Black Arts Toneworks Pharaoh Supreme

BlackArts Toneworks Pharaoh Supreme

It's been years since Black Arts has tinkered with the Pharaoh in any major way. Why mess with perfection? What can be added? The answer: "more." That said, the new Pharaoh Supreme is an unmistakable upgrade over the previous version.

The versatility has been greatly expanded. The "Hi-Lo" toggle on the previous version has been replaced by a knob for greatly increased control, and the three-way clipping switch has been replaces by a six-way rotary switch for double the configurations. The three new configurations are germanium, LED and MOSFET, which accompany the previous three: silicon, asymmetrical germanium and lift.

Thankfully, the original sound was retained underneath the new features. The pedal is characterized by a wonderful, yet versatile, "ram's head" Muff-style crunch that transcends all genres of music. Black Arts has done all Muff aficionados a favor by carefully selecting specific capacitors for integral parts of the Pharaoh circuit for optimized frequency response that takes the Pharaoh beyond the normal response of an original Muff. The Treble knob is a welcome addition, because the design of the Muff's tone stack intrinsically muddies the signal when set lower than 9 o'clock. All is rectified with the addition of the Treble control. The Pharaoh Supreme is true bypass, runs on a standard "Boss" style plug, 2.1mm center negative and is built to withstand the rigors of road and stage.