Nux Horseman OD

After tweaking a 'compulsory' Tube Screamer and deciding that for my home noodling it really is too mid-range-y, and that I don't have to 'cut through' any mix..., I started going after a more transparent drive that would leave more of my guitar tone intact. After thorough YT research I settled with the Nux Horseman and did not regret it!

My favourite use for it is to go for an edge-of-breakup gain on the amp and then kick this in with not too much gain and output. Provides nice chimey sounds with a Strat- or Tele type guitar - and then engaging Silver mode adds even more to it. Actually I use that mostly with an LP and its humbuckers, where the extra brightness of the Silver balances the relatively darker basic sound of the pickups as compared to single coils.

Great pedal with responsive switching, nice small size, sturdy exterior and basically two tones in one, via the Silver mode! And I kept the Tube Screamer too, basically I can do some 'gain staging' with these two, and the TS can add not only more gain but that mix-through-cutting frequency push that so many people enjoy.

Oh and did I mention the price of the Horseman? A very good deal indeed!

I play and record at home with a fairly modest range of equipment and I wanted a pedal to give me a decent grunty OD sound which was also capable of producing some nice crystal clear Gilmour-ish tones as well. I wasn't getting exactly what I was looking for with a Big Muff reissue which I bought a few months ago so a bit of due dilligence and research among the numerous recent YT vids concerning Klons and the various clones available and I was seduced the possibilities of the Nux Horseman.

First impressions were good: the box comes with velcro pads, a short but clear leaflet explaining the various functionalities, the build quality is excellent, footswitche, knobs, etc. are all perfectly fine and as soon as I hooked it up on my pedalboard . . .there is was: a lovely clear transparent overdrive that cuts through the rest of the mix and which gives a very wide range of possible tones from rather dark and gnarly to clean ringing notes that just soar. My signal chain is usually Boss TU-2 >> clean American sound preamp for EQ >> TC MojoMojo >> Big Muff rams-head >> Nux Horseman >> delay >> reverb, running into a Vox-style hybrid tube amp then into a 12" Celestion equipped cab.

So far I'm mainly using it on the silver setting: treble around 12, volume from 9-12 and then using the gain to dial in the right tone for the mix. Running it as a boost lets me use the MojoMojo to add colour which might otherwise become a bit lost and too fuzzy if turned up loud. Having just the American sound preamp in front of the Horseman allows some adjustments from an EQ standpoint and it even manages to tame the somewhat noisy Big Muff a little bit so I can get a sort of background "wall of sound" effect with the volume turned down. The amount of saturation possible is really useful allowing me to just bump up a certain sound while staying fairly clear to really pushing the tubes without it all becoming just a noisy soupy mess with no definition.

What I particularly like is the way you can setup the pedal and then use your guitar's volume and tone knobs to adjust the sound on the fly and it responds really well to the dynamics of your playing whether its by palm muting or the attack of your pick. Even a relatively low volume on the amp you can hear the harmonics singing with the Horseman.

On the few songs that I've recorded since using this I can hear a difference. All other things being equal there's a bit more spatial separation and definition between the various guitar tracks which has added up to the recordings being more dynamic and interesting.

All in all I'm delighted with this pedal and it has become my favourite go-to effect in the few weeks that I've had it. II think it's a bit of a hidden gem, perhaps dismissed by many because its not from one of the big name brands but it's definitely staying on my pedalboard for sure.

++ points: great sounds, very versatile, inexpensive, small footprint, build quality.
-- points: it doesn't make the coffee nor massage my shoulders after playing for a couple of hours !

Voilà, if you want a klon-type OD and don't have €200 for a boutique version then this IS the one to get.

If this is a close clone (and it is!) of the original Klon Centaur I can (almost) understand why people are paying outrageous money for them. I use my Horseman first in front of my multi-FX and then into the front of the amp.

The Horseman is on almost permanently at low to zero gain. It gives a thickening and slight sponginess to the sound which is reminiscent of a pushed valve amp. Notes seem to 'bloom' with an edge that I havent heard from a budget pedal before. Bravo NUX, an absolute winner!

The footswitch turns it on/off only after you press AND release it. This is very weird and can mess up switching during a gig. Also if you long-press the switch it changes mode, so one more thing to go wrong during gigs.

The "output" knob achieves unity level at a very narrow range around 8 o'clock. A little lower and you can't hear anything, a little higher and you're too loud. I find it hard to fine-tune to unity level, most of the range of the knob is useless to me.

While trying to turn it on/off and switch modes, I somehow entered a mode where the pedal was stuck in bypass mode, nomatter if I turned it on or off. After removing and re-placing the power supply it went away and now it works.

It makes a poping sound when engaged, not very loud but it is there. You can't hear it mid-song but it is audible e.g. between songs or during quiet parts. It's my only pedal that does this (out of 40+ pedals that I have).

It sounds good, quite similar to other klon-based pedals I've had. Comparing it to the silver and gold Archers I had, the Nux has more compression even on clean-ish settings.

So get it if you want a good klon sound at a low price. Think twice if you want to use it live/professionaly.