gear giveaway

High-Gain Distortion

JPTR FX Warlow Fuzz

Built by German boutique pedal maker, the JPTR FX Warlow is a high-gain Op-amp Muff perfect for a low-end-heavy '90s grunge and alt-rock. Using high-grade IC chips and germanium clipping diodes, the Warlow comes in an appropriately large enclosure for its equally huge tones. We added this pedal to our article…Click on the title for more

JPTR FX Warlow Fuzz

New Pedal: Catalinbread Carbide Distortion

The Catalinbread Carbide is the Portland company's take on the "Chainsaw-style Distortion," an effect used and abused by some metal bands who downtune their guitars to add a sense of dread to their tone. Unlike other pedals going for this sound, the Carbide keeps things simple, at least on the…Click on the title for more

New Pedal: Catalinbread Carbide Distortion

Electro-Harmonix Hell Melter

The Electro-Harmonix Hell Melter, as you may have guessed, is not a pedal for the gentle electric guitarist. Catering to the metal crowd (those who use their 6-string to "melt" stuff), this stompbox is a love letter to the "chainsaw" tone made popular by a string of Swedish Death Metal…Click on the title for more

Electro-Harmonix Hell Melter

Fuzzlord Drone Master Distortion

The Fuzzlord Drone Master is a brutal high gain machine that takes the RAT and adds two toggles for more tonal versatility. The left switch controls a mid-scoop or boost while the right switch allows for silicon diode clipping or a much louder and compressed LED clipping mode. We added…Click on the title for more

Fuzzlord Drone Master Distortion

New Pedal: Marshall ShredMaster

As implied by its name, the Marshall ShredMaster is a distortion pedal for guitarists with shredding tendencies, therefore of the high-gain variety. Released in the early '90s, it was one of the first pedals to target metal and hard rock guitarists. Marshall has reissued it in all its glory in…Click on the title for more

New Pedal: Marshall ShredMaster

DSM Humboldt Black Clouds Distortion

The DSM Humboldt Black Clouds is a new pedal by the collaborative Chilean company that rose to prominence through the Simplifier, an analog amp/cab simulator. It's their own take on the flexible high-gain distortion pedal (read: this is not a clone of an existing circuit). The flexibility here is delivered…Click on the title for more

DSM Humboldt Black Clouds Distortion

The Best Reverb Pedals with Modulation or Fuzz/Distortion in 2023

Go Back to List of Categories Strymon Cloudburst An ambient reverb effect followed by a particular effect that goes beyond modulation (referred to as an "Ensemble engine") that continuously analyzes different frequency bands of your signal, generating upper harmonic partials of what it finds in each frequency band. A 3-way…Click on the title for more

The Best Reverb Pedals with Modulation or Fuzz/Distortion in 2023

JPTR FX Katastrophe Octave Up Distortion

German buitique pedal builder JPTR FX likes to make its devices big and noisy and also original, and the Katastrophe finds its originality angle in being an octave overdrive/distortion (as opposed to an octave fuzz). This is a pedal that allows you to radically tweak your tone through two gain…Click on the title for more

JPTR FX Katastrophe Octave Up Distortion

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

Westminster Effects 2716

Westminster Effects have collaborated with Seth Morrison of Christian Hard Rock band Skillet to create the 2716 signature distortion pedal. Meant to emulate Morrison's live setup, the 2716 takes cues from classic high gain tube amps such as the Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Rev F, creating professional tight high gain…Click on the title for more

Westminster Effects 2716

JHS PackRat Distortion

We were wondering if the novel YouTube star Joshua Scott of JHS Pedals was still actively working on new stompbox designs, considering how important (and presumably, time-consuming) the video channel appears to have become for him and his team. The release of the PackRat multi-mode distortion answers that wonderment with…Click on the title for more

JHS PackRat Distortion

Overdrive vs Distortion vs Fuzz: What’s the difference?

Click on the links for our coverage of recently released Overdrive, Distortion and Fuzz pedals. For the beginner rock guitarist, a gain pedal is, in most cases, the third item on the gear-related shopping list (after a six-string and an amp). But, considering the wide choice of stompboxes out there,…Click on the title for more

Overdrive vs Distortion vs Fuzz: What’s the difference?