I agreed and they offered me a pedal of my choosing, I chose the Donner Morpher. This was a pedal I’ve looked at online in the past. They kindly sent me the pedal, which arrived today, in return for a review, so here it is. I'll apologise in advance for the playing, I've not really played much recently and I'm very rusty.
While this is an affiliate review, I express my own views with no bias, hopefully.
Affiliate link to the product. The use of this link will allow me to review more pedals, thanks.
I thought I'd try the pedal direct into an amp, then followed by a graphic EQ pedal into an amp. I often do this, use an EQ after an FX chain. After this, I would try the pedal into an amp simulator with a built-in cab and reverb for added versatility.
Clean amp
Edit - I recorded again through a brighter sounding amp
here. I think it sounds better now.Direct into the clean amp, the pedal gave me some vintage style tones that were nicely rounded, think classic rock, I thought these got slightly fuzzy with higher levels of gain. The tone, along with 3-way toggle offers a slightly altered tone, this could be use for switching between rhythm to lead duties with the difference in tones.
Morpher into amp
I found myself looking for a more edgier sound with more treble and less low mids. I attached a GEQ after the Morpher with a 7dB cut @400Hz and a 7dB boost @3.2k. This sounded more to my liking, I thought the pedal came alive with theses post EQ changes. It now seemed more versatile, especially for a more of a modern rock style. It was also more enjoyable to play through. I suppose this all depends on your preferences.
with GEQ 1
GEQ 2
Next, the Morpher direct into a Hi-Z input, direct to DAW and AXP SoftAmp FM25. While there’s a plethora of amp sims, that will yield different results, I only used the one, I reduced the reverb and altered the sim’s EQ to add contrast between the 2 guitar tracks. This resulted in bright, forward, and very useable sound, of course, with the software, EQ and other setting could be manipulated to achieve a desired result.
I was really surprised how effective the Morpher was direct into an amp simulator, of course, taking more time to create patches and presets would be beneficial. Maybe to much highs this time.
Amp sim 1
Amp sim 2
Amp sim 3
Amp sim 4
Amp sim 5
Amp sim 6
Amp sim 7
Amp sim 8
While, I take the time to give my opinion on the sounds, I could never really explain this using words, here are some audio examples. Minimal processing was used on the guitars, the details are below. You can come to your own conclusions. Oh, the Carlsbro is a dark sounding amp. Peace.
Amp - Carlsbro TC 60 combo
Amp Sim - AXP SoftAmp FM25
D.I. - Donner Special-I (I also recorded the dry signal)
Delay and reverb on bus sends
Interface - MOTU Traveler MKI
Microphone Pulse d606 Should have used SM57
MloudnessAnalyzer - used to level tracks to the preset - Music recommended
Studio One EQ used to filter guitar Bus 100Hz – 9k (ish)
Waves L3 - used as a safety limiter
All audio
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mlm0y8zgeem0 ... Nt_oa?dl=0
