Wren and Cuff Pedals: Washers, lube and miscellaneous love..

[Tendollarcat]

Matt at W&C is a nice dude and I've enjoyed a few of his pedals on bass. Just saw this one on his Facebook page and thought I would share -

http://wrenandcuff.com/site/the-stompbo ... angman-2d/

Thoughts?

[Holy Schnikes]

I've seen the HM-2 get lots of love and hate but never tried one personally. Dunwich Nick was building one as well, may be available, not too sure. Think he designed it to retain some extra low end.

W&C makes good stuff tho, I'm sure it's cool if you like the HM-2's unique brand of dirt but I'd imagine it would thin out your bass tone something fierce.

[Chankgeez]

Saw that. Listened to the sound samples on their site. Especially liked that last one. Sounds promising.

[Wes Mantooth]

I'd rather just get an HM-2 than pay $250 for a boutique version

[sonidero]

Why use those washers if you're not gonna do it right???

[Chankgeez]

I'd rather just get an HM-2 than pay $250 for a boutique version

I think a lot of people are gonna say.

[Schlatte]

Why use those washers if you're not gonna do it right???

Because they come with the switches. I just dump them and buy "normal" washers.
I would expect that from a 250$ boutique pedal too...

[Holy Schnikes]

$250 is crazy! I didn't see that the first time around.

[hazelwould]

Man the aesthetics are kinda strange as well... Just looking at the balance of things, IONO. Distracting to me.

Maybe have the bird holding the hangman?

[WeHuntKings]

No thanks, I'll just buy an OG MIJ heavy metal for 70 bucks.

That price is outrageous.

[Sardocasm]

Interesting concept, but not at that price point. Also, the art is sort of mediocre and thrown together looking.

[Genghis Kanye]

But the wiring is NONE MORE BLACK.

Seriously, though, Wren & Cuff do good work. I can't see this pedal being very popular, but possibly everyone should own a Mercy Phuk.

[Chankgeez]

Text from the Wren and Cuff site, hope this helps:

"The Boss HM-2 was laid to rest in 1991 when the last of the wannabe Marshall-amp in a box pedals rolled off the line…
A puzzling pedal to some and downright hated by others, the funeral was not attended by many and met with a sigh of relief by those who loathed it’s buzz-saw brand of high-gain distortion.
However there was a small group of loyal followers that grieved the death of this black and orange beast.
Despite the drop in sales the pedal experienced causing Boss to cease production, a wide swath of bands gave the HM-2 a permanent residence on their pedal-boards. Swedish Death Metal legends like Entombed and Dismember had long ago made it an essential “always on” part of their setup while bands from My Bloody Valentine to The Jesus and Mary Chain were using it to help craft their walls of distorted guitar noise chaos. Others saw it showing up under the feet of some of the most noted bands that emerged in the now historic grunge-wave of the nineties.
Enter the Wren and Cuff Hang Man 2D, a detailed recreation of Boss’ “Heavy Metal” pedal.
With a circuit more complicated than many digital delays, and the ability for the average person to get an original HM-2 on ebay for pretty cheap, many may wonder why the hell we decided to remake this pedal.
The answer? Because I (Matt) wanted to. As with many of our recreations, it became an obsession and difficult task to really nail the tone. As usual, it went way beyond getting a schematic. It became a task requiring ears and hours.
Also, a hand-wired, hand-loaded, circuit board using 1/4 watt metal film resistors instead of the 1/8 watt carbon film on the original is a nice thing if you like this pedal. The noise floor becomes dramatically less, and colorful overtones become much more apparent. Add to that the usual Wren and Cuff luxuries of 100% mechanical, true hard-wired bypass, rugged all metal Alpha pots mounted directly to the chassis, a Modern and Vintage toggle switch, tough metal enclosure and gorgeous art work… And one can see the value of the Hangman 2 over the original.
(*All of the references below apply to both the original HM-2 and our Hang Man 2D.)
This pedal can go from super compressed, tight, smooth distortion, to a snarling buzz-saw monster that brings out every pick-to-string strike you throw at it. Surprisingly though, one trait it does not possess is the extreme scoop to the mids many associate with “Heavy Metal.” One of the secrets to it’s tone is the somewhat strange configuration of it’s “color mix” section.
There is the “low” knob which functions as one would expect, and a high knob to help shape the tone. But the “high” knob is kind of an odd-ball in how it effects things. The high-mids are tied together so that the high knob is more of a upper-mids to treble control which can make getting great sounds out of it a bit tricky… but this is also the charm of it. It’s not a pedal all will turn on and immediately fall in love with. It’s a pedal that will make you search for the sweet spot between the pedal’s own crunch and the amp it’s being fed into.
Many in the death-metal crowd dime everything, pummel the front end of a solid state or tube amp, then EQ the whole amp around the pedal. But most often the pedal’s output is pushed up hard enough to mesh with an amp’s natural distortion and the high knob jacked up enough to introduce the buzz-saw grind.
In other words, it’s tweaked until one finds the sweet spots lurking inside the Hang Man.
Do an HM-2 search on you tube and you’ll see the difference between those who have learned the hidden tricks of the HM-2, and those who still need some schooling. You’ll hear some of the thickest most brutal sounds a pedal can produce, but you’ll also hear some of the worst “bee trapped in a jar” tones that would make anyone cringe.
Then why recreate a pedal that isn’t instantly awesome to the average user? Because I love it when a seemingly simple pedal makes you get out a shovel and dig for the gold nuggets inside. These are the things no modeler can reproduce. However, the “D” in our HM-2D is there for a reason. It stands for “Deluxe” because of a few tweaks applied to the circuit to make the pedal even more fun.
There is a vintage/modern switch that lets you to reconfigure the clipping diodes allowing you bounce between “stock” at one setting, and a less compressed more overdrive-meets-distortion sound as well as a boost to the output level."

[woolyh]

MBV and JAMC both used HM-2s to get their sound? Never really heard the pedal being associated with them before.

Anyway for people with lots of money it's nice I guess but there's still plenty of cheap HM-2s out there... outside Scandinavia that is ;p

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-1vcuKcXeI[/youtube]

[chillerthanmost]

Even $70 for a used one I think is pushing it. I sold mine for $30 with a broken knob and picked up another for $40. MIJ. I never use it, haha, but it's there. I go as far as absolutely loving Trap Them but hating every other current band I hear use them. Which includes when my own band was using them. But, good to know I can get a good buck back if I decide to sell it. The W&C version looks pretty cheap compared to his other pedals. Perhaps the knobs and graphics. I usually like his other stuff. Would probably sell a few more if kept in the $150-$180 price range. Eh, just my opinion.