Brett Kingman | 1 year ago

https://www.mlapedals.com/store/Limited-Edition-Hotlanta-p565388013

Looking for the chatty demo? You'll find it at https://youtu.be/qqS0fMtMhSI

I'm very fortunate that MLA asked me if I'd be interested in checking out their Hotlanta LE pedal. It's my first experience with them and their work and I'm not disappointed. Clearly these guys are great amp builders and it's immediately apparent that they've been able to port their skills and their amp's charms into a pedal that we can all access. The Hotlanta LE is an update on the previous version. It's had some tweaks and gain adjustments and while I can't vouch for the first version as I haven't tried it, this one is pretty darned WOW factor. I'll let them explain the philosophy...

"We found a way to add even more tone to our flagship pedal the Hotlanta, by increasing the gain just enough and adding germanium to the overall design. The results are amazing and an entire new pedal has was born.

Now even more articulate along with more tonal bloom in every chord played. It makes finding those searing lead tones even easier at lower volumes. This Limited Edition allows you to plug into a clean amp on low volume and have it react and sound as if you had the volume cranked to 11 and beyond.

The pedal still cleans up with your volume knob and saturates into tube like compression with plenty of pick attack as you roll the volume up or down. The germanium adds a vintage coloration to your overall tone and a touch of sizzle to individual notes you play. The Harmonics are more pronounced but just as natural as before and it makes a non tube amp sound like a tube amp. The harder you pick the more your notes bloom and swell. The sustain in the Limited Edition is greatly increased.

This Dual Drive gives you the added benefit of having an extra gain stage when you want more. With the Limited Edition you get a lot more of those thick crunch tones that were made popular in the 70's and 80's. Perfect for solo’s or added drive without having to stack extra pedals to get the tone you are looking for. The second gain stage can be left on all of the time and controlled with your guitars volume knob.

The Voice control allows you to dial in a vintage speaker quality. Setting the control higher reminds you of an old JBL speaker with those crisp highs and with the control dialed back you get that classic lower midrange similar to an old Celestion. The balance is exceptional."

Today's tools:

Guitar: Gibson CS '61 Les Paul /SG Std. Reissue. Tyson Tone TTL-2 Pickups | Tokai DC modded by Leadbetter Guitars, Melbourne (see: https://leadbetterguitarco.com)
Amp: Axe-FX III Mark II Turbo running Cygnus X-2 FW 22.01. CAE+ Clean channel model
Cables: BOSS
Strings: Ernie Ball Paradigm 10-46
Mic: Audix PDX720 Signature Dynamic Microphone (https://audixusa.com/products/pdx720-signature-edition/)
Camera: GoPro HERO10 + Sony ZV-1M2 x 2
Soundcard: PreSonus Quantum & Fractal Audio Systems Axe-FX III MKII (guitar, mixing and bouncing).
Desktop Monitors: PreSonus R80 R-Series Active AMT Studio Monitors (https://www.presonus.com)
Headphones: Audio Technica ATH-M50x (see: https://www.audio-technica.com/en-au/ath-m50x)
Computer: 2017 Apple iMac Pro, 2.5 GHz 14-Core Intel Xeon W, 64 GB 2666 MHz DDR4, Radeon Pro Vega 64X 16 GB

Backing track "Chillaxe" courtesy jtc_guitar.com