Crazy Tube Circuits Hi Power Dual British boost/overdrive amp pedal *Authorized Dealer*l

There are lots of jokes out there about British electronics, mostly involving Lucas electronics, sports cars and rainy days. But the Brits were in on the ground floor when it came to early effects pedals and high powered amplifiers. And when it came to big burly high powered amps, brands like Hiwatt and Marshall were producing hulking 100 watt heads that found favor with high energy rock bands playing ever-larger venues. However, the sound of a Hiwatt and a Marshall are not the same thing. And if you are ready to dip your toe into the sound of David Gilmour, read on....

The new Crazy Tube Circuits Hi Power dual pedal takes on the challenge of combining the silicon transistor Colorsound Power Boost with their rendition of two flavors of EL34-powered Hiwatt amplifiers. Let's take a look at what this British Racing Green box has to offer.

The Colorsound side of the pedal uses the same BC184 transistors as the original but adds a Master Volume control and a 9V Overdrive/18V Boost toggle. The simple 2-band EQ has a lot of tone shaping range, and the treble control has the ability to really wake up humbucking pickups. As the name implies it's mostly a power boost and any distortion/fuzz effect comes on fairly late on the volume knob. However, the 9V ODR has noticeably less headroom and breaks up sooner than the 18V PWR setting. Maxed out either side will act like a fuzz, but we really loved the slightly gritty, mild breakup that this pedal produces at lower settings. It's very tempting to leave it on all the time, but it's excellent ability to perk up and push the guitar through the mix speaks to its original mission as a boost pedal. Two thumbs up from us.

The Hiwatt side of the Hi Power is designed to recreate the tone and feel of the (2) EL34 powered 50W Hiwatt 504 head, and the (4) EL34 100W 103 head. There is full EQ section with 3 band EQ, presence, and a toggle switch that simulates normal. bright and jumpered inputs. We don't have personal experience with Hiwatt amplifiers, but we've played plenty of EL34 heads, and the Hi Power really nails the feel and tone. The Hi Power has the upper midrange presence and clarity that makes EL34 amplifiers sound so muscular and forward. Like the Colorsound side, the EQ controls have a good amount of tone shaping capability, and the lively, punchy nature of the Hi Power works wonderfully with humbuckers. As you the dial the volume past two o'clock you'll start to get some breakup, and this is where you hear the difference between the slightly more compliant 504 setting versus the stiffer higher headroom 103 position. We liked the slightly softer, compressed feel of the 504 setting, as the 103 position bordered on fizzy which is not our particular thing. But "compressed" is a relative term and the Hi Power has the classic EL34 oomph that makes leads stand out without gobs of gain and distortion. And if you think back to some of the great guitar work of the 70's it was more volume and presence than it was distortion. 

For overdrive/distortion tones we liked the Hi Power as a husky EL34 powerhouse, while getting our crunch from the Colorsound rather than the Hiwatt itself. Which is probably why they put them together....

While the popular Crazy Tube Circuit Unobtanium pedal combined two of the most sought after guitar circuits ever, the Hi Power takes the road less travelled. But the results are no less impressive. 

In the words of Crazy Tube Circuits....

HI POWER is our next endeavour in pedal + amp-in-a-box overdrives inspired by the sonic combination of two British tone machines that helped shape the sound of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here Album.

On the right side of the pedal, you will find a recreation of the Colorsound Power Boost featuring the true-to-the-original spec BC184 transistors running on 18V DC (via an internal voltage booster circuit) and the ultra-flexible 2-band Baxandall EQ circuit. We’ve added extra features, like a bypassable master volume control, a reverse-log gain control to ensure better sweep and transition from clean to mean (compared to the original’s linear taper) and a toggle switch the engage the latter higher gain / lower headroom version of the original boost circuit called Overdriver.

On the left side of the HI POWER you will find an all-analog circuit set out to emulate the sound and feel of a Hiwatt amp. Following the path of the famed British tube amplifier our circuit offers authentic amp tone and feel. From the big bold high-headroom clean sounds to the face-melting crunchy tones.

True to the last detail we have included the full EQ section along with a presence control located at the negative feedback of the power amp simulation circuit. A headroom toggle switch selects between the high headroom 100w power section provided by a quartet of EL34s or the lower headroom and compression provided by a 50W power section with a pair of EL34s when hit hard. Similar in operation to the original amp design the master volume control was designed to produce more gain at higher settings.

We’ve taken our design a step further by adding a switch to select between input channels. You can select between the full frequency response of the normal channel of the amplifier, the increased presence and tight low end of the bright channel input or the enhanced frequency response and added gain of those inputs linked together.

Like our other dual overdrive/amp-in-a-box designs we have also included a passive effects loop to give you the option to connect your beloved pedals between your booster/overdrive and amp in a box or use the two sections as separate and independent effects when using an external bypass switcher/looper.

HI POWER also features a power-up bypass/engage pre-set function for the onboard footswitches. That way you can select which state your pedal will go to when you plug the power supply. This function comes in especially handy to people that use remote pedal switchers / loopers as they only set the power-up state of the pedal once and then operate from the controller.