It is an analog amp simulator pedal to cope Fender, Marshall, and Mesa-Boogie sound, very similar to Tech 21 NYC’s Sansamp GT-2, with 16 programmable presets and 3 switchable HF roll-off settings, at the size of your palm. Best of all, this Russian made stompbox sounds so good and cheaper than GT-2! You gotta be mad not to check it out.

Digital let-down
I’ve been disappointed with digital multieffects’ sterile, dry, lifeless and harsh amp simulation sound and been looking for non-tube alternative for the sake of price. I’ve been drooled digital multieffect back in early 2002 and bought one with pedal expression, hoping that I could mimic all the favorite artists’ sound signature. While it sounds good for some amp model, like hot rod, boutique fender tweed, powered with bell and whistle features (reverb, delay, flange, modulation, chorus, harmony, whammy, patch download, upgrade, direct recording, drum loop, tuner, blah blah), the multieffect lacks the warm, natural, rich sounding and smoothness of tube distortion. The mesa rectifier and marshall plexi simulation are total crap. It’s just dry, lifeless, sterile and too harsh to my taste. That’s the biggest let down for me. Long story short, I sold it half price and began searching analog amp simulator since then.

The benchmark
The most popular analog (solid state opamp, no tube circuit) pedal I’ve kown considered as benchmark in analog simulator is Sansamp product family, made by Tech 21 NYC. The most expensive one, Sansamp PSA 1.1, a 1U rackmountable size, is state of the art analog amp modeling with MIDI programming capabilities. Down to its sibling is Sansamp Tri-A.C. with 3 programmable presets. Last but not least, Sansamp GT-2 is the most popular compact pedal known for its natural, closer simulation to major amp (fender, marshall and mesa-boogie) than digital multieffects you’ve commonly found off the shelf of local guitar shops. While Tri-A.C. offers classic, 80s rock sound, GT-2 boasts modern, ultra hi-gain distortion that more demanded by current metal mainstream. Sadly, GT-2 has no switchable presets. It’s good for recording, but on stage it would be troublesome if you want to switch the amp type back and forth, for instance going from distortion to clean then crunch, back to distortion again, within a song.

Ebenex rocks!
I knew AMT Electronics Dist Machine DM-3 pedal at the first time from local guitar forum where somebody posts a GT-2 alternative info. While nobody in the forum actually own or hear how it sounds at that time, I decided to have a look further in AMT Electronics website and have been aroused by DM-3 capability to store 16 presets of all parameters GT-2 has. That would be a nice feature when you bring the pedal in live situation. I tracked the distributor info and found nearest dealer to my country is Ebenex, a great guitar shop located in Singapore selling rare, boutique stompboxes and other good stuff.

I got a chance to visit Singapore during transit flight but it is off working hours so Ebenex store is closed when I was settled in Changi airport. I tried to contact Ebenex to see if they can deliver it COD (Cash on Delivery payment method) to the airport. Surprise! David Ebenezer, the owner of Ebenex store himself hand-carried the DM-3 to the Changi airport at no additional cost! What a great guy he is. The price of DM-3 I paid is SGD 270, approximately Rp. 1.800.000 and that’s cheaper than Sansamp GT-2 which is around Rp 2.000.000 netto in Indonesia. Ebenex rocks!

Setup
I hooked up Ibanez SZ320BK with stock pickup to Dist Machine DM-3 via home made (Canare GS-6 and Neutrik NP2C) cable. Output of DM-3 goes straight to DIY 9V mixer, which I built, based on Red Circuit’s Portable Mixer. The mixer input has pan pot so I can put the guitar in center, left or right. A stereo input mixer fed by laptop audio output so I can jam along with it. Mixer output goes to 9V Red Circuit’s Portable Headphone Amplifier to drive Yamaha RH-5Ma headphones. It’s fairly flat response system to justify how well DM-3 generates tones.

Similar with Sansamp GT-2, Dist Machine DM-3 is voiced for full range setup. It is best connected to full range system such as mixing console, solid-state power amp, PA system, headphone amplifier and such. If you happen to feed tube or solid-state guitar amplifier and guitar cabinet, the best way in my opinion is, connect DM-3 output to FX Return of the guitar amp, if possible. Most guitar amp heads have this send-return loop. With this setup, DM-3 acts as pre-amp to control tone shaping/voicing exclusively, bypassing pre-amp section of guitar amp head. Connect it to guitar amp input, you get over-preamplification, muddy/undefined tones especially in distortion mode since the guitar signal processed twice, by DM-3 and the pre-amp section of guitar amp.

Sound check
The gain is huge! Using british amp with drive level at 09.00 and hot wired mod, I have to turn down guitar volume knob halfway to mimic Mustaine’s devastating rhythm in Youthanasia album, and that’s using stock bridge pickup! You may end up with less than 12.00 o’clock gain to achieve growling distortion whilst maintaining note clarity.

Toggle the guitar switch midpoint to activate single coil neck and bridge, I try fender tweed clean amp and boy, the sound is amazing. Glassy strat clean sound. It interacts well with guitar volume. Turn down to clean it up, turn guitar volume up to make it crunchier.

I found Combo emulation, which is actually a low pass filter, to attenuate nasty high frequency response, works best at mid point. This is another DM-3 features that Sansamp GT-2 doesn’t have. With combo off, the sound has too many highs, while low combo point gives too dark sound since cut off frequency is too low. If the dark sound is you’re looking for, lowest filter setting is your friend. While fiddling this combo feature, play around high knob to dial the sound you prefer.

Be careful with level knob. This unit is capable to distort your amp/recorder/whatever you chain it into. Rule of thumb is, the level of engaged simulator is equal to the bypass. If you set level too high, it may cause signal clipping, an unpleasant distortion, and/or, the noise floor rose noticeably.

Where’s the mid control? No worries. If you don’t want scooped mid, turn down low and high knob, if needed turn up the level, to bring midrange up. Or, select Classic miking and turn up bass and treble to your taste. Your beloved mid will be there.

The simulated tube distortion is well rounded, smooth, natural, realistic, compared to digital multieffect. Most noticeably, the tail of note (ringing) is very similar to tube amp, this tail is where digital (again) is lacking. The overall distortion characteristic is similar to Sansamp GT-2, but adding switchable high pass filter is a big plus feature, not to mention it’s programmable 16 presets! With the nett price of SGD 270, Dist Machine DM-3 is truly a winner here over any simulator.

Noisy at high gain, is inherited doom to any high gain circuit. Even the highest ENGL head lineup (Powerball) has built-in switchable noise suppressor! I wish Dist Machine had built-in noise reduction, but since the price is too attractive for a great analog simulator, I have no complaint. Beside, the noise is forgiving (too little to recognize) in live situation. Nevertheless, if you’re going to use it for recording, plan to rectify the problem with noise reducer, via software sequencer plugin or with a good pedal designed to do that, like ISP Technologies Decimator.

The following settings I use to get variety of distortion using my setup above. This is rough guide, since the results might be different with your setup (pickups, where you connect it to, etc). so don’t stick with the initial settings below, play the knobs.

Dave Mustaine/Megadeth – Youthanasia
Level:2, Low: 6/7, High: 2/3, Drive: ¾
4.3 kHz, Center, Hotwired, British

Jon Schaffer/Iced Earth – Horror Show/Transylvania cover
Level: 2, Low: 6/7, High:5/6, Drive: ¾
3.5 kHz, Classic, Hotwired, California

Mesa/Boogie Rectifier (pronounced mid)
Level: 3, Low: ¾, High: 2/3, Drive: 4
3.5 kHz, Center, Hi-gain, California

Another Rectifier (trebly), Metallica - Black
Level: 3, Low: 5/6, High: 2/3, Drive: 3
4.3 kHz, Off Axis, Hotwired, California

Final Words
It’s an analog circuits of three renowned amps (fender, marshall, mesa/boogie) simulator, similar to the benchmark Sansamp GT-2, with switchable two high pass filter, and most importantly, 16 programmable presets. AMT Dist Machine DM-3 is recommended to anyone looking for realistic tube distortion simulator at affordable price.

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