Rothwell Audio Products Heartbreaker Overdrive Pedal

The heartbreaker has a gain, treble, bass and volume knob. The EQ is extremely responisve. There is also a high gain/low gain switch. The manual is very helpful - it gives you a range of different tones e.g. fuzz tones (Gilmourish), High Gain, Blues etc.

I use a AC15 CC1X, an Aria Ape 2 (delay and chorus) and an Epiphone Les Paul Classic and I must say this pedal sounds amazing. I can get a really nice hard rock tone on the high gain setting and Gary Moore Lead tone. When I dial in a fuzz tone for lead it reminds me of Gilmour's lead tone. Also what's great about this pedal is that when the gain is increased the bass is cut to keep the pedal from becoming muddy. I am awaiting on an EQ pedal because at High volumes my AC15 gets too trebley.

I broke a screw that holds in the battery compartment but other than that, this is built like a tank. I would definately use it without a back up.

WOW!! The customer support is amazing, Andy Rothwell is so easy to contact. When I got the pedal it had no gain switch and he said he was very sorry, and he sent me a switch instructed me on how to put it on. Extremely Helpful

I play mostly blues and classic Rock and this is a great match, especially with the gain switch which makes this pedal extremely versatile. I have been playing for about 3 years and I own an AC15, Aria Ape-2 and an Epiphone Les Paul Classic. If it were stolen I would be bloody annoyed, but If I had the money I would buy the Heartbreaker again. I find the fuzz and lead tones amazing, reminiscent of Gary Moore's lead tone. I was looking for an overdrive pedal for a couple months, I tried out various pedals including: Boss SD-1, Rat Pro-Co and others. I like to try before I buy but I decided to gamble with this pedal and I'm glad I did because this is amazing.

Very obvious what everything on this pedal does. Volume, Gain, bass and treble are all very active and the High gain/low Gain switch creates wonders.

I've now tried in my different setups. Through my Fender amps and through my old Vox '67 with various axes, mostly my 335 and my telecaster. I'm mostly using it on the low gain setting to add a bit of crunch to chords and jazz-stuff. It is a very versatile overdrive unit that I'm very happy with. The true-bypass is good, no noise, no clicks.

only had for a couple of weeks but it looks trustworthy

I'm mainly a jazz guy but also do loads of session, studio, show-type gigs. It was exactly the sort of sound I was looking for and hence it is so versatile this could be the only overdrive-unit I would need to bring to work. It was suppose to replace my old Rat that is completely worn out, and my voodoo-1 by Roger Mayer which broke down and I never really loved anyway. It is fairly expensive overdrive stompbox - 140 pounds - but it is a very high quality box. I would definately consider buying things from Rothwell again. Besides it looks serious and cool and doesn't have a weird name and doesn't have any stupid graffiti-type logo on it.

Straightforward and intuitive really ??? the usual gain and volume knobs that you find on most OD pedals for drive level and output level, on/off footswitch with led indicator (true bypass when off), 9v DC for power or use a 9v battery, nice easy access battery compartment.

However, this pedal is much more flexible and interesting than most, without being complicated. There is a drive level switch to go from low gain operation to high gain, nice extra flexibility. The EQ is much more flexible than usual with bass and treble knobs instead of the usual single tone control, so you can really tweak the EQ to your liking. Great functionality but still simple to use and easy to dial in great sounds.

Superb.

I was looking for a transparent overdrive pedal to complement my Matamp 1224 MkII ??? the amp sounds great and has plenty of power tube drive as well as two pre amp gain stages (gain and footswitchable overdrive) for plenty of pre amp gain. The amp will happily do clean through to vintage heavy rock and even Black Sabbath. However, it is a single channel amp and when you stomp in the overdrive you are still running through the same tone stack with the same EQ settings. If you want variation, more than you can get from your guitars vol and tone knobs, then you need something else. This is why I wanted a good OD pedal, to stomp in some extra drive and get an EQ change at the same time, but without sacrificing the great tone that I already had from the amp.

I have tried a few OD/Distortion pedals for this without much success. They either mostly don???t complement amp (often sound ok through a clean amp but when used with an amp already with a little OD going on just sounded awful) or they stamp their own sound on your tone as soon as you switch them in ??? my tubescreamer does this and I will be selling it.

Enter the Rothwell Heartbreaker ??? this is the end of my search. It really works well with my Matamp, sounds great whether the amp is clean or already overdriven, and works with the amp to complement the sound rather than taking over your tone. I can layer in some extra distortion which complements the sound, EQ the sound for some variation (e.g. playing the amp with the mids backed off a little for rhythm then stomp on the Heartbreaker and get extra drive and a mid boost for lead work). Fantastic!

Only had it a few weeks, built like a tank, real quality workmanship, if it ever breaks I???d be so surprised and I???m sure that Andy Rothwell would sort it out.

I own several Rothwell products and I have had contact with Andrew Rothwell who designs and builds his own products. He is easy to contact, helpful nice bloke, I have complete confidence that any issues would be sorted without a fuss.

Fantastic, can???t recommend this pedal highly enough. I have some other Rothwell Audio products including the F1 boost, Switchblade distortion and Cool Little Knob and they all work extremely well - I'd definitely buy another Heartbreaker if it was stolen.