The Pettyjohn Tilt is an ingenious Preamp/EQ pedal that can deliver up to 20dB of clean gain, but whose preamp section offers four different voices, each with its own color that can be tweaked in a unique way.
The Range knob is a rotary, four-position knob that selects the preamp’s sonic signature (the modes listed below, basically 4 EQ curves) and that interacts with the Tilt knob. The latter will boost one side of the audio spectrum of the selected EQ curve while simultaneously cutting on the opposite side of the spectrum as you turn the control clockwise. Everything will be flat at noon.
These are the four modes:
- LOW FOCUS: A setting that highlights the bottom end of the guitar frequency spectrum, useful for baritone and bass guitars, but also “fatter” guitar tones, but electric or acoustic.
- MODERN MIDS: This mode replicates the modern voiced Tilt curve lifted from the company’s CRUSH compressor. The use of modern WIMA caps delivers a clean, modern-sounding guitar tone.
- VINTAGE MIDS: The Range Position 3 recreates the character of the company’s best-seller pedal Chime overdrive, employing the same vintage style Orange Drop capacitors for a tone with a touch of vintage vibe.
- HIGH FOCUS: A treble booster mode that still manages to keep the tone’s warmth, useful for taming anything with too much bite or zip.
The Low Cut knob allows to roll off lows at a slope of 6dB per octave from 20Hz to 1kHz.
Through these four simple controls, the Pettyjohn Tilt opens up a remarkable range of tone-sculpting possibilities, without forgetting that the 20db of clean boost will bring into the sonic equation also amp break-up.
Check out the launch video, below.
The TILT is a Preamp/ Clean Boost pedal with a simple but powerful EQ section, focused on clean, highly musical tone shaping. The TILT fills a hole in our CORE lineup, serving as both EQ and a Boost, sporting up to 20ddB of clean gain thanks to our high voltage rail technology!
(Note: 18v opperation is required for maximum spec. performance)
Furthermore, the preamp color of the TILT is not exactly neutral, its designed to have a balance of clean and musical sonic signature! However, the color of the internal preamp can be configured in our custom shop to have maximum mojo with the Vintage Mod or even squeaky clean with our Modern mod. While we love a good clean boost, we feel the most exciting part of this pedal is its namesake, the TILT filter! The combo of the TILT and the LOWS control allows for nearly any EQ curve to be created. Lets explore this seemingly simply control and some of the unique features we added with the RANGE knob.
WHAT IS TILT?
The Tilting EQ curve is a simple but powerful approach to shaping the entire audio range with just one knob. This EQ curve essentially is flat at noon and as you turn the TILT knob, you boost one side of the audio spectrum while simultaneously cutting on the opposite side of the spectrum. Effectively boosting highs and cutting lows as you go past noon to the “right”, or inversely, cutting highs and boosting lows as you dial it back to the “left” of noon. This fantastic musical curve has been celebrated by audiophiles and engineers alike since its inception in the 50s. We have included the TILT with a unique 4 way voicing rotary switch that reconfigures the EQ uniquely, each setting for a different RANGE.
RANGE CONTROL
LOW FOCUS:
The First position of the Range switch is a new voicing dialed in specifically to highlight low frequencies, which maybe particularly useful for baritone and bass guitars, but we certainly think it shouldn’t be limited to those applications. Standard tuned guitarists and even acoustic instruments may find boosting with this curve very useful.
MODERN MIDS:
The second position on the RANGE switch implements the modern voiced Tilt curve lifted from our CRUSH compressor. It’s middle frequency is shifted lower from the CHIME and the use of modern WIMA caps really brings a clean, modern sounding alternative to RANGE voicing .
VINTAGE MIDS:
We first integrated the Tilt EQ in what quickly became and has stayed our best selling pedal, the CHIME. The Range Position 3 recreates this tilt curve exactly with the same vintage style Orange Drop capacitors for a lovely sweet tone with a touch of vintage vibe.
HIGH FOCUS:
Finally, the 4th position on the RANGE switch is focused on shaping the high end of the audio range. Boosting with this curve results in a brilliant treble booster, while cutting results in a warming, thickening effect that is perfect for chilling out anything with to much bite or zip.
LOW CUT
To compliment the TILT curves we have included the same passive low cut from the Foundry series, which gently rolls off lows at a slope of 6dB per octive. It’s sweepable from 20hz to 1khz and it interacts wonderfully with the tilt curve to create a whole new set of synergistic curves. Use it to create mid boosts, tighten lows whole cutting highs, or to make the treble boosting effect even more pronounced for twang and jangle. It’s general slope is surprisingly useful on bass instruments as a tightens boomy sub frequencies without fully “cutting” them. Finally, we love this filter because it basically doesn’t color your tone at all, it just reduces low frequency energy without any strange blurring or ringing found in some more agressive low cut filters.
The CORE Series features a streamlined control set for quickly dialing in killer tones with four knobs to adjust Level, RANGE, LOWS and TILT.
We designed the CORE Series with a dual rail doubling power supply. This design can scale from +/-7v to +/-18v, effecting the headroom, tone and feel of the pedal, achieving up to four times the headroom over standard 9v pedals. The internal supply achieves this by mirroring whatever input voltage you apply via the external power supply and we always encourage people to experiment.
Our entire CORE Series features our quiet bypass switching system. It is a true bypass, relay based system for minimum pop when engaging the effect.
FEATURES
• Clean Boost with up to 20dB of distortion free GAIN
• Preamp voiced for clean and musical sonic signature
• Musical TILT EQ with 4 voicings via the RANGE knob.
• RANGE knob with focus on Lows, Vintage Mids, Modern Mids and Treble ranges.
• High quality I/O buffers for seemless placement anywhere in your pedal chain.
• Low Cut with 6dB/octive roll off
• LOWS circuit that sweeps from 20Hz to 1kHz before the TILT EQ stage.
• High headroom with internal doubling from 7v-18v power input.
• Draws under 100mA.
• Quiet bypass relay based true-bypass system for quiet switching.
• Designed for guitars, bass and keys.
• Low noise with premium analog parts.
