ProGuitarShopDemos | 7 years ago
Welcome back to ProGuitarShop and ToneReport.com. Today we’re looking at the CN81 and NV81 from LAA-Custom. These two pedals are part of the 81 Series from LAA-Custom, which are Class-A pedals equipped with custom-wound True Coil transformers that impart flawless sonics and superior headroom for great tone by themselves or when stacked with anything else. The NV81 is a sparkling clean boost that does exactly what you want a premium boost to do: preserve your tone without getting too dirty, add some brawn to your amp and some tone-shaping options. The boosted signal stays clean throughout the sweep of the Boost control to really contour your sound. The Color knob on the rear edge of the NV81 adds treble content to your tone while leaving your bass frequencies alone, which is helpful when swapping guitars with different types of pickups. The CN81 is the workhorse overdrive of the 81 Series that delivers an expertly-voiced low-to-medium gain drive that will become the crown jewel of your dirt section. The gain range of the CN81 is low-to-medium, with a drive character that doesn’t push the mids, instead bringing your total instrument spectrum to the forefront. There’s enough gain on tap to push your amp into true violin-like sustain and glissando without any loss of amp tone or emphasis on any one frequency. When pairing the CN81 and NV81, you’re treated to a comprehensive dirt section that completely changes based on the signal chain. Running the Push overdrive into the Boost gives you a huge, harmonic-drenched lead tone that pushes any tube amp into the red zone, while playing the NV81 first lets you saturate the front end of the CN81 for some screaming, saturated leads. Like all LAA-custom pedals, each box in the 81 Series is hand-made and designed by Carlo Sorasio in Italy.
