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Horizon Devices Precision Drive
| Description | Misha Mansoor’s popular tool for sculpting modern metal tones |
| Yek’s Tip | Start with Drive real low |
| Original Controls | 6-position Attack switch (Attack), Volume (Level), Bright (Bright), Drive (Drive), Gate |
Misha Mansoor, also known as Bulb, is a member of the band Periphery, one of the top djent and progressive metal bands. He’s also a user of Fractal Audio gear. He founded the company Horizon Devices which released the Precision Drive pedal as their first product. Jim Dunlop/MXR builds the pedal for Horizon Devices.
The Precision Drive is a modern overdrive, specifically aimed at sculpting metal tones. Basically, it’s not that different from the Tube Screamer platform, albeit finetuned to work together with already overdriven metal amplifier (or modeler), adding bite (mids), and shelving and tightening the low end.
According to Horizon Devices, the pedal was developed with modelers (i.e. Fractal Audio) and profilers (i.e. Kemper) in mind, and there are reviews that state that the pedal works better with those digital devices than with tube amps.
“Never worry about fighting your tone or your gear again with the Precision Drive, the first modern overdrive made by guitar players for guitar players. The Precision Drive can take any set-up, both tube and digital, and turn it into the perfect modern metal rig with its precise tonal carving controls.” — Horizon Devices
Make sure to check out Horizon Devices’ commercials and tutorials, they are pretty funny.
The pedal has 5 controls:
- Attack: sets the bite (mids) and tightens low end in 6 fixed steps (model: Attack)
- Vol: sets the output level (model: Level)
- Bright: adds highs (model: Bright)
- Drive: sets gain (model: Drive)
- Gate: noise gate (not modeled)
“Towards the left is more of a lower mids punch, and to the right can get very defined and pick-y. Left is a little more oldschool and thick, right is very modern and clear. You can get tons of unique combinations combining the attack knob with the bright knob. Turning bright up as you turn attack to the left can help keep your sound balanced, and vice versa. Or totally double down with both to the left for doom-y tones, or both to the right for super bright and cutting tones.” — Guide
I'm not sure if the model’s Attack control is identical to the pedal’s 6-position switch. In the model, it’s a duplicate of the Bass Response control on the Adv page.
About the pedal’s Volume control:
“6 on the Precision drive is roughly equal to 10 on a Tubescreamer. So starting the volume at noon is usually a good bet. Adjust to taste from there.” — Guide
About the Bright control:
“We made sure this control could be very bright in order to help make dark or muddy amps cut. So be careful when using the pedal for mid/low gain tones, because it can be a bit harsh in the upper portion of its range. When doing this, don’t be afraid to turn this knob pretty far to the left. It will tame it right up!” — Guide
About the pedal’s Drive control:
“You’re going to want to start with this near zero at first, as with most pedals. A cool trick is to dial in a really dry and clear tone, then slowly turn the drive knob up to around 1-2 until you get the level of saturation and thickness you’d like. We put a lot of effort into this portion of the circuit to make it actually usable, so feel free to turn it up for mid-gain tones, or to add saturation and sustain to your solos.” — Guide
Fractal Audio’s model is diode-based.
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