Holy Fire! You’re the star of the masquerade!
Tennessee-based Creation Audio Labs released the Holy Fire distortion pedal in 2008 and has just recently updated the look of this fire-breather by offering up a limited edition chrome finished version – presumably to go better as a matching pair with its shiny MK 4.23 Boost stomp. We nagged and nagged Sarge and his crew for a chance to take the Holy Fire for a spin… and, after a few misfires, the squeaky wheel finally got the grease and a pedal landed on our doorstep. We had heard the stomp previously at the Summer NAMM show, but we was curious just how versatile it could be. Did we find a horse of many colors or just a one-trick pony?
Unboxing the Holy Fire, you get the pedal, a nice user guide, a product guide showcasing other Creation Audio Labs’ offerings, a Creation Audio Labs Holy Fire sticker and the pedal’s honking power supply. The Holy Fire runs off the 48v monster and the company recommends using it versus any other mode of powering it up. The box itself, while white like most pedal boxes, is unique because it is the size of a standard hardback novel – more flat than cubed. The pedal itself is built like a tank and boasts three knob controls – G, O, D (nice touch, eh?) and the “~” knob. G is the gain control, which is your basic level control. O is for overdrive and D controls the amount of distortion. The “~” knob is a high-cut control.
Strapping on the Les Paul, we wanted to give the Holy Fire the metal test. Humbuckers at full, we dimed the pedal. All knobs full right for this trip down memory lane… and yes, it’s Dio. Why? Because I had to! First clean, then the Fire!
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The pedal shows some fuzz-like qualities when it is pegged and pushed by humbuckers. It’s kind of a loose tone that is not bad, but not exactly what we were expecting, which was a more metallic, grindy crunch. Switching gears, and guitars, we rein in the Holy Fire for the single coils of the Strat. For the neck pick-up, we run the Gain to noon, Overdrive to nine o’clock and Distortion to 10 o’clock. The High-Cut also is pulled back slightly to around 9 o’clock for this bluesy riff with a little dirt. Clean first, then the pedal.
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The Holy Fire delivered a solid, low gain grit when pulled in a bit serving up a very useable and pleasant sizzle to the tone from the neck pick-up of the Strat. Over to the bridge pick-up on the Strat, we get a little more aggressive. With the Gain around 11 o’clock and the Overdrive boosted to around 1 o’clock, the Distortion around 11 o’clock and the High-Cut at noon, we get a little growly for a riff from my past. Bonus points if you can name it. First clean, then mean.
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This was the tone that won us over. Such a great, full growl all the while letting the string articulation sing through. Infinitely useable and practical to most any style of rock-and-roll.
The Holy Fire is a solid overdrive/distortion pedal. We found ourselves gravitating more towards the mid and low gain tones it had to offer, but that is likely more an issue of taste than competency on the pedal’s part. With the lower price, now that Creation Audio Labs sells direct, the Holy Fire should be a contender for anyone in the market for a distortion pedal than can handle gain challenges across the spectrum. 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.
