Hangman-2D

DISTORTION

The Wren and Cuff Hangman-2D is a detailed recreation of the famous black and orange HM-2 Heavy Metal Distortion pedal. As with many of Wren and Cuff's recreations, it became an obsession and a 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 artwork and one can see the value of the Hangman-2D over the original. 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 tone. There is the Lows knob which functions as one would expect, and a Highs knob to help shape the tone. But the Highs knob is kind of an odd ball in how it effects things. The high-mids are tied together so that the Highs 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. The Hangman-2D features a Vintage / Modern switch that lets you to reconfigure the clipping diodes allowing you bounce between the classic standard at one setting, and a less compressed more overdrive-meets-distortion sound as well as a boost to the output level.