Pignose preamp and effects pedals. Snort, Snort!

Ro S · Post by **Ro S** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:15 pm

I recently found out about two pedals that Pignose make. There's not much on the interent about them.

I've just managed to buy both cheaply - one on a clearance deal.

The first pedal (below), the Pignose Piggy-in-a-box, is an amp-in-a-box type pedal in a very literal sense. It's a preamp of the Pignose amp, so you can hook it up into a speaker; or, it has another output jack so that you can use it in an effects chain as an overdrive or preamp.

The second pedal is the Pignose Detonator S.P. (I dunno what the 'SP' stands for). It's an overdrive/distortion pedal. The 'extra snort' footswitch puts it into the distortion mode. The construction is extremely rugged (like a Rat). I think thsi pedal is now discontinued.

Both pedals are covered in leatherette, like the actual Pignose amp.

How cute do these pedals look?!

I couldn't resist them.

Snort, Snort!

p.s. If you don't know what a Pignose amp is, see this video below. Famous users include Clapton and Zappa.

[youtube][/youtube]

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:29 pm

I use a pignose amp sometimes and i love it! Awesome dirty raunchy sound. It's a tube amp called a g40v and my friend had it modded at the amp dr in houston before i got it.

Ro S · Post by **Ro S** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:34 pm

Here's a video of Zappa using a Pignose live on a TV show. You can see him setting up his Pignose near the beginning of the clip.

[youtube][/youtube]

Ro S · Post by **Ro S** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:39 pm

brandonwinmill wrote:I use a pignose amp sometimes and i love it! Awesome dirty raunchy sound. It's a tube amp called a g40v and my friend had it modded at the amp dr in houston before i got it.

Nice. Yeah, Pignose has a lovely dirty sound.

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:50 pm

Ro S wrote:
brandonwinmill wrote:I use a pignose amp sometimes and i love it! Awesome dirty raunchy sound. It's a tube amp called a g40v and my friend had it modded at the amp dr in houston before i got it.
Nice. Yeah, Pignose has a lovely dirty sound.

The one i have only does that sound. It doesn't clean up well but i love it for dirty bluesy stuff or slide work. I don't really need any pedals with it because it has this certain sound that is best just like it is.

I think you'll enjoy your new pignose's.

Concretebadger · Post by **Concretebadger** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:52 pm

The snout-shaped control knobs are kinda cute, yeah. A pignose certainly has a neat fuzz tone so if those pedals recreate that, that's cool too. I'm not sure how much of that character would be lost through running it through a different type of speaker; part of the 'charm' of those portable radio-type amps is the lo-fi nasal fuzzyness that comes from the piddly little speakers they were fitted with, I would've thought.

Until now I'd never even heard what a Pignose sounded like. I believe the company was associated with Gorilla amps during the latter's later years, but I know nothing about the Pignoses. The first amp I ever owned was a Gorilla TC 110 combo, and it was the most horrid-sounding amp I ever played through. Those clips of Pignoses sound nothing like that!

Ro S · Post by **Ro S** » Tue Aug 06, 2013 7:41 am

brandonwinmill wrote: The one i have only does that sound. It doesn't clean up well but i love it for dirty bluesy stuff or slide work.

How about with the guitar's volume knob dialled back, can't it clean up decently then?

Ro S · Post by **Ro S** » Tue Aug 06, 2013 7:43 am

Concretebadger wrote: Until now I'd never even heard what a Pignose sounded like. I believe the company was associated with Gorilla amps during the latter's later years, but I know nothing about the Pignoses. The first amp I ever owned was a Gorilla TC 110 combo, and it was the most horrid-sounding amp I ever played through. Those clips of Pignoses sound nothing like that!

I think Gorilla bought the Pignose brand a few years ago. Formally, I think they're called 'Pignose-Gorilla'.

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Tue Aug 06, 2013 12:53 pm

Ro S wrote:
brandonwinmill wrote: The one i have only does that sound. It doesn't clean up well but i love it for dirty bluesy stuff or slide work.
How about with the guitar's volume knob dialled back, can't it clean up decently then?

It's hard to explain. At a low volume on the master and the guitar volume dialed back it cleans up ok but there isn't much volume. At a decent volume it breaks up nicely, which is what i meant by dirty. I love it. I also have a mesa and a vox and this pignose has a sound that neither has. My mesa is full of different sounds, great fender like cleans and tight high gain sounds but about the only thing it doesn't do is the sound that the pignose does well so i got it covered.