Crazy Tube Circuits HI POWER

In today's video, Paul Drew from The Studio Rats is checking out the brand new pedal from Crazy Tube Circuits called HI POWER.
This amazing sounding pedal is based on the COLORSOUND POWER BOOST and OVERDRIVER on one side and on the other a Hiwatt Custom 100 and Custom 50 amaplifiers.
Here is what Crazy Tube Circuits say about the HI POWER pedal.
HI POWER is our next endeavour in pedal + amp-in-a-box overdrives recreat- ing legendary sounds, following the success of Crossfire and Unobtanium. It was inspired by the sonic combination of two British tone machines. The almighty Colorsound Power Boost meets the blistering high-headroom Hiwatt amp.
While the combination of these two units directly hints at the gear setup of David Gilmour and especially the gear used on Pink Floyd’s album: Wish You Were Here (think the guitar solo sounds of “Shine on you Crazy Diamond”, “Have A Cigar”) the sonic options are endless.
The orange enclosure silicon transistor circuit (Colorsound Power Boost) can deliver from a transparent clean boost to an all-out fuzz driving a tube amp to sonic bliss. We set out to clone the original unit featuring the true-to-the-original spec BC184 transistors running on 18V DC (via an internal voltage booster circuit). The ultra-flexible 2-band Baxandall EQ circuit can add bite and low-end rumble to any setup. We used a reverse log gain pot (labelled as volume), compared to the linear taper pot found in the original units and acted as an on/off switch, to be able to set the amount of boost/overdrive more precisely. While the earlier units didn’t feature a master volume control (only as an aermarket mod - Pete Cornish made an external unit master volume for David Gilmour’s Power Boost) we chose to include one that is setup in a way so that when it is all the way clockwise it is bypassed. Later versions of the Power Boost had 9V power supply and were renamed as the “Overdriver” due to the lower headroom and their ability to drive the signal earlier. They were offered in a grey enclosure and can be seen in the gear setups of Jeff Beck, Marc Bolan, etc. We chose to incorporate this version as well with a flip of a toggle switch (PWR-ODR toggle switch).
On the le 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 resem- bling guitar tones from guitar greats like David Gilmour, Pete Townsend, Jimmy Page, Noel Gallagher to name a few. 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 (think Hiwat DR103), or the lower headroom and compression provided by a 50W power section with a pair of EL34s when hit hard (think DR504). Similar in operation to the original amps the master volume was designed to produce more gain at higher settings. We’ve taken the design a step further by adding a switch to select between input channels of the amplifier. You can select between the full response of the normal channel of the amplifier, the increased presence and tight low end of the bright channel input or the “gilmourish” enhanced frequency response and added gain of those inputs linked together. This follows the modifica- tions that Pete Cornish did to all David Gilmour’s Hiwatt amps.
Like our other dual overdrive/amp-in-a-box designs we 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. Gilmour enthusiasts will love to insert their Big Muff, Tube Driver and Phase 90 in there. Note that all pedals inserted in the passive effects loop are still in the signal chain when any or both sections of HI POWER are in bypass. HI POWER features a power-up bypass/engage pre-set function for the 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 state of the pedal once and then operate from the controller.
The Studio Rats are core band members Paul Drew on guitar/production/mixing, drummer James Ivey and Dan Hawkins on bass. They collaborate with singers and musicians to produce radio-ready songs.

[@evanward4303]

Thanks for playing your baseline sound before engaging the pedal. Much appreciated.

[@edwinvanbokhoven9009]

Yeah, especially because that baseline sound is not clean and seams to be an amp. Which basically means that the tested unit in this video is used as an overdrive pedal and not as an amp in a box.

[@mortonwilson795]

Great run thru! Thanks for that . . . quite a convincing amp / drive combo.

[@Kokopellli]

Thank you for the review! Really great!

[@skypekai]

The Floyd riffs are literally the only thing I want to hear with pedals like this. Why are people so opposed to them lol

[@easye9-21]

I know, right? I wish they made this with just the Hiwatt side, as I have multiple Power booster pedals already.

[@GearSafari]

Holy bleep….that sounds huge!!! Great demo mate. 🎸🔥

[@FlyingGuitarGuy]

Good demo with great sounds!

[@evanward4303]

Unobtanium is my favorite drive. Sounds like Hi Power is another home run from CTC.

[@brusselssprouts560]

This is so so so so so so tempting.I want one.

[@skypekai]

They might just be my favourite brand! They make what I want

[@Lymanization]

I'm willing to bet you may already have one, a pedal that can literally sound EXACTLY like this, but we don't want to hear about that do we? Myself included 😂​@@brusselssprouts560

[@nabilcharbel4136]

Fantastic, thx Paul

[@TheStudioRats]

My pleasure!

[@tedhunter5285]

Great demo.......

[@Unusednickname_1970]

Just ordered this, partly based on your excellent demo. I don’t care how accurately it emulates what it’s supposed to be emulating, it just sounds great, and it’s unlike any other pedal out there as far as I can tell. Fantastic demo. Well done!

[@TheStudioRats]

Glad I could help!

[@DjNorbax]

The best demo I’ve heard from this pedal. I wasn’t even interested in it until I saw this video. Excellent.

[@BrutusLongfellow]

Apparently, you haven't seen Pete Thorn's video.

[@DjNorbax]

Oh I did. Love Pete, but for my taste I dig more the sound in this demo for this particular pedal. Could be the settings, the setup, I don't know. Just personal preference. @@BrutusLongfellow

[@MrRafaztar]

This sounds amazing , I should go learn some pink Floyd

[@geoffreymerrifield5666]

Looks really great. Hopefully their next pedal will focus on The Wall - The Final Cut era.

[@AlecBourneMidiMadScientist]

Nicely done Paul. Ordered last night. Its a really well thought out idea this pedal. Have you ever considered looking at the various micro pedal loopers out now ? Similar to your es5/8 or the Gigrig but much smaller and more simple to operate and can fit under a board. Check out the pirate midi and Morningstar switchers.

[@slowhandblues187]

Great tones and great playing! Sorry if I missed but what amp are you playing through for this demo?

[@NickName-rm2nt]

Your guitar sounds phenomenal. What model is it, and which pickups are on this guitar? ...and your playing is excellent!

[@CrazedFandango]

I've been really impressed with all the demos of this pedal. I'm not a big Gilmour fan, so not chasing his tone and was hoping to come here and see comments dissuading me from purchasing a pedal I don't need. Ah well!😆😅🤣😂

[@rjurikdavidson]

Oh, and the tele too.....

[@lasyngwieeeiiilarsen7510]

What telecaster are you playing Sir?❤❤❤😊

[@clemguitar63]

"Eggscelent" Demonstration Batman...Seriously Dude, your approach and execution is truly phenomenal...informative and entertaining all at once...D'oh!

[@valdon116]

Dammit, just after I swore off buying new pedals😩😩😩 Oh well, one more won’t hurt 😂

[@eliasmadias]

Hi. Great demo as usual. Wanted to ask what to do with a delay pedal and the hi power. Would you put the delay in the Hi power's loop or after the Hi power? Thanks.

[@TheStudioRats]

I’d have to try, but I guess it depends if you want the delay to come on with the hi power on switch.

[@eliasmadias]

I'm pretty sure anything you put in the loop can be switched on and off on it's own regardless of whether the Hi Power is on or off. Am I wrong?@@TheStudioRats

[@anmolatwal]

I think this should be demoed straight into an interfave with a cabsim.

[@Utubewrk123]

Why? Some of us still use amps.

[@anmolatwal]

@JackR100 ofcourse , but how close can it get to an actual amp sound is what I am curious about. That's why!!

[@Utubewrk123]

@@anmolatwalgotcha.

[@mikeblue385]

dammit. that sounds great. now i have to sell a kidney.

[@MikeyMike706]

what kind of amp do you play that through? I just ordered one listening to this video. Its very juicy.

[@TheStudioRats]

It’s all in the video. It was a DR Z z wreck

[@MikeyMike706]

The fuzz makes it sound very special.@@TheStudioRats

[@dividedbytimestudios]

Can you demo it with no amp, pedal into IR?

[@TheStudioRats]

Sure ill look into it.

[@marvinmartin3438]

Dude, I need this box! Do you think they'd trade even up for the latest and greatest pedal I bought last week? Asking for a fiend

[@mr501mc]

😂

[@ac30lifestyle]

That's brilliant 😂 every week this happens

[@craigthomson3621]

If you could borrow a HiWatt amp from somewhere, it would be interesting to do a side by side comparison between the guitar into a HI Power pedal straight into a (non HiWatt) amp - versus the guitar into a HiWatt amp. See how close you can get the tones between the two setups.

[@CrazedFandango]

The amp is final piece in the signal path would have its own sound, so it will colour the tone. I think it's just a flavour of the tone and if you want any more, you're likely to be disappointed.

[@tpherndon]

Pete Thorn does exactly this comparison in his review of the Hipower

[@craigthomson3621]

@@tpherndon thanks for the info.

[@CoolPabloDeTodo]

one question, your videos are sponsored or you choose what you talking about ? do you take money for videos ?

[@mr501mc]

No he didn't throw our orange president in there😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@TheStudioRats]

Soz

[@Billywagner22]

Trump riding in the General Lee is classic.

[@andyprime56]

Sounds great, but that whole guitar head wobbling, neck shoving muso thing when strumming is REALLY irritating, please, no.

[@TheStudioRats]

Its a camera being so close to the guitar, There is no so called head wobbling, neck shoving muso thing going on. Maybe its time to be a little more tolerant.

[@MrRafaztar]

When you can record yourself playing to a good standard and be completely robotic doing so let us know. I have noticed on recordings I do movements I do t even notice while playing.

[@Mrmustard1380]

What a useless comment. The point of this video is to listen. If the motion of the guitar bothers you, how about not watching the screen and just listening with your ears. Watching him play is irrelevant to the purpose of the demo.