Dr Green The Black Death review

Unleash a plague of distortion

  • £109
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Despite the rodent on the casing, The Black Death distortion is no copy-rat

MusicRadar Verdict

While distortion pedals all do the same thing, they each have their own voice, and no two guitarists will probably ever agree which is the best. However, The Black Death has a tone that will surely appeal to plenty.

Pros

  • +

    Solid build. Amp- style distortion. Practical tonal range.

Cons

  • -

    Nothing.

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One more addition to Hayden Amp's new UK-built Dr Green pedal range, the Black Death is a distortion pedal like no other.

"What you get with this pedal is distortion that sits very naturally in front of an amp"

The rat on the front might bring a certain US distortion pedal to mind, but the Black Death, like the rest of the range, is no clone of an existing pedal.

Sounds

What you get with this pedal is distortion that sits very naturally in front of an amp, ranging from a fairly mild overdrive all the way towards the sound of a cranked rock stack. All this is delivered via a tone control covering a sensible frequency range with no nasty surprises.

Trevor Curwen

Trevor Curwen has played guitar for several decades – he's also mimed it on the UK's Top of the Pops. Much of his working life, though, has been spent behind the mixing desk, during which time he has built up a solid collection of the guitars, amps and pedals needed to cover just about any studio session. He writes pedal reviews for Guitarist and has contributed to Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Future Music among others.