Master shredder Jeff Loomis has teamed up with All-Pedal for his signature pedal, Devil’s Triad: a limited-edition tri-effect pedal intended to summon your darkest tones. We tested it out in the studio.
Getting free stuff in the mail is always cool, but it must be a pretty exceptional day when that stuff is a pedal designed exclusively around YOU. For years of service to the shred Jeff Loomis from Nevermore and Arch Enemy was awarded this massive privilege, teaming up with All-Pedal to make part of his sonic signature attainable by all with the Devil’s Triad. Or at least the 450 folks who manage to get a hold of this limited edition box.
It’s not Loomis’ first foray into endorsement design; the guy’s got a guitar, a virtual amp, and a long-out-of-print overdrive already to his name, but this here is the very first dual-section pedal with drive, boost, delay and reverb to feature the progressive metal riff-lord’s signature. Furthermore, this thing can be used to entirely replace your amp’s preamp section if you skip the input jack of your amp and head straight into the FX return.
Ripping into features, within this 1590XX sized enclosure the Drive section is op-amp based with LED soft clipping for the distortion, with 20dB of level boost available, and tone and gain control. The Boost is a single knob-job with 20dB of clean, open op-amp gain; indeed a generous helping of extra level. Each section features their own footswitch for maximum control over the push this thing gives, which even whilst completely cranked maintains a sweet drive that never enters into the plasticky, clipped zone.
The Reverb/Delay section leaves your signal analog whilst the emanating effects are digitally processed via a Coolaudio V1000 processing chip, with AD/DA conversion taken care of by the classy Coolaudio V4220M processor. The plate-based Reverb section features control over level, tone, and decay, ranging from short to massively long, and Delay contains control over level, feedback, and delay time, ranging from a snappy 50ms through to a long 500ms. These two spatial effects live together and are toggled with a single footswitch.
Setting this box up allows a few options, especially as the Drive/Boost sections can sit as a standalone circuit, as can the Reverb/Delay section. So, it can be set up via:
- the above mentioned pre-amp style
- a traditional two cable in set up (into Input A, out of Output B with no need for a linking patch)
- Two separate pedals with any number or array of effects units in between the two sections
- Two separate outputs via a splitter for stereo chaos
- Or via Jeff’s recommended method with guitar directly into the Drive/Boost section and into the front end of your desired amplifier, and the Reverb/Delay section sitting in the amplifier’s effects loop.
Experimentation in sound AND cabling is highly encouraged in your deep tonal quest, squire/squir-ess. Dark Lord Loomis also offers a few of his personal favourite settings so you’ll be shredding with gravitas soon after plugging the box in.
The Devil’s Triad runs at $325US, comes with a 3 year warranty, and is available exclusively on Reverb.com. 100 units come hand signed by the man himself, and all purchases go into the draw to win a Jeff Loomis Signature Jackson 7 string Guitar.
