OUR MOST VERSATILE DISTORTION: PG-14
“You can't judge the PG-14 based on how it looks or what you think it does.” –Mark Twain, circa 1674
When most of us get a new guitar pedal, we already have a predisposed idea of what it can do, what it should do, and what we're gonna use it for.
The downside to this is that you can have an insanely versatile pedal on your board and not realize it. Case in point: the Paul Gilbert Signature PG-14 Distortion. Technically, you could call it an overdrive/distortion/fuzz, and because it’s a quality signature pedal, it lets you sound like Paul freakin’ Gilbert, literally one of the most phenomenal guitar players I've ever heard. This pedal does so many things that there's no way one singular demo could show it all.
That said, I’m going to take a whack at it.
The topology of the PG-14 is very unique. The reason we stumbled on this specific circuit design was due to Paul’s tinnitus. You may or may not have seen a film called Baby Driver which features a hero with the same condition, so suffice it to say that Paul has extreme hearing loss at certain frequencies. When we started discussing a signature circuit and a pedal, this was our main focus. Paul said that he’d always wanted a distortion pedal with a certain push in different frequencies to compensate for his hearing loss. We ended up developing the PG-14 using the circuitry from two existing JHS pedals: the Super Bolt and the Haunting Mids.
When you look at the PG-14, the volume, tone, and drive are technically the inner workings of the Super Bolt, which is a FET simulation of a tube amp. You also have the Haunting Mids circuit pushing the front of the PG-14, which in turn causes the volume control to push into an analog amp simulator, which is specifically adjusted with this tone circuit to find and hit those points at which Paul’s hearing loss had developed. What none of us anticipated was that having so much power in an EQ before a powerful, amp-like overdrive distortion circuit would create such an insanely versatile pedal.
How versatile? You’ll want to watch the jams in this week’s episode to find out, but your stylistic options range anywhere from an Eric Johnson-style dirty fuzz to Kurt Cobain-worthy grunge to Paul Gilbert-approved shoegaze.
If you’re looking for different flavors of overdrive, or even just a single pedal that can handle a ton of different sounds, the PG-14 is the pedal for you. Check it out at your local music store or order it on Sweetwater, and prepare to be amazed as your guitar sound is magically transformed into that of Paul freakin’ Gilbert. Not bad for $199.
When most of us get a new guitar pedal, we already have a predisposed idea of what it can do, what it should do, and what we're gonna use it for.
The downside to this is that you can have an insanely versatile pedal on your board and not realize it. Case in point: the Paul Gilbert Signature PG-14 Distortion. Technically, you could call it an overdrive/distortion/fuzz, and because it’s a quality signature pedal, it lets you sound like Paul freakin’ Gilbert, literally one of the most phenomenal guitar players I've ever heard. This pedal does so many things that there's no way one singular demo could show it all.
That said, I’m going to take a whack at it.
How The PG-14 Works
We released the PG-14 at NAMM in January 2020, right before the world went into lockdown due to COVID-19. Shortly afterwards, we released a video called “Who Is Paul Gilbert?” in which Paul displays exactly how he uses it and how you can use it to be more like him.The topology of the PG-14 is very unique. The reason we stumbled on this specific circuit design was due to Paul’s tinnitus. You may or may not have seen a film called Baby Driver which features a hero with the same condition, so suffice it to say that Paul has extreme hearing loss at certain frequencies. When we started discussing a signature circuit and a pedal, this was our main focus. Paul said that he’d always wanted a distortion pedal with a certain push in different frequencies to compensate for his hearing loss. We ended up developing the PG-14 using the circuitry from two existing JHS pedals: the Super Bolt and the Haunting Mids.
When you look at the PG-14, the volume, tone, and drive are technically the inner workings of the Super Bolt, which is a FET simulation of a tube amp. You also have the Haunting Mids circuit pushing the front of the PG-14, which in turn causes the volume control to push into an analog amp simulator, which is specifically adjusted with this tone circuit to find and hit those points at which Paul’s hearing loss had developed. What none of us anticipated was that having so much power in an EQ before a powerful, amp-like overdrive distortion circuit would create such an insanely versatile pedal.
How versatile? You’ll want to watch the jams in this week’s episode to find out, but your stylistic options range anywhere from an Eric Johnson-style dirty fuzz to Kurt Cobain-worthy grunge to Paul Gilbert-approved shoegaze.
If you’re looking for different flavors of overdrive, or even just a single pedal that can handle a ton of different sounds, the PG-14 is the pedal for you. Check it out at your local music store or order it on Sweetwater, and prepare to be amazed as your guitar sound is magically transformed into that of Paul freakin’ Gilbert. Not bad for $199.