BBE 427 vs BBE Blacksmith

[lefty_major]

What's the chronological order of the development and release of these two boxes? Or is that a complicated question?

I'm just curious if one is an improvement over the other. I want to get one of them but not sure which one.

[sam]

Hey Lefty,

Quick shot in the dark. I think Blacksmith is an update of the old Crusher distortion pedal (based on Big Muff) and the 427 is a Paul Gagon distortion that came later and was supposed to have more power. I had a .Crusher but got rid of it and have not had a 427 yet. That's all I can offer. There are you tubes of both for listening pleasure

[Fumble fingers]

I have both of them , been using the 427 tonight ..... they are different , the Blacksmith is more adjustable for sure , the 427 reminds me of my old MXR distortion box I've had since the 80's ..... haven't had them side by side comparison yet as I have only had the 427 for two weeks and it's not on my pedal board yet , but it will be soon

[lefty_major]

I play on the lighter side of distortion, nothing heavy. Light grit. Playing thru a Vox AC15. I checked out the youtube stuff, thanks. Nick has a good one on the Blacksmith but I don't see a comparable one for the 427. He has one video using both but that's not the focus of the video.

Is the Blacksmith more adjustable due to the 3 eq knobs? I'm guessing so.

[Fumble fingers]

I would get the Blacksmith first ... we play a song with heavy distortion and then mild distortion in the same song , I'm going to use the 427 for heavy and adjust the Blacksmith for mild , The 3 eq Blacksmith is real nice with my Rampage that only has a Volume control

[lefty_major]

Thanks for your input on this. I ended up going with the 427. I’m liking it. I’m able to get the lighter side of distortion I want and it’s very clean. I’ve had it at a few practices it’s growing on me. It's a keeper.