gear giveaway

Distortion Pedals

New Pedal: Beautiful Noise Exploder Distortion + White Noise

Handmade in Newcastle, Australia, the Beautiful Noise Exploder is a distortion pedal for the heavy yet tweaking-inclined guitarist, with a couple of interesting twists. Besides the expected (white) Gain and Master knob and a 3-way EQ section with (smaller black) Low Mid, and Hi controls, the Exploder offers a 3-way…Click on the title for more

New Pedal: Beautiful Noise Exploder Distortion + White Noise

New Pedal: Westminster Piper Drive V3

The Westminster Piper Drive V3 is a high-gain pedal inspired by the Fulltone OCD but optimized for metallic musical genres. The simple control layout allows to dial in tones ranging from open and transparent to fully distorted with a mid-push. A two-voice toggle switch delivers two different tone flavors, one…Click on the title for more

New Pedal: Westminster Piper Drive V3

New Pedal: Valco KGB Dist JR

The Valco KGB Dist JR is a more compact version of the versatile 4-mode distortion KGB Dist, with the only difference that the latter sports a Blend fader. The rest of the circuit is the same, with the 1-Pole Low-Pass Filter knob shaping the tone, the signature 6-settings Variable Impedance rotary…Click on the title for more

New Pedal: Valco KGB Dist JR

Vaderin Pedals Kroaked Boost/Distortion

The Vaderin Pedals Kroaked is an all-transistor 3-knob dirt-box that can go from pristine cleans to super-saturated and compressed distortion. The LVL knob, when the other two controls are at zero, works as a clean boost. It's not the output but a linear clean boost that precedes the pedal’s second…Click on the title for more

Vaderin Pedals Kroaked Boost/Distortion

Orange Amps Distortion

The Orange Vintage Series Distortion is a high-quality reissue of a vintage and long-discontinued pedal by the UK amp manufacturer, rediscovered thanks to a photo in a message board, together with two other devices. Unlike the two other designs, this one underwent significant circuit "surgery:" the original’s back-to-back diode design was…Click on the title for more

Orange Amps Distortion

Funny Little Boxes 1991 “Pearl Jam” Distortion

The dude at the Let's Play All YouTube Channel is very much into the guitar sound of the '90s, and some time in the first half of 2021 he asked a friend at Funny Little Boxes (a small UK pedal builders) if he could create a pedal that reproduced the…Click on the title for more

Funny Little Boxes 1991 “Pearl Jam” Distortion

Tsakalis AudioWorks Six Boost/Overdrive/Distortion

Hailing from Greece, the Tsakalis Audioworks Six serves up a strictly analog buffet of dirt circuitry, with six different selectable modes inspired by such revered gain devices as the Analogman KOT, Marshall Bluesbreaker, Paul C Timmy and more. The knobs are pretty straightforward, with the only exception of the Mood knob,…Click on the title for more

Tsakalis AudioWorks Six Boost/Overdrive/Distortion

2023 Best Plexi Pedals & Marshall-Style Distortions: a Buyer’s Guide

(Almost) everyone who is familiar with the electric guitar loves the sound of a cranked Marshall amp. From Eric Clapton and Angus Young to Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads, Plexi amp and their later, higher gain reincarnations from the JCM series have been used by many guitar players over…Click on the title for more

2023 Best Plexi Pedals & Marshall-Style Distortions: a Buyer’s Guide

ProCo RAT2 Distortion

The ProCo RAT2 distortion pedal is an update on a classic from the early 1980s. With an appearance similar to the footswitch of a Marshal Amplifier, the pedal’s sound is reminiscent of the dirty channel on those British tube amps. However, Rat2 also features a thinner crunch characterized by solid…Click on the title for more

ProCo RAT2 Distortion

Pedal Line: Catalinbread Elements

The latest trend among boutique builders seems to be to release... lines of pedals, a bunch at a time! Following (probably) JHS's lead, the Catalinbread Elements is a new line of rather inexpensive yet hand-made one-knob pedals comprising - for now - three devices: Fuzz, Distortion and Overdrive. While we'll…Click on the title for more

Pedal Line: Catalinbread Elements

Lauren Audio Mustang V2 Preamp

Run by a recording engineer, Lauren Audio is a one-man builder based in California that offers custom amplifiers and preamps and, also a bunch of pedals, among which a preamp stompbox emulating the most legendary channel strip, the Neve 1073: enter the Lauren Audio Mustang V2. The Mustang has a…Click on the title for more

Lauren Audio Mustang V2 Preamp

New Pedal: LPD Pedals Mach I Distortion

The LPD Pedals Mach I Distortion is the latest pedal by a small builder that seems to be specializing in amp-in-a-box pedals. In this case, the "boxed" amp is in the Bogner/Boogie/KittyHawk style, producing think tones with lots of midrange heard in many '90s alt-rock records. The controls in this…Click on the title for more

New Pedal: LPD Pedals Mach I Distortion