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Crazy Tube Circuits HiPower Amp & Speaker Simulation Effects Pedal

Pedal + amp-in-a-box overdrives recreating legendary sounds, following the success of Crossfire and Unobtanium

HI POWER is Crazy Tube Circuits' next endeavour in pedal + amp-in-a-box overdrives recreating legendary sounds, following the success of Crossfire and Unobtanium.

It was inspired by the sonic combination of two British tone machines. The almighty Colorsound Power Boost meets the blistering high-headroom Hiwatt amp.

While the combination of these two units directly hints at the gear setup of David Gilmour and especially the gear used on Pink Floyd's album: Wish You Were Here (think the guitar solo sounds of "Shine on you Crazy Diamond", "Have A Cigar") the sonic options are endless.

The orange enclosure silicon transistor circuit (Colorsound Power Boost) can deliver from a transparent clean boost to an all-out fuzz driving a tube amp to sonic bliss. Crazy Tube Circuits set out to clone the original unit featuring the true-to-the-original spec BC184 transistors running on 18V DC (via an internal voltage booster circuit).

The ultra-flexible 2-band Baxandall EQ circuit can add bite and low-end rumble to any setup. Crazy Tube Circuits used a reverse log gain pot (labelled as volume), compared to the linear taper pot found in the original units and acted as an on/off switch, to be able to set the amount of boost/overdrive more precisely. While the earlier units didn't feature a master volume control (only as an aftermarket mod - Pete Cornish made an external unit master volume for David Gilmour's Power Boost) Crazy Tube Circuits chose to include one that is setup in a way so that when it is all the way clockwise it is bypassed. Later versions of the Power Boost had 9V power supply and were renamed as the "Overdriver" due to the lower headroom and their ability to drive the signal earlier. They were offered in a grey enclosure and can be seen in the gear setups of Jeff Beck, Marc Bolan, etc. Crazy Tube Circuits chose to incorporate this version as well with a flip of a toggle switch (PWR-ODR toggle switch).

On the left side of the HI POWER you will find an all-analogue circuit set out to emulate the sound and feel of a Hiwatt amp. Following the path of the famed British tube amplifier, this circuit offers authentic amp tone and feel resembling guitar tones from guitar greats like David Gilmour, Pete Townsend, Jimmy Page, Noel Gallagher to name a few. From the big bold high-headroom clean sounds to the face-melting crunchy tones.

True to the last detail, Crazy Tube Circuits have included the full EQ section along with a presence control located at the negative feedback of the power amp simulation circuit. A headroom toggle switch selects between the high headroom 100w power section provided by a quartet of EL34s (think Hiwat DR103), or the lower headroom and compression provided by a 50W power section with a pair of EL34s when hit hard (think DR504). Similar in operation to the original amps the master volume was designed to produce more gain at higher settings.

Crazy Tube Circuits taken the design a step further by adding a switch to select between input channels of the amplifier. You can select between the full response of the normal channel of the amplifier, the increased presence and tight low end of the bright channel input or the "Gilmour-ish" enhanced frequency response and added gain of those inputs linked together. This follows the modifications that Pete Cornish did to all David Gilmour's Hiwatt amps.

Like their other dual overdrive/amp-in-a-box designs, Crazy Tube Circuits also included a passive effects loop to give you the option to connect your beloved pedals between your booster/overdrive and amp in a box or use the two sections as separate and independent effects when using an external bypass switcher/looper. Gilmour enthusiasts will love to insert their Big Muff, Tube Driver and Phase 90 in there. Note that all pedals inserted in the passive effects loop are still in the signal chain when any or both sections of HI POWER are in bypass.

HI POWER features a power-up bypass/engage pre-set function for the footswitches. That way you can select which state your pedal will go to when you plug the power supply. This function comes in especially handy to people that use remote pedal switchers / loopers as they only set the state of the pedal once and then operate from the controller.

All-analog dual booster/overdrive - amp in a box.
Recreates the tones of the legendary setup used by David Gilmour in the recordings of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here album.
Right side: Faithful reproduction of the Colorsound Power Boost/Overdriver circuits with true-to-the-original-spec BC184 transistors.
Controls: gain, bass, treble, master, voicing toggle.
Wide gain range control: from transparent boost to gnarly and fuzzy overdrive.
Two-band (treble & bass) Baxandall EQ.
Master knob sets overall output. Huge amount of dB boost available.
Toggle switch to select between the 18V Power Boost style circuit or the 9V Overdriver style circuit.
Left side: Hiwatt AMP in a box overdrive.
All analog simulation of the preamp and power amp sound and response.
Controls: gain, bass, middle, treble, master, input channel toggle switch, headroom toggle switch.
Gain control: from clean to big bold British crunch/overdrive.
3-band Hiwatt style EQ (bass, middle, treble).
Presence control follows the original design/is located at the negative feedback of the power amp simulation circuit to control the amount of upper mid and high frequencies.
Master knob sets overall output volume. Designed to respond like the original control producing more gain at higher settings.
Input channel toggle switch selects between normal, bright, or linked input channels of the AMP for different voicing and gain levels.
Headroom toggle switch selects between the high headroom and dynamic response of a 100W amp or the lower headroom and compression of a 50W power amp.
Independent operation of the BOOST/OVERDRIVE and AMP sections
Click-less true bypass design via high-quality relays for each section.
2 Footswitches / 2 Status LEDs - one for each effect section.
Power-up bypass/engage preset function for the footswitches.
Top-mounted jacks
Passive series effects loop to connect pedals between the two sections or use them separately as independent effects.
Power Supply: Use only 9V DC, 2.1 mm x 5.5 mm, center negative (not included).
Runs internally at 18V DC (via voltage doubler circuit) for higher headroom and tube-like performance.
Current consumption: 84mA.
British Racing Green die-cast enclosure with color-coded lettering for the control section (orange for BOOST/OVERDRIVE section, white for AMP section).
Dimensions: (W x L x H): 119 x 97 x 53 mm.
Weight: 444 g.
Made in Greece.

Features

• All-analogue dual booster/overdrive plus amp in a box
• Recreates the tones of the legendary setup used by David Gilmour in the recordings of Pink Floyd''s "Wish You Were Here" album.
• Right side: faithful reproduction of the "Colorsound Power Boost" or "Colorsound Overdriver" circuits with true-to-the-original-spec BC184 transistors
• Left side: "Hiwatt" amp-in-a-box
• Independent operation of the "pedal" and "amp" sections
• Click-less true bypass design via high quality relays for each section.
• 2 Footswitches / 2 Status LEDs - one for each effect section.
• Power-up bypass/engage preset function for the footswitches.
• Top mounted jacks
• Passive series effects loop to connect pedals between the two sections or use them separately as independent effects
• Power Supply: Use only 9V DC, 2.1 mm x 5.5 mm, center negative (not included).
• Runs internally at 18V DC (via voltage doubler circuit) for higher headroom and tube-like performance
• Current consumption 84mA.
• British Racing Green die-cast enclosure with colour-coded lettering for the control section (orange for "pedal" section, white for "amp" section).
• Dimensions: (W x L x H) : 119 x 97 x 53 mm.
• Weight 444 g.
• Made in Greece

Specifications