Artec Twin Head

Simple, simple, easy, easy. You can choose drive type: bluesy, 70??s rock or metal. It has Bass and Treble knobs that ACTUALLY WORK and are quite interactive. You can balance lows and treble to get close to Zakk Wylde on the "No More Tears" age, or crank the treble up to Dimebag??s cutting riffs.

There??s a level knob, as well.

If you can??t work this out, give it up. Living on this planet, I mean.

Well, let??s put it this way: I own a Boss GT-3 and tried for roughly 2 years to get a mean, chunky heavy rock sound. I could get early Metallica out of that, but nowhere near Black Album era, or Creed, for that matter. I was going nuts about it.

One day I try this thing, just for the hell of it. With a couple twists of the knobs - THERE IT IS. What I was looking for since EVER.

It??ll sound BEAUTIFUL with mean humbuckers and drop D settings. This thing adds punch without summoning a swarm of bees in the process. I didn??t use the other settings, but they do sound fine.

I should also add that it sounds real good for virtuoso leads. I can go from Gary Moore to Steve Vai with a simple pickup change. Hard to top.

This does not sound noisy with my Les Paul. I usually play it through a Marshall Mosfet and a Fender Princeton (yes, I do play stereo).

Seriously, this is shoulder-to-shoulder with Pro-Co Rat and, say, Marshall??s Guv??nor. Only thing I can think that could top it would be that Valve pedal from Mesa Boogie. This thing is IT!

Well, the thing is built like a friggin tank... hard metal case. Beautiful, by the way: has this neat metal texture, dark green, looks like a military item. I really dig and trust it.

Well, I won??t say anything, because the factory is in Korea, and I??m in Brazil. But then again, here we can only rely on customer support from Brazilian companies, so it never really made a difference.

I play mainly 90??s heavy rock, like Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Creed, Pearl Jam, Living Colour, Guns n Roses. This thing covers it all pretty well. I didn??t buy this for the bluesy overdrive, which the GT-3 can deliver. But the heavy sound will get you as close to 90??s metal sounds as it gets without a kickass tube amp. I should also say that I dig many styles of music, from bebop to cool jazz to reggae, but, in this review, I??m trying to show my enthusiasm for the heavy side of the force, which is where this pedal can take you.

Most of the time I play this with an Epiphone Les Paul equipped with Gibson pickups. The guitar is a fat-chunky-mean lady, and this pedal does know how to please her. I also have a cheap Condor superstrat, which, for some lucky turn of fate, sounds real nice. I added the Evolution Bridge and a Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails to it. Gets me thinking why people spend 3000 bucks on guitars when a cheap one with good modifications will do the trick. I mean, I??m not playing arenas or anything, so certain subtleties of sound that masterfully crafted guitars deliver would be lost in the gigs I play.

I??ve been an amateur player for over 15 years and going professional, at the moment. The way I use it, this pedal is a little too harsh for the kind of gigs that usually show up, but it??s perfect for my funky-grunge band. I suppose the lighter overdrives that the Boss GT-3 gives me would cover the "girly" music genres, though ;)

I would like to end by saying that it??s not often that I find a heavy sounding pedal that does NOT sound like you opened up Pandora??s Box and bees from hell come out and eat your (or your band??s) sanity away. Playing this feels like I??m in charge of a mythical beast that hasn??t been fed for ages. Oh, my band mates dig it, as well.

Can you turn on an over? or open a door? Catch my drift!

This is what the MXR Distortion+'s from the 70's and 80's sounded like...only these sound better. A blend of Grind, Boost, Tone and lots of Drive. I'm selling my Marshall Shredmasters cause this has replaced them. These pedals are that good. Should only be used with a tube amp. Sounds fantastic wih single coils. Excellent from blues to hard rock grind. For the price you can't pass one up. Far surpasses anything I've heard from the Fulltone line, much less the current MXR, Ibanez or Boss stuff ( I do like the MT-2 though).

Seems steardy enough. Metal casing. no complaints.

I did contact the US distributor about a few things and they were outstanding in their customer service.

Got it on Ebay for $59.00. Free shipping to boot. Go ahead, Take a chance. It one of my fave dirt boxes right now , next to the Washburn Soloist Distortion.

The Artec Twinhead ist very easy to use.
It has 4 knobs: Level, Amp. Gain, Bass, Treble.
A special feature is the operation of the Amp. Gain knob.
This pedal has 2 modes of operation selectable on the Amp. Gain knob.
It has a neutral mid position. Turning it to one side gives a blues sound (position crunch),
turning to the other side gives a rock sound (position classic).
Regardless of the Amp. Gain setting the output volume remains nearly the same. I like this feature.

I use it with my Hagstroem F300 in front of the vox tonelab for home recording.

Crunch mode:
I like the nice bluesy tone in the crunch position very much.
The overtones are very good. The notes are clear and articulated
with rich flavor. Well done.
It isn't noisy. It's quiet.

Classic mode:
The rock sound of the classic position has punch.
I think, the sound engineers of artec tried to model
the response of a real amp.
For my ears it sounds good for power chords, but for solos the tone has a little to much 'pumping'. It sounds more like a special effect than a good lead sound. This special pumping lead sound may be good for some special kind of music.

Both modes:
The bass knob and the treble knob are effectiv.

I want to split my rating: 10 for the crunch mode. 8 for the classic mode.
But I can only give one rating, therefore I give 9.

I use it with 9 Volt accus.
The battery clip has broken.
This can happen with every pedal if one replaces the accu as often as I do.
It was no problem to open the pedal and repait it.
The housing is stable and good.

No experience.

The most important category is sound quality, thats why 9 for overall rating.

If you've ever used a pedal before, you'll work this one out in a couple of minutes. The only thing that isn't instantly understandable is the amp-sim dial, but that only needs turning left then right to know what's going on.

This is a budget pedal designed for studio use, not for live.
As such, it's reasonable value. I certainly got it cheap!
The main problem for any discerning studio player is the lack of difference in the two sounds. One is a little heavier and more digital-esque than the other, and that's about it. Quite disappointing, but as I say this was not expensive so it's no great shakes.

The actual sounds you get are passable, if you're looking for something to give you a a little thin and snarly sound (think old school pub rock) for a home recording project.

NB: I got a LOT of buzz out of this pedal when single-coil pickups where selected. When bridged between two single-coils the buzz disappeared completely.

No issues as yet, although it's still quite new to me.

Had no dealings, doesn't look great from the reports below but I can't comment.

As I say, this is a studio-focussed pedal.
If you need something to record your guitar at home (I recorded straight into my PC, for example) - say you can't record your amp at home because it's too loud or you don't have the right mics/pre's - this is the style of pedal you need. If you're only doing a personal project, or are on a seriously tight budget, you won't be too disappointed. For "serious" players or performances, you'll want something much more versatile and better sounding.
I have used it for recording some solos at home and have achieved a satisfactory result (see the pub-rock comments above).

Although it's not designed for live use, if that's what you want to use it for then go ahead I guess!

There are plenty of options and variables this pedal does not give you access to, and the lack of distinction between the two sounds is a problem. But then, it's sooooo cheap...

Easy to use. Great option on the Amp Gain knob to sweep from crunch to classic (high gain) distortion. Guitar plugs into the input, output to mixing desk or PA.

Compared to PodXT, DigiTech and software modellers the sound is very clear and focused, probably due to the analog circuit. The digital boxes always sounded somewhat distant or far away to me? Of course nothing is like a real valve amp mic'd up, but I prefer analog simulation to digital. I guess theres no latency problems with an analog pedal, the response is immediate. The Twinhead is very versatile if you use an outboard eq on your PA or recording gear. You can even set the gain low and boost it with another pedal before it, for different sounds. It can be used with a guitar amp but I think that defeats the purpose here.

Solid as a rock. Not sure what happened to the guys below but my ones great! Gets thrown around in my studio and at gigs and seems just as solid at Boss or any other metal casted pedal.

Never needed them.

A real alternative to digital amp model boxes. Has a more "immediate" quality to it which I like, even if I start to layer reverb, delay and other effects. Its nice to bring to a gig and plug straight into the PA instead of firing up a complicated computerized Pod or whatever. Just dial a few knobs and your done!

It's a follow-up, I said the plastic jacks were like tech 21's: WRONG!
Tech 21's don't break, I've got a GT2 since '96 and no problems at all.
GOTO reliability section...

I am very angry about the shitty jacks they use.
I stepped on the output jack during rehearsal, and it died the same second.
That never occured with my tech 21 pedals and boss neither.
So I open the housing, and everything is so tight I had a very bad time accessing to the faulty jack.
Which is non-standard, and very small so good luck finding a fitting one. Of course you can't use the print holes so a bit of McGyver is asked.
I was lucky to find an almost fitting jack, and now the pedal performs trouble-free.
Until the input jack(stereo...)dies...
Apart from the jacks, seems very sturdy and well done.

Gewa imports this, and Gewa is like a big supermarket for classic instruments parts so I think they are not interested in new products (the electric guitar is only 50years old).
I only had problems (delivery, support)with them, be warned.

What's the use of a good looking good sounding box if its jacks dies when stepped on?
Of course warranty doesn't apply in this case.
I won't buy another one, too much of a hassle to repair, and I really mean it.
This said, if you use it in a programmable loop and never step on it, go ahead...

Tech21 style housing, level,bass,treble and amp.gain knobs.

Brand new 2005 unit, korea. Artec provides most preamps for active basses and acoustic guitars, under great names of course.
I have nothing to do with that company, I just share information.

The pedal is full analog, and has TRUE bypass switching. Yes! I removed the battery, and you still get signal when bypassing.

While the level-bass-treble are easy to use, the specialty "amp.gain" needs some explanation.
At noon you have very light overdrive. Turn it clockwise and you activate the marshall type of drive, from medium to over, absolutely killer. Turn it counterclockwise and you activate the fender/vox type of crunch, from slight to medium, way good for rythm or blues.

Turn it

Focused, sturdy sound. The controls are very effective, sound is very "under control".
I checked the pedal in a preamp situation also (in the return socket of the loop) and achieved a way good sound. I had not to be afraid of drastically changing the level-bass-treble settings!

I normally play in front of a new roland cube (black panel setting), and the pedal delivers punchy gorgeous tone.
I checked in front of a valvestate 100 marshall half-stack with equally good results (thanks to the effective eq of the pedal).
I checked in the loop of a jazzman's amp (peterson 100watter electrovoice) with too loud results`!
For the price paid, under 100euro, a solid ten

Jacks are plastic, print-mounted. But so are the tech21's.
Of course the mechanical bypass switch is the mainest concern, but my sansamp original same one still works flawlessly after all those years so...

Please don't be fooled by sturdy alloy casings, they often hide lousy insides.
This doesn't seem to be the case, time will show.

The gewa company imports this unit in germany,switzerland and austria.
I only had way bad results with them, but it was with big things(amps). I hope they are better with such small-easy-to-replace-and-ship items.

Still, they suck big time in switzerland

This pedal is midway between preamplifier and drive pedal.
I think it is a preamp but without speaker sim.
I own a tech 21 double drive (smoother, more alive and subtle, twice the price...) , a tech21 gt2 and this artec is very close to its sound quality (same harshness too, those hard edges...).
I only use humbuckers and so far there is no extra noise from the pedal.
It is a very cool pedal, way good sounding, quite versatile, and pretty boutique-looking.
Of course no internet connection, spdif and other horseshit...