Pedal Review- Pork & Pickle by Way Huge
original image credit- https://www.zzounds.com/item--WAYPORKPICKLESM
Sometimes I’m hard rocking. But sometimes I’m feeling pretty doomy. Is there a pedal out there that will satisfy both of those aspects of my playing personality and needs without breaking the bank? A pedal that will allow me to easily switch between a nice, intense overdriven tone to one fuzzier than Sleep after not shaving for three weeks? Sure, I could find two pedals that do this, but I want something built for bass, something that won’t take up a bunch of pedal board space, and something that reminds me of my drummer’s favorite meal combination in case I forget.
The Pork & Pickle by Way Huge is that pedal. And boy do I love it.
It’s a cliché but it’s worth repeating- “Cleanliness is next to Geddyness.” And if there’s one thing the Pork & Pickle by Way Huge has going for it right out of the box it’s how clean and clear the pedal is. Three big knobs named for exactly what they do, two small knobs names exactly what they do, and one switch clearly denoting what up is and what down is. This might make me a basic bassist, but that’s something I like in a pedal. Give me something that doesn’t need a booklet because I can tell what it does just from looking at it. I’m as big a fan of twisting knobs to find out what does what as anyone. but when I twist something called “Clean Blend” I know what I should be listening for.
Looking first at this pedal’s biggest selling point- the Overdrive/Fuzz switch. Located directly between the Volume and Drive knobs, this switch changes positions with a nice solid click, allowing the player to go between a clipping, overdriven amp and a massive, fuzzed out one. If you can’t tell from the name of the pedal, the Overdrive is taken from Way Huge’s Pork Loin and the Fuzz from their Russian Pickle. What makes this pedal stand apart from them both is the Pork & Pickle is built with bass in mind. Who among us hasn’t plugged our bass into a guitar pedal while sighing, “It’s good enough”? No longer, Friends of Ged. We deserve pedals dedicated to and built for the range we occupy, and the Pork & Pickle does that. Having recently reviewed Way Huge’s Swollen Pickle, the fuzz in action here sounds even better. Is it because it was dialed in for bass specifically when it was in production? I do not know. But it’s a better fuzz.
Taking said knobs one at a time- The Volume knob makes the pedal louder. Hopefully I haven’t already lost anyone. Moving across, the Drive knob increases the intensity of the tone effect you’ve chosen. The further to the outside you twist it, the MORE the fuzz or overdrive of your choice gets. I found, in my twisting, that the build is quite steady and there’s no sudden jump in Drive between points, making it easy to dial in just how much intensity you want. And the Tone knob allows you to select different types of overdrive and fuzz options. Because “talking about music is like dancing about architecture” (thanks Frank), it’s easier to link to the demo we did for this pedal back in 2018 than to try to describe what each setting in the Tone sweep sound like.
The small Clean Tone and Clean Blend knobs also correct something that I have been complaining about in regard to these smaller knobs on pedals since my Darkglass overview- They’re marked! You can clearly see where the dial is pointing. No more feeling for the groove and hoping.
Because it’s also important to hear the pedal in context, below is a cover I recorded of a song off the new Marilyn Manson album We Are Chaos. I’m using this pedal, and it’ll let you hear what it sounds like being used with a song.
On Top Gear, back when it was good, they used to say that you knew a car really worked when one of the presenters would finish their time with the car and head to a dealership to buy one for themselves. The same is true for us. Zzounds kindly sends the pedals that I’ve reviewed and when I’m done with them I put them back in the box and send them back. But this pedal…after a few days with this pedal I emailed Chris, who is the Executive Producer and Grand Poobah of all things Bass Channel, and asked him to reach out to Zzounds about what I need to do and who I needed to pay to keep this one. Because it’s mine now. I need to get a sharpie and write “Andy” on the bottom of it. These are sounds I need for my bass. The Overdrive is just like I want, I like it even more than the Darkglass pedals I reviewed, and like I said in my review of the Swollen Pickle, I don’t like fuzz very much in general, but I do like this fuzz.
Grab you a Way Huge Pork & Pickle from Zzounds here.
Doug Robertson is the editor of The Bass Blog, the blog component of The Bass Channel, your one stop YouTube channel for all things bass. His number one is a Mexican Geddy Lee Signature Jazz and his boomer is a BEAD tuned T-Bird. Find books by Doug here. If you’re interested in contributing to The Bass Blog please reach out to Doug at doug@thebasschannel.net. We would love to hear from you.
