I found a few functions for the pedal that work well so far: super clean amp with the gain up on the Titan, medium crunchy rhythm, and slightly saturated amp super slammer! I wasn't fond of the Titan through the Bad Cat, and from my personal experience owning the Hot Cat 30 and Lynx, they don't like most pedals. Those amps want to be cranked and have the volume knob do the work. The Peavey, while relatively cheap, is a good full range amp, and did a nice job magnifying the inherent characteristics of the pedal. I didn't have much time to test out the pedals that morning, so that was it for me through those amps. (I work at a guitar shop, if it wasn't obvious.
![wink :wink2:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Later on we were paid a visit by our local pedal prodigy, Alfonso Hermida. http://www.hermidaaudio.com/ Talk went to stomps, and I mentioned that I had just picked up the DAM, so I brought it over for some "evaluation". He was familiar with the mini power amp based design, so we chatted about that a bit, and then we hooked it up through the Fender SRRI with a Gibson Les Paul Standard Faded. Apparently the little power amp in there was originally designed for headphone amps! I was interested to hear what he played as he tested out different settings and the dynamics of the pedal. I have my set of stock riffs for testing that I'm sure EVERYONE around me is tired of hearing, so I was interested to see what he played to demo it. He didn't say much, but he seemed to be interested in it, and played on it for a good ten to fifteen minutes. Upon my probing, he did say, "it sounds good", so I think that counts as kudos from the man!
My impressions so far, in broad strokes:
The sound - BOLD
The output - HUGE
The bite - as much as you could ever need, but able to be tamed
The amount of saturation - enough
Bottom end - Loosens up with the gain level (great for solos and lead playing), and not too compressed, however, I prefer a bit more tightness at higher gain settings
Overall tonal character - well voiced
The sustain - good, but with a hint of crackle at the tail end (which 98.999% of "distortion" pedals produce)
The construction - SOLID
While I dig the tone at lower gain levels, that hint of crackle will probably make me choose my Providence "Free The Tone" SOV-2 (a lot like the Hermida Zendrive, actually!) for lower overdrive sounds, while using the Sonic Titan as either:
A. solo BOOST
B. GAIN boost
C. Medium distortion to use on the clean channel of my DSL100, while using the Lead 1 channel for heavy rhythm
So far so good. I'm super fickle with pedals, so we'll see if the Sonic Titan stands the test of time. Great product either way, Dave and Linzi!