Anyways, enough of that... Down to the comparison! Before I start, though, I'd like to mention this: the Cornish is silicon and the D*A*M is germanium, so there's more difference between these than say the D*A*M and most other popular Range Master 'clones'.
Okay, so I'll start with the Cornish.
I've played the Cornish a bunch of times now since my buddy always brings it over when he comes by. I really love this booster. I play it one of two ways: 1) either guitar->tb-83-> amp or 2) guitar->overdrive or fuzz->tb-83->amp. Never have more than one other effect in the chain when running a treble booster. Takes away from the rawness and power they provide, imo. Amp used was a /13 FTR37. 1st channel, 2nd' (push/pull) input with all controls @ 12:00. Great crunch tone. Cornish set @ 12:00. You have arrived. That is the sound, whatever you classify "the" as being.
The Cornish, being silicon based, has quite a refined, tight and sweet sound. "Sweet" is the one word that always comes to mind when trying to describe Pete's pedals. They're very easy on the ears. At 12:00 you get a fair amount of gain boost, but not an awful lot of volume. That's the thing I like about Pete's pedal... not too much volume boost; some of the other boosters out there with one knob give abnormal amounts of volume boost. While I'm sure some appreciate that, I'm not too fond of it. Anyways, turn the knob up to about 3:00 and you get my personal favourite sound (amp on same settings). At this point you're running what many consider to be a "high gain" sound. Very crunchy, tight and focused. Very nice. Turn it up the remaining way and you've got insta-Sabbath sounds. Very cool.
The other thing I really enjoy about the Cornish is that it doesn't necessarily require the amp to be somewhat overdriven already to get the most out of it like many other boosters do (this is what I was talking about earlier). It sounds great at any volume. I guess this is laregely due to the fact that it's silicon... It also stacks very, very well and with the Cornish SS-3 is quite the perfect combination.
Onto the Red Rooster!
I've had this pedal just under a week now, but am really digging it a whole lot, just like all of my other D*A*M boxes. This pedal, being germanium, has a whole lot more character, rawness and "f-ck yourself" attitude than the Cornish. This doesn't make it "better" or anything, simply makes it different and warrants having both. This is one of those treble boosters that aren't optimized for use with clean amps, imo. That said, it certainly doesn't give you a 'bad' sound when playing into a clean amp. Not piercing like most other TB's into a clean amp. Always remains warm and musical sounding.
Played into the same amp on the same settings this thing breathes FIY-AH. Not fire, fiy-ah. It's like fire, but more awesome. That germanium rawness and grit is always present thus making it more of a rock pedal than the Cornish. Once again, I don't mean to sound as if though I'm putting down the Cornish. I'm not. It's (once again) different and if nothing else, warrants keeping/owning both units. The D*A*M has two knobs: range and boost. With both set @ 12:00 (hey, it's a good starting point!) into the amp set as previously noted, you get a great straight up rock sound, much like with the Cornish, except more raw sounding. Set both controls to 3:00 and not only do you get a significant volume boost, but you also get a significant gain boost. "well duh", one might say, but not the case, compadre! The most subtle of moves with these knobs will take you from a lighter gain boost to Satan's farts. Take the two knobs all the way up and it's just crazy, the amount of gain you get. Sure wish I had either my AC-15 or AC-30 now that I've got the Rooster!
One thing that I really enjoy about the Rooster is it's ability to clean up. You can go from having it at the highest gain setting to a beautiful chimey clean sound just by rolling down your guitars volume. I'm one of those "always on 10" guys when it comes to my guitars volume and tone controls (I play mainly Strat's), but with this pedal I've learned to really adjust using the volume knob on my guitar. It's great.
As previously mentioned, both were run into a Divided by 13 FTR-37 amp with all controls set @ 12:00 on the 1st channel, 2nd input. Guitar used was a Stratocaster. Speakers were 4 G12H30's.
If you came here looking for a "which is better" comparison, you won't find it, so sorry for having to put you through all that! Like I mentioned a couple times already, both are quite different and thus owning both certainly isn't overkill, in my opinion. I'm looking to add the TB-83 to my aresenal soon. Between it and the Rooster I'll have all my treble-boosting needs covered.
To sum it up...
Pete Cornish TB-83= Refined automobile, much like a BMW, Aston Martin, etc.
D*A*M Red Rooster= Raw power, much like a Shelby Cobra
Anyways, I hope that you guys found that review helpful and enjoyed reading it!
Here's a photo of the two boosters together:
I should add... if you'd like to hear more about how I think these compare to the /13 Dyna Ranger, Dirty Boy Germanium Boy and 65 Amps Color Boost, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to describe the differences based on my recollection of the pedals.
