The SoloDallas Storm seems to be generating a LOT of interest these days. More and more it seems to find itself on a lot of gear hound’s must try lists. It can be used as a simple overdrive, output booster or a Character booster. On top of all of this it can be used as a single knob compressor.
The Storm is fairly easy to navigate so this poses no real problems…other than option anxiety (but to solve this, simply buy another pedal!) There are, however, a few sweet spots that aren’t so obvious, so lets take a look at the easy to find (and later, the not so easy to find) settings that lurk within the Storm.
Here are the 4 main settings for the Drive side only:
- Low Gain High Output: Clean Booster/Light Overdrive Use this setting for a large volume boost. The Storm has enough output to slam your amp’s preamp and power section. Tube amplifier recommended.
- High Gain and Low Output: Drive/Heavy Overdrive This setting is useful when you need a little more gain and front-end drive that your amp is capable of or if you just want to add more drive to an amplifier already on full tilt!
- Medium Gain and Output (50/50) Balanced Drive and Boost This will yield a delicious balance of both drive e and output. It works well with just about any amplifier, and seems to transform anything that is Fender-like in tonal signature. With a Marshall, it just becomes MORE MARSHALL. Is this a thing? Oh yes, it is.
- Full Bore! High Gain and High Output Excessive settings for excessive tone! The only limitations with this setting lie within your amplifier (and speaker array.) It can get flabby if you don’t have a tight rig. With all of this excess however you are still rewarded with a very refined tone. Again, tube amp recommended.
SNAP The Power
The “Snap” control adjusts the optical limiter and is very easy to set. Left for a little compression or to the right for a lot. It is very subtle in nature as limiters tend to be but it does add something. Which brings us to the more complex settings when this is introduced to the mix…and the not so easy to find settings of the gain and output controls. More on this later…
These are just some base settings. It may be rig dependant but there seem to be sweet spots on the “Storm” and “Power” controls that tend to bring out more detail in your pick attack and tone chain. Throw in the compressor and we are in for some HiFi and heavily distorted tones! Is this possible many ask? Listen closely to the crunch when you next hear an AC/DC Tune…It’s down and dirty, but clear as a bell. Stay tuned…