Blackhawk Amplifiers Introduces the Sauron Distortion - the Ultimate in Brutal Searing High Gain Distortion
Brooks Blackhawk’s latest creation is his most brutal high gain pedal yet - combining the characteristics from a trifecta of legendary high gain distortion pedals - with elements of the Balrog, HM-2 and MT-2 all present. The pedal derives its name from Tolkien’s darkest character - which manifests as the disembodied Eye of Sauron, situated in northwest Mordor, near Mount Doom, keeping watch over Middle-Earth from its highest tower!
This crowning achievement is Brooks’ most complex circuit to-date also - with a quartet of PCB’s layered up within the enclosure. Owing to the nature of the high gain power handling there were all kinds of challenges that needed to be overcome - including the prevention of parasitic oscillation and feedback.
This really is a crushing electrical storm of a distortion - which can sear, soar, pummel and pound in equal measure. I feature here 3 of my favourite settings - where this is really as I called it - 3 circuits in one sort of with limitless sonic possibilities in that high gain territory - the nature of the formidable EQ’s means that it is equally adept at vintage and modern flavours.
As Brooks puts it :
"Imagine the gain staging of the Balrog, an updated version of the midrange controls from the MT-2 and a foot-switchable fixed tone stack of the HM-2… sounds pretty brutal right? Well, IT IS."
"Basically it’s an extremely high gain distortion with an active cut/boost semi-parametric midrange and frequency, active bass control and passive treble control."
"The second footswitch kicks in a fixed HM2 tone stack but the other controls all still work, so in order to get it to sound closest an HM2, you have to dial the other controls in (cutting low mids, bass and boosting treble a bit) and then flip the mid shift toggle to the up position."
"Although I designed it to be the ultimate DEATH/GRIND distortion, It’s perfect for any genre of metal including death, grind, black and doom but also hardcore, punk and shoegaze."
The Mid EQ-Shift is a Wien-Bridge type circuit which assigns different capacitor values - such that Up is High, Middle is Low, and Down is in-between the two. This is a key part of the circuit and generally you need to adjust the EQ every time you flip the switch.
Also note that the HM-2 EQ Footswitch works best with the Mid EQ-Shift in the Up Position, while it’s pretty cool in the Down Position too - as per my 3rd Preset which works great with single or both footswitches engaged. Note that the HM-2 footswitch does nothing on its own - it needs to be used in conjunction with the right-hand one - as an additive mode. This is nothing like any sort of Boost - as usually you will need to adjust the other EQ’s when you engage the HM-2 mode. My final setting serendipitously actually works really well for both options - which is a rarity. If for instance you apply said footswitch to my first preset - it sounds horrible!
So it mostly kind of renders as three different circuits - based on how the Mid EQ-Shift and HM-2 mode are applied - while you can get the occasional setting which works well with both.
NOTE - FOR BEST RESULTS PLAY THE SAURON INTO A CLEAN AMP.
Controls - V for Volume, F for Mid Frequency, Trident for Gain, 3-way Mid EQ-Shift Toggle, T for Treble, M for Mids Cut/Boost, B for Bass, Right Footswitch is On/Bypass, Left is HM-2 Mode Engage (additive only).
Brooks advises that the pedal can be a little tricky to dial in - while I actually found it really easy. This is such a supercharged distortion - that you need to be most careful with the Gain knob, I like the Volume on Max for extra sizzle, sear and saturation - do note that you need a decent noise-gate for this pedal - particularly at higher gain settings. You will find the supercharged / electrical storm descriptive very apt as this pedal is verily dripping with crackling electrical energy - it’s like a lightning conductor/ rod in its searing saturation - so satisfying!
The Sauron takes a standard 2.1mm 9V DC [-] power supply - with current draw at around 30mA.
NOTE - 'Blackened' edition as above, versus 'Black' editions otherwise pictured in this article
There were 10 black Saurons for $250 and 5 blackened for $270 pre-built and immediately available exclusively from the Blackhawk Amplifiers Webstore this past Friday. You need to move quickly to get in on the first batch! From then on please allow 1-2 weeks build time as every BLACKHAWK pedal is made by hand.
Sound Samples
For sound samples - consult the Blackhawk Amplifiers Instagram Page :
www.instagram.com/p/CVWNGI3jU5i/
[Note that Facebook keep changing the oembed permissions - will try and sort it to appear automatically here!]
Preset 1 - Pounding Palm-Muted Perfection
This is my go-to setting really for beautifully thick and percussive rhythm tones with extra levels of depth. Mid EQ-Shift in middle position for maximum pounding performance - per the moniker - this really is the perfect palm-muting setting for you to get your chug on - it sounds glorious - and its dynamics are so satisfying. I have the Volume high for extra Sizzle - but you can dial it back to 2/3 o'c if you prefer a drier tone.
Settings : Volume at Max, Mid Frequency 2 o'c, Gain 3 o'c, Treble 2 o'c, Mid Boost 3 o'c, Bass 3 o'c, Mid EQ-Shift in Middle.
Preset 2 - Searing Chainsaw Distortion
This is of course that classic Swedish Death Metal / Chainsaw / Twin Peaks Grind - where you really need to have the Mid EQ-Shift in the Up position for optimal results. This is brutally searing and cutting - and gives you an amazing take on that classic HM-2 tonality.
Settings : Volume at Max, Mid Frequency 10 o'c, Gain 3 o'c, Treble at Max, Mid Cut 9 o'c, Bass 2 o'c, Mid EQ-Shift Up
Preset 3 - Modern Mids Punch
Here the Mid EQ-Shift is in the bottom position for a proper punchy pushed-mids modern metal tonality. I originally dialled this in as a core single footswitch selection - but discovered this sounds pretty great too with HM-2 EQ engaged. So this is one of the rarer settings that works well for both footswitches - which the first two Presets really don't!
Settings : Volume at Max, Mid EQ-Shift Down, all other Knobs at 2 o'c!
Final Thoughts
Easily one of my favourite High Gain Distortion pedals with so much range coverage and with such superb distortion texture - literally crackling with energy. Brooks has really perfectly calibrated those controls for ultimate prowess. This is missing the 'Depth' parameter from the Balrog - so that still has a valid place in every collection. While there are very few pedals that can compete with the searing intensity and crushing brutality that the Sauron so effortlessly delivers. Mark my words - this is a very special high gain pedal which incredibly manages to hold in check unprecedented levels of sizzle.
This will near enough give you every classic Heavy Metal flavour of all stripes and types, and most definitely reflects its combined DNA to the fullest (Balrog + MT-2 + HM-2). If you're looking for that one superior high gain distortion to rule them all - then this is most likely the one you were looking for.
This pedal is typified by an electrical searing intensity which you need to tame to your own preferences. There are some sensitivities here - and be careful how you apply Volume and Gain. While I found it effortlessly easy to deploy - as the taper on each control is just perfect and pretty much always does what you expect.
Brooks has put some considerable time and effort into harnessing all this magnificent power, and I feel this will be a modern-day classic for this genre, and a benchmark for many years to come.
