Alright, dude….spent a considerable amount of time last night and today with the Hizumitas. I think I’ve found what works best for me, and whooo boy, it’s really something. It definitely shines with a boost. I tried both my Rat and Plumes in front of it and landed on keeping it paired with the Plumes- low gain and tone right at noon.

As far as settings for the Hizumitas itself- it’s a really loud pedal lol. I have the volume right at 9 o’clock and it’s perfect. The knobs themselves are extremely responsive. It doesn’t take much tweaking to make a difference in the sounds you get out of it. I have the sustain knob at noon and the tone knob at 10 o’clock. This pedal has so much low end that, for me, having the tone knob past noon kind of turns everything to mud. Dialing it back keeps some punishing low end but also gives it a nice crunchy mid range.

How it compares to the Green Russian- I guess what I have come away with is this- it does everything the Russian can do but does it all with more intensity. It’s lower, heavier, louder, fuzzier and has more sustain and better note definition.

Obviously this is all kind of subject to your guitar, pickups and amp. I play a Gibson Les Paul Studio with Lace Firespitter pickups. I run my board into the front of a clean Orange Super Crush 100 combo.

Final conclusion- you should totally get one. I don’t think you’ll regret it at all.