The Ugly Truth About Outlaw Effect's Dead Man's Hand

A little while ago, I wrote a post about Outlaw Effects. Turns out I got some of the details wrong. This led the guys over at Outlaw to politely respond. Turns out they are from Canada and not France, so I guess these guys are more into hockey and beer than... French... stuff. These guys are more likely to say "aye" than "ooh la la" than I previously thought. When the guys were setting me straight I figured I'd slip in a request to try out some of their pedals, which goes to show you what can happen if you just ask because they actually said yes. Let's take a look at the Dead Man's Hand from Outlaw Effects.

Standard micro pedal setup. I've already spent a good deal of time describing the physical pedals here, so now we will mostly look at the sounds this makes. I spent a lot of time with this pedal. I used it as my primary OD on my pedalboard for a set I played a few days ago. It kicked my East River Drive by EHX. I played my 72 reissue Telecaster through my board and into a Fender tube 1x12 amplifier. I found it to be very usable. Most sounds that the ERD made the Dead Man's Hand can follow while taking less than half the real estate. If space and weight are an issue, and when is it not, then the Dead Man's Hand is a great pick. Also consider that the Outlaw's OD is less expensive than the EHX's pedal and you have a real competitive product. In practice, the Dead Man's Hand was able to serve just as well as my main Tube Screamer clone. But how does in stack up against other Tube Screamers head-to-head?

TS Shootout:

Above is a picture of the competitors. From left to right: Digitech Bad Monkey, Outlaw's Dead Man's Hand, a 1985 vintage Ibanez TS-9, and Electro Harmonics' East River Drive.

Round 1: DMH vs ERD

On paper, these two stack up quite well. Both have true bypass, bright LED, heavy duty switches, nice sturdy metal cases, and comparable prices. When played they are very similar as well. They are both chock full of the classic tube screamer type sound. Warm, gritty, tube-like break up at home with lead and rhythm roles. Both pedals matched each others' sounds. This is until I flipped the switch. My assumption was that the switch was there to flatten the mid-hump. It does a lot more. It acts almost like a frequency boost for the highs and lows. There is a big difference in the output when put into the "Aces" mode. The level is boosted as well as the lows. In fact, the biggest notable difference was with the bass. The lows were much more prominent. The ERD left the bottom end behind when the tone knob was cranked. When in "Eights" mode, so does the DMH. But when put into the "Aces" mode, this pedal reaches a territory that the ERD couldn't follow.

Round 2: DMH vs Bad Monkey

The Bad Money is a pedal that many hold in high regard, and yet others dismiss at a cheap copy of a tube screamer that doesn't stack up. I would mostly be in the second camp. This is actually one of the first pedals that I ever bought. It was inexpensive enough for me to afford, and sounded like something I could use. Love it or hate it, this pedal actually stacks up with the other in this list. The biggest noticeable difference with the Bad Monkey is that instead of a tone knob, it has adjustable highs and lows. Set at 12 o'clock the DMH is much more transparent, but with adjustment (lows at 2 o'clock and highs nearly pegged) the Bad Monkey was brought close enough that I had to try hard to hear the difference between the two. Needless to say that there was a lot of territory that the Bad Monkey couldn't explore like the DMH.

Round 3: DMH vs Vintage TS-9

So, it's time to bring out the big guns. Many collectors and modders hold the vintage pedals as a bench mark, something to shoot for. That's why no test is complete without putting the real deal beside the up and comer. Again, both pedals went blow for blow, producing very similar sounds at nearly the same settings. With everything dimed, the TS-9 had a little more high end and transparency. But the same problem was present with the lows. The bottom end just wasn't there anymore. It's the same story with the DMH until you hit the toggle.

The Conclusion

The Dead Man's Hand is a great pedal from Outlaw Effects. I have stated some of my dislikes about how the pedal is put together, but for the sound this pedal is an amazing value. Great Tube Screamer like tone at a fraction of the cost and space, plus the added benefit of a useful boost feature. Don't dismiss this pedal for its affordable price, it easily stacks up to anything in its class.