Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” and glam-rock group Cinderella’s “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)” are songs about not appreciating what life gives you until it’s no longer available. Vick Audio—along with other pedal lovers—had similar feelings for the short-lived Blues Breaker pedal by Marshall.
The pedal was a bulky, almost too-subtle overdrive that captured the sound of the early Sixties Marshall amp tone made famous by Eric Clapton while he played with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.
Now that we have the backstory, let’s talk about the Mount Pleasant. Vick Audio took the idea of the Blues Breaker and built a pedal with more gain, more output and an optional High Cut control.
The Mount Pleasant is hand-wired and built in the USA. It’s housed in a 2 ¼” x 4 ¼” aluminum enclosure and is powered by a Boss-style 9 volt power supply. It also features Neutrik jacks and a true bypass footswitch.
The 3 knobs are Level, Tone and Gain. So what’s the High Cut control? It’s a 3-way toggle switch with markings HC-1 (removes the most treble), NC (removes no treble) and HC-2 (removes slightly less treble than HC-1).
Clip 1: Here’s how the Mount Pleasant sounds with a Les Paul plugged into a Fender Blues Junior driving a Celestion-loaded Marshall 4x12 cab. To show the difference in the High Cut control, I played the same riff starting with No Cut followed by HC-1 and ending with HC-2.
Clip 2: With the same amp setup as Clip 1, I used a Strat with the NC (no cut) setting. I start on the bridge pickup and end up on the neck pickup. I had the Level cranked up and the Gain rolled back, similar to how most people use an Ibanez Tube Screamer.
Clip 3: Vick Audio’s website suggested trying the Mount Pleasant on bass. I took them up on that challenge! I’m playing a Fender American Standard P-bass with a Hartke 3500 head powering an Ampeg SVT cab. At the beginning of the clip, I’m playing with my fingers and finish up playing with a pick.
Learn more about the Mount Pleasant ($129) at vickaudio.com.
You can't believe everything you read on the Internet, but Billy Voight is a gear reviewer, bassist and guitarist from Pennsylvania. He has Hartke bass amps and Walden acoustic guitars to thank for supplying some of the finest gear on his musical journey. Need Billy's help in creating noise for your next project? Drop him a line at thisguyonbass@gmail.com.
