Darkglass Helsinki v Seattle

[nash]

So I've had the following USA Vintage Deluxe with Era control, Finnish Vin Deluxe with toggles and Vintage Ultra.

And my favourite by a mile is the US made Deluxe. Anyone else in the same boat?

It just seems to have a warmer, more robust tone. I had a Pike Vulcan and that was outstanding as well.

[dannybuoy]

Sounds like you just like the era control on the older model vs the new one that replaces it with extra EQ and toggles, rather than a USA vs Finland thing? Before the change there would have been Helsinki built VMTDs also with the era control, which you might find to sound just like your Seattle version.

I replaced my Vintage with a Vulcan, although I'd be interested to see what the new Vintage is like as I found the original too muffled!

[Kev]

Yeah sounds like you do enjoy the Era knob, however correct settings on the mid controls of the newer Vintage Deluxe can exactly replicate what the Era knob did. Trickier to dial in but all but identical at the right points.

Circuits are otherwise the same, apart from general part upgrades and better build quality on the Finnish versions. Tonally there should be no differences.

[dannybuoy]

I wouldn't say identical, more 'close enough for most'.

On a slightly different note, I was surprised how different my US B3K and Fin B7K sounded. I would have thought they would be the same with the EQ set flat, but the 3 had way more gain/saturation, more low mid grunt and less highs. I struggled to get them to match in an A/B test!

[Kev]

B3K's and B7K's do sound different, not sure why as like you say flat they should sound the same. Same with the Vintage actually, I found that pedal almost unusable for my tastes on its own, just too woolly.