I'm starting to think about a Gainster.

I love my LTD Black, and I'm hanging on to it.

But I mostly use it to get a bigger, warmer "Fat Clean" sound.

Does the Gainster do that also?

I've never tried an LTD but the big box Gainster was a staple on my board for quite a while. I also had a Barber Gainster for a while. Both Gainsters will do a nice warm "fat clean".

To my ear, the big box sounds better than the Barber. It has more of the tweed vibe, is more amp-like, and has a sound quality that the Barber doesn't have. The big box had better feel than the Barber. The Barber is more like a pedal, the big box is more like an amp. The Barber is just slightly smoother than the big box.

The smaller footprint and the bass trim pot inside of the Barber are where the Barber excels over the big box. The big box is still better. Don't get me wrong, the Barber is a great pedal (especially for the price) - the big box just has more.

The AC Booster will do a warm fat clean too.

I can't compare the two as I've not owned an LTD, but I had a C/B Gainster for a few months. The Gainster will do "warm fat clean" extremely well. Although my general impression from the clips of the LTD is that the Gainster would be even warmer than the LTD.

I loved the dynamic nature of the Gainster - very responsive, it had very nice clarity, it has a slight mid-push, and it had a cool "tweediness" about it. There were only a couple of things I didn't care for. First, my usual nit to pick about Barber pedals - the box is probably larger than it needs to be. Second, the only thing I didn't like tone-wise was that, through my rig at least, it had flabby bass and the internal trim pot didn't help much.

All around, the Gainster is a very nice pedal. It was ever so close to being a keeper. If the bass had been a little more taught, it would probably still be on my board.

V

Thanks, guys!

I like mid push, clearity and the low end would probably work good for me, too.

Still, to me that discription sounds a lot like an LTD Black.

quote:

Originally posted by Gil:
Still, to me that discription sounds a lot like an LTD Black.

Well, by reputation, they do cover awfully similar territory. My guess is the big difference is in transparency. Again it's hard to go by clips, but I'd say the LTD is a good deal more transparent. Whereas the Gainster has a definite color to it - that Tweedy quality. Which, by the way, I found very cool.

On another note I forgot to mention; although it didn’t sound bad through my Marshally rig, it really shined through my BFDR clone. Well, except for the slightly muddy bass.

The Gainster really is a very nice pedal at a very nice price. It may or may not work for you, but it's one of the pedals I would encourage everybody to try out.

V

Yea, I read a few places that put the Gainster between the LTD and the DD, so I guess it has more drive.

That's a bit different from what I want. I like the LTD because it gets Stonesy chunk and some ring with only a little grain.

But I was thinking I could find something with NO grain at all. All chunk and body, no grain, no fizz, no nothin' Just harmonic content. If that makes any sense

Hmm, I always ran the Gainster at around 2 - 3 o'clock on the gain so I had some grit. Maybe LFB can address whether or not it will do what you want at low settings.

In terms of adding body and content with no grit, I'd recommend an RC booster.

V

I've found that the diffenence between my clean amp sound [Carr Rambler] and with the Gainster [set to a little boost] is:

With the Gainster it seems to take the single coiled Tele tone and thicken it up to about 3/4 of a p90 with added grit.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tonewolf,