Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and his recently launched company KHDK introduces the Ghoul Screamer Overdrive Pedal.
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Being Hammett’s signature overdrive, this pedal is designed to meet his requirements and cope up with the various tones that he employs for Metallica and his other musical endeavors.
KHDK, as the name implies is a new pedal manufacturer that Kirk Hammett co-founded with music gear industry veteran David Karon. The website says, “We are two friends who got together and decided to do things a little better – no shortcuts, no cheap components, no flavor enhancers.”
For a few years now, KHDK has been refining and polishing their craft, carefully developing every process from conception to prototype. Each of these prototypes are then hand-tested by a family-run manufacturer in Paducah, Kentucky. As of now the company has three pedals under their name, including the new Ghoul Screamer.
The new Ghoul Screamer pedal comes just in time for 2015 Halloween, designed by KHDK laboratories to meet the demands of Kirk Hammett. They analyzed the various tones that Kirk has used throughout his career and developed a multipurpose pedal that can give Kirk the tones that he currently needs. KHDK Chief Engineer Antonin Salva said, “With Kirk’s diverse tones in mind, we knew he needed a Swiss Army knife of overdrives. Under his direction, we achieved and surpassed his vision with the Ghoul Screamer“.
The pedal’s three main knobs include drive, volume and tone, while five extra switches are added for advanced tone shaping. Drive lets you adjust the gain setting of the circuit, while volume lets you set the overall output of the ghoul screamer. The tone knob lets you cut or boost the higher frequencies with a bit of a twist. 12 o’clock is the neutral position, turning it clockwise adds more aggression to the sound while the opposite position cuts the highs for a mellow warm tone.
Five additional switches allow for advanced contouring, first of which is the Bass Switch, which thickens the tone by enhancing the low frequencies. You can use this to add low end, ideal for instruments with a weaker output and bright tone, like Strat style guitars with single coil pickups. The High Switch changes the Tone potentiometer so it could reach higher frequencies for adding brightness. The Body Switch better emphasizes the mids for easy band cutting tones. Finally, two Compression switches are provided which lets you go from vintage style soft and warm compression to modern aggressive tones with extended harmonics.
Kirk Hammett comments on the Ghoul Screamer, “I’m excited as HELL!“. While KHDK co-founder David Karon added “Kirk had a very specific vision for the Ghoul, to perfect a circuit loved by generations and create massive tones that redefine overdrive.”
The new KHDK Ghoul Screamer pedal is scheduled for release on October 31, 2015. Pricing information will soon be available, visit KHDK Electronics for further details.
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