Airis Effects' latest 'Nasty' High Gain Preamp - the 51-Filthy is a wonderful mix of Block Peavey 5150 and Diezel Hagen

So this is supposedly a further evolution along the Nemesis Preamp trajectory, finally approaching Airis Effects’s intended tone and texture. On this occasion it’s something like a mix of Block Letter 5150 and the Diezel Hagen - for maximum searing destruction!

I’ve long intended to add a few Airis Effects to the reference collection - but was always unsure of the best jump-off point. The mere mention of Diezel Hagen gets me very excited as I remain a huge fan of Ian Crichton from Canadian band Saga - who pretty much exclusively used / uses that amp!

My early guitar heroes were Brian May, Eddie Van Halen, and Ian Crichton - so the Diezel Hagen has a lot of resonance for me. Airis describe this as being the perfect nasty searing high gain distortion, not with massive amounts of low-end, but a rather a more focused but very solid sounding distortion. Ian Crichton always got a lot of clarity out his Hagen - where he used it live and direct and without any pedals!

I’ve long loved the 5150 too - and for which I have several pedal takes, but nothing to-date covering the Diezel Hagen.

Controls - Treble, Mid, Bass, Volume, Gain.

This ie Pretty much a classic 3-Band EQ Control Topology common to most High Gain Pedals - obviously with its frequency ranges finely honed - and just the right amount of bass!

The demos sound great - it’s that perfect punchy crunchy high gain distortion sound - which cuts hrough the mix pretty well. I’m pretty sold on this one - just need to adjust my acquisition priorities - this one will definitely be part of the next ’Full Metal Racket’ rundown. I also need to add something from ThisHeavyEarth - but this Diezel Hagen hybrid will be first on the cards.

It’s currently being made in several small batches - which sell out very quickly - currently priced @ $209 CAD on the Airis Effects Webstore (c$149 USD).

I will of course report back when I finally land one of these!