HAMSTEAD SOUNDWORKS
Zenith Amplitude Controller
A classy tone-conditioning workhorse from the Brit boutique amp maker
Words Trevor Curwen
Photography Olly Curtis
PEDALBOARD
MANUFACTURER HAMSTEAD SOUNDWORKS
MODEL ZENITH AMPLITUDE CONTROLLER
PRICE £279
CONTACT HAMSTEAD SOUNDWORKS 01223 208809 WWW.HAMSTEADSOUNDWORKS.COM
Hamstead knows a thing or two about creating tone and its new pedal, the Zenith Amplitude Controller, is all about getting the best tone out of your own equipment by offering EQ, boost and compression in one place. The signal path is all analogue, but three selectable routing options and some clever digital switching technology give you plenty of options for using the EQ and compression separately or combined.
SOUNDS
The three EQ knobs each offer 15dB of cut or boost with some selectable options on how the Middle operates: you can have centre frequencies of 500Hz, 800Hz or 1.2 kHz, and wide, medium and narrow Q (bandwidth). This is quality musical tonetweaking, with the Bass knob rolling off unwanted weight or adding girth without sounding flabby, the Treble knob adjusting the natural airy top-end, and the Middle knob offering targeted tweaks such as a Tube Screamer-ish mid hump or a Fender black-panel-style mid scoop. The output Level knob can add up to 20dB of boost to solidly hit your amp’s front-end.