Gamma Hades Pedal Review

I recently purchased the the Gamma Hades to see if it would live up to its name and produce the sounds of the under world. Can this pedal be an affordable option to produce rich sound and add versatility to your tone? Read on to find out.

When purchased I was in the market for an overdrive pedal. The Gamma Hades popped up on the search and was on sale at Guitar Center for $49.00. That was very affordable for a distortion pedal considering that the competition is averaging over $100-$150. So why not give it a try.

Looking at the pedal it is very simple and not complicated in it's function at all. The level knob will raise the output of the pedal, drive will adjust the overdrive effect, bass, mid, and treble, function as they would on an amp, or amp modeling software.

Housed in a metal shell, the knobs turn smoothly and the foot button is very smooth and not sticky like some other pedals can be. The only thing I didn't care for on this pedal as far as the build goes, would be how to change the battery. This pedal runs off a 9v power source, and to change the battery you have to unscrew the back plate. Over time I can see the screws stripping out. Fortunately you can also run this with a plug in power adapter. I purchased mine from Amazon for $10, and you can power up to 3 pedals at once. Besides the inconvenience of how the battery would be changed, this pedal is built well.

But how does it sound? Although labeled as a distortion pedal, this pedal does act like an overdrive. Even at full distortion you can hear the notes with more clarity than other pedals I have tried. Usually when you run the max setting on a pedal the sound will get real fuzzy and some times sound synthetic. The Hades does a great job at all levels. I tested this pedal on one of my favorite budget guitars the Epiphone Les Paul Special and out out of the AXE I/O One.

I found the range that this pedal achieves is very broad. At lower levels of drive I can get a blues classic rock sound. Going through levels of gain on this pedal I found that I could get glam rock sounds with some added reverb and the mid level set to 12 o'clock on the dial. Cutting the mid completely is where the Hades lives up to it's name. I was in pure face melting territory here. Power chords ring out with doom and thick driven tone. I'm not going to pull punches here this is truly one of my favorite pedals to use. This pedal has proven to be very versatile in tones that can be achieved, at a very affordable price point. If pure distortion is not what you are looking for the NUX Sixty Five overdrive has been a good pedal for getting the classic rock, blues tones, and is also very affordable. The Hades on the other hand can take me from the Stairway to Heaven to the deep dark trenches of the underworld. Give it try, I have found that Guitar Center runs sales on these pedals quite often, the normal price of this pedal has been $79, but when on sale it can be found for $49. A good pedal for a beginner on a budget, with some great sounding tones.

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The clips below take you through the drive range starting clean and going up gradually. The amp I used for recording was the Peavey VIP3, the amp model selected was the CL50. Amp settings were 6 o'clock for everything, the first clip I took out the reverb effect. On the second clip I added some reverb, completely dropped the mids and brought them up slowly to full range.

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