Based in Merrillville, IN, ProAnalog Devices is a small builder dedicated to building… professional analog devices (as in guitar pedals)! The company has been getting an increasing amount of attention since the 2017 release of their Klon-style Manticore overdrive, described by Riff City as a “fresh take on the topic” in their Best of 2017 article.
The demand for that stompbox became so overwhelming that the company was forced into looking for ways to increase production, and reached out to Cusack Music‘s Jon Cusack for advice on ways to re-engineer the Manticore in a way that would cut down the manufacturing process without affecting its tone. Cusack delivered, and now builds the V2 units to ProAnalog’s specs.
Scotty is enthusiastic about what Cusack was able to contribute to the project: ” Jon and his company have been amazing in helping bring this pedal to the masses” – he says. “Everything they have done has exceeded our expectations, so we view this as a great partnership/collaboration. We have hired Cusack to engineer our entire line of effects pedals we are releasing over the next 24 months.”
Available in four new colors and scheduled for a November 6 release, the Manticore V2, also features a few improvement over the first version:
- an OEM electronic true bypass soft switching circuitry design
- A new control called Savage which is a unique low pass filter / bass control that adds gain, punch and fattens up your guitar signal as though you just plugged into a 4X12 cab! It’s called Savage because when you dime it, it RAGES!
V2 has also a “price improvement,” selling at around $60 less than its older sister.
Here are a bunch of demos of this “klone.”
Here’s a video in which company owner and designer Scotty Smith showcases and explains the Manticore V2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs4NDJiruAo
MANTICORE has been at the forefront of a re-education about guitar pedals and has truly made its mark on the guitar world by setting a whole new standard for overdrives in the market across the globe. Since its explosive release in 2017, Scotty has been determined to make his trend setting pedal even greater and, after months of tireless effort and development, the newly evolved MANTICORE version 2 is finally ready to be released and is primed to set a whole new standard for overdrives World-Wide.
MANTICORE version 2 is even more unique and tonefully versatile than ever before. It has been equipped with a broader dynamic range and gain structure that allows the player to finely tune the pedals voice and gain to suit their needs. MANTICORE version 2 can do it all from an always on lush and sparkling amp enhancer to an enormous and tonesome clean boost. With the Gain and Savage controls engaged, this harmonically rich overdrive turns into a weapon of rock delivering crunchy rhythm tones, smooth lead tones and even raging Metal tones without sacrificing clarity and touch response. The complex and rich overtones within the pedal allows the player to easily generate harmonics from the 2nd, 3rd and 5th making their guitar and amp sing smoothly into sustained and controlled feedback.
New features include:
– OEM electronic true bypass soft switching circuitry design.
– A new control called Savage which is a unique low pass filter / bass control that adds gain, punch and fattens up your guitar signal as though you just plugged into a 4X12 cab! It’s called Savage because when you dime it, it RAGES!Control layout
Level VolumeTreble A dynamic treble circuit that boosts/cuts treble, and also adds/subtracts gain.
Savage A unique Low Pass filter/Bass control that fattens up your guitar tone and adds gain.
Gain This is the overdrive control, which lets you dial in the amount of clipping from the overdrive section of the circuit and is more mid-upper mid EQ focused.
Drive An input clean boost stage control that drives 3 active filter networks, including treble, high-mids, and lows. Using this control, you can dial in a clean boost tone that enhances the sound of your amp.
(TREBLE – SAVAGE – GAIN – DRIVE controls intuitively interact with each other allowing the player to creatively find their own unique sound and voice.)
MANTICORE version 2 is built to last and is available in 4 new colors: Copper Gold – Shimmering Silver – Metallic Blue – Dark Green.
