Round and round with Reinhardt’s Willard
When we had the chance to meet Bob Reinhardt this summer, we were curious about his recent move into the pedal world and more specifically about his first product – the Willard distortion pedal. He told us that he was a big fan of the old 1980s vintage ProCo Rat sound, but had foolishly sold his off a while back. In a desire to reclaim that tone, Bob set out to build what became the Willard – a suped-up tribute to a pedal he loved. He was nice enough to send us one in the mail recently and we put it through its paces. But did we find a Super Rat or just a hunk of 80s cheese?
The Willard comes in the standard plain white box decorated with a sticker on top that sports a line drawing of the pedal itself. Inside you’ll find the Williard, some packing and little else. It is a distortion pedal after all, not rocket science. The pedal itself boasts three knob controls – Volume, Filter and Distortion. Volume controls the output level. Filter colors the gain levels and Distortion adjusts the amount of gain hitting the circuit.
With Les Paul in hand, we turn the Willard loose. With Volume at 2 o’clock, Filter at 9 o’clock and Distortion dimed, we get a little aggressive with a simple rock riff. First its flat, then the rat!
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The first thing that struck us was the bass response from the pedal. The Willard has solid low-end control at high gain settings, which is when most distortion pedals can get a little shrilly. The pegged Distortion knob offered plenty of gain and a bit a fuzz to boot.
Over to the Strat, bridge pick-up first, we dial back the grit a bit. With Volume at 3 o’clock, Filter full left and Distortion around 2 o’clock we rat it up a bit… or should I say Ratt it up a bit – courtesy of a sloppy version of the main riff from a tune off the LA band’s Out of the Cellar album. Clean first, then back off!
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Again, the Willard offers good low-end response in addition to thick, aggressive distortion without getting overly muddy or loose. Over to the neck pick-up, we set up a little dynamics clip so you can hear a bit more of the range of the Willard. With Volume at around 3 o’clock, we start this clip with the Filter and Distortion controls full left. As the riff is played the distortion knob is turned slowly up to full. Then the Filter knob follows suit. Clean first, then the progression.
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The Willard’s distortion ramps up pretty quick and you can hear the different colorations available as the Filter knob is brought up. There are several sweet spots across that spectrum, so it will take a little trial and error to dial in exactly the Rat-ness you’re looking for. Certain gain/filter combos also cause some volume fluctuations at certain settings, but that’s easily compensated for by adjusting the pedal’s output accordingly.
One of the first things I noticed about the Willard is that it is build like a brick outhouse. It may be the first pedal that can both physically and sonically bash your head in with relative ease. Bob admitted to us that he over-built the unit, which is what gives the Willard its considerable weight. Is the Willard for everyone? No, it’s not. But if you’re craving a gutter dwelling metal monster that will help any fan of the 1980s into the way-back machine to relive the glory days of metal, this homage to the early 80s big-box Rat is for you. You can almost smell the Aquanet. That’s our opinion anyway… your mileage may vary!
PLEASE NOTE: All YMMV Review clips are played through a Reverend Hellhound 40/60 combo amp with 1×12 extension cab. No reverb or other effects were added to the clips. Guitars used in this review include a 1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom and a 1998 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster.
