belgium

Re: Sonic Titan History

Post by imlikeajungle »

Here it is, see, I knew I didn't make it up.
Thanks Captain!
A multi-colour set of ST's would ring my bell. Awesome box!
User avatar
imlikeajungle
Posts: 911
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:31 am
Location: Belgium

Re: Sonic Titan History

Post by imlikeajungle »

Image
User avatar
kb892
Posts: 1606
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:50 am

Re: Sonic Titan History

Post by kb892 »

Oops, looks like ya skipped my beloved #3 which looks like #2's twin :mrgreen:
User avatar
The Captain
Posts: 7014
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:05 am
Location: UK, Earth

Re: Sonic Titan History

Post by The Captain »

kb892 wrote:Oops, looks like ya skipped my beloved #3 which looks like #2's twin :mrgreen:
:doh: I even double checked what number 3 looked like from piccy of yours and still missed the bloody number off. Fixed now.
jacobjj5
Posts: 111
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:47 pm

Re: Sonic Titan History

Post by jacobjj5 »

The beauty of the Sonic Titan is that it holds up to ANY amp that I use it on...from my Bogner Shiva, to my Dr. Z Maz Jr., even down to my Solid State Fender Sidekick 25 that I practice in my office with. It's harmonically rich with all of those amps, and it's a beastly, manly distortion that does justice to the Sonic Titan name that adorns it. Along side my MKII, it's my most cherished D*A*M pedal.

Thanks for posting the history, Dave! :headbanger:
User avatar
starlingbrothers
Posts: 524
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 3:11 pm

Re: Sonic Titan History

Post by starlingbrothers »

imlikeajungle wrote:A multi-colour set of ST's would ring my bell. Awesome box!
That would sound and look awesome :dance:
User avatar
blunder
Posts: 1099
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:11 am
Location: High Desert

Re: Sonic Titan History

Post by blunder »

Cool history lesson. Still my favorite DAM pedal so far.

I've got #10. Metallic Blue. Dated 12/20/06 (My Dad's birthday) :cheers:
Mine has the decal label too.
User avatar
skybone
Posts: 1109
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:11 am

Re: Sonic Titan History

Post by skybone »

Great to know about the early history of the Titan, shame the notes dwindled for the later batches. Like most, it is my absolute favourite of the D*A*M line-up, and I wouldn't be without one... so much so, I have 2! ;)
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest