Diablo GH - Gregor Hilden Signature Overdrive

Since the creation of the brand, the OKKO Diablo has been its absolute bestseller. Its two diabolical little horns have established the Diablo as one of the best overdrives available on the market for many years. The Diablo is for guitarists looking for a low/medium gain overdrive with exceptional dynamics and response and which, to top it off, is "amp-like". That is to say, a pedal that can replace an amp channel.

10 years ago, German guitarist Gregor Hilden bought a Diablo in a small German shop and never left it. An excellent brand ambassador, it was only natural that he asked for a more personalized version of his favorite pedal. The GH Signature was born. In addition to all the possibilities offered, Hilden wanted a slight modification of the controls and a completely dissociated and adjustable boost. Fulfilled!

Regarding construction and aesthetics, no surprise, the overall design is very nice, the case is top and the workmanship flawless, as always with OKKO!
Let's quickly detail the front panel: we find the usual Level, Tone and Gain, but where the Diablo GH differs is with the addition of the Feed, Body and Dyn buttons.
Feed allows you to act like a Contour, by acting on the bottom of the spectrum to add thickness and a more or less "boomy" effect at the bottom.
Body acts on the general compression and adds low mid to the first stage of gain.
Dyn allows you to adjust the dynamic range by varying the internal voltage of the pedal (6 to 18 volts).
There are also two mini-switches; Mid to modify the frequency range of the Tone and Input knob which affects the sensitivity of the input stage.
Finally, the Boost part is completely independent and located after the gain stage. We can also adjust the top of the spectrum via the additional, dedicated Tone button.

Superstrat and ES-335 in hand, on a high quality clean channel, what immediately impresses is the enormous interaction with the effect and the precision of the controls which allow it to be tuned to perfection.
The settings are ultra responsive and progressive, as for the range of use, it is extremely wide. In particular, at the Gain level which allows the Diablo to be comfortable in many styles. Another strong point of the Diablo - and of OKKO pedals in general, is that whatever you play, Strato, Les Paul or whatever, it will sound. Same thing for the amp, head or entry, mid or even high-end combo, it adapts and always delivers the same sound richness. So we have with the OKKO Diablo GH a pedal that we can potentially use with a multitude of configurations. It is unusual and extremely appreciable.

The Diablo excels on a quality clean channel, and stacks superbly on a crunch to have a BIG bluesy lead. It's simple, for a "pedal", the dynamics are incredible, the sensitivity is first-rate and the response, full of nuances. At this price, it is very rare and impossible not to mention it.
The Diablo is respectful of your game and very versatile thanks to the on-board settings and especially to the Dyn knob. It allows you to radically change the dynamics and the rendering, from the softest and "spongiest" drive, to the most open and punchy drive. We can therefore go from a soft drive that crashes on the attack, with more subdued highs, to an open drive, with a tight and ultra-responsive bottom, a boosted upper midrange, and plenty of headroom, which explains that the clean pedal beautifully at the volume knob.

We have been selling the OKKO Diablo for years, and it remains one of our best references as its qualities are enormous and equaled by a tiny number of models on the market. A safe bet, approved and used by ourselves for all this time. Gregor Hilden also shares this point of view, proof is, this superb signature! An important detail that may make you put it in your basket: after hundreds of copies sold, we have only recorded one return... No need to argue further, OKKO is one of the most reliable that we have offered to date. Hats off!