OD, Fuzz, & Distortion

Apex+

The Apex+ is a highly tweakable, boutique overdrive that delivers the famed "Brown" sound associated with modded British big amps. Driving Apex+'s smooth tube-like clipping, the Gain control has a wide range from mild overdrive to insane levels of distortion. Mutually interactive Tone and Contour parameters let you dial a large variety of voicings, whereas the Modern/Vintage switch offers completely unique tone profiles. The built-in Boost switch lets you up the gain on the go for all-out distortion.

Austin Strangemaster

A descendant of one of the earliest 'treble booster' designs, Austin Strangemaster adds its unique magic in addition to boosting your signal. We studied the single germanium OC44s found in textbook examples to model this one. The result is a warm, harmonic-rich distortion that subtly emphasized upper-mids without being harsh or tinny. Trivia: one of the original models is rumored to have been used by Slowhand in the Beano album to tame his dark, British blues combo (which inspired us to design our '65 Bluesmaker amp and cab, by the way). Another variant was implicated in the inception of Heavy Metal. So the range of application is pretty wide.

Bass Muffin Pie

Bass Muffin Pie is a version of the famous fuzz pedal that we specially tweaked for bass. With a response spectrum designed to complement bass frequencies, Bass Muffin Pie comes with a unique Blend parameter that lets you keep as much of your clean signal as you want. The single-knob Tone control lets you adjust a tone curve unique to this particular effect. Bass Muffin Pie also performs remarkably well with guitar and comes across as a unique distortion that sets it apart from all the others.

Black Moor

Black Moor is a unique early overdrive/boost with a nice amount of even harmonics to sweeten lead and crunch rhythm playing. Rumored to have been used by a certain British guitarist in the late 60s and early 70s - our design also incorporates a switchable mod to give the boost more midrange emphasis, as well as a Dirt knob to dial in the right amount of distortion into the boost signal.

Bleecker St. Fuzz

Bleecker St. Fuzz has all the unmistakable fuzz tone that graced classics including Comfortably Numb. Featuring multi-stage asymmetric clipping, Bleecker St.'s distortion is thicker, deeper, and more harmonically rich than typical fuzz pedals. The Tone control is fashioned after the original circuitry, giving you sounds that range from thick bass to violin-like sustain.

Blue Furr

Situated somewhere between a fuzz and a synth, Blue Furr doubles your notes one and two octaves down simultaneously. You can use this doubling effect to 'organically' beef up your solos, melodies, or single note rhythms; or create some really synth-like sounds out of your most beloved six string. A favorite of 90s grunge guitar bands, but you're no fool, and it's not raining.

Blues Brother

Based on an original circuit we designed, Blues Brother is a soulful and harmonic-rich overdrive with a wide range of parameters. Use the Grit and Volume knobs to increase the amount of overdrive and volume boost, respectively, and obtain a wide variety of tones from on-the-verge-of-breakup to warm crunch to sustaining, singing leads. The Grain parameter lets you subtly change the harmonic content of the overdrive, varying it from highly transparent to progressively more compressed and "saggy". The Full/Mid switch changes the emphasis of the effect from the full guitar spectrum to mids, giving you classic, punchy blues tones. Together with the Highs and Lows knobs, Blues Brother can emulate a myriad of overdrive pedals and be tweaked to work with practically any amp.

Bourbon Neat

Bourbon Neat is a hot-rodded overdrive with exceptional touch sensitivity and many unique tonal permutations. Featuring organic, tube-like clipping, Bourbon Neat comes with a special Contour selector that lets you manipulate the mids to vary the flavor of overdrive. The Presence switch modifies the upper frequencies to complement humbuckers or help you cut through the mix. The special Tone control interacts with all the other settings to provide bewildering versatility.

Brass Basster

The Brass-Basster is arguably the most funky, weird and unique among all the vintage fuzz units. Originally intended to mimic brass instruments popular in the era ensembles, the Brass-Baster features a one-of-a-kind fuzz design that's been sought by bassist for decades, and recently discovered by guitarists looking for a unique tone of their own. Featuring dedicated controls for dry and distorted signals, Brass-Basster's weirdness shines through its Brass and Harmonic switches - that when combined with the Sensitivity knob - give you well over 50 shades of trippy distortion. Did we say that it's weird? And unique?

Buzz Bone

The Buzz Bone is a unique distortion with an unmistakable "buzzsaw" tone that is featured in Satisfaction and countless garage rock classics. Whether you are after the classic '60s fuzz tones or lo-fi glory, Buzz Bone provides you with something old that is new.

CleanBoost

A no-nonsense boost that should be in every guitarists' and bassists' arsenal. We love putting this in front of an amp to give it that extra push....that certain '11' quality. Depending on the way its used, CleanBoost will add a sizzle to an amp on the verge of breakup, or drive an already distorting amp into a wild frenzy. Thanks to the two tone controls, you can also sculpt the frequency range of the boost, emphasizing anything between treble, midrange or bass. Want a totally colorless boost? Fear not: just turn Low and High knobs all the way up, and the coloration is all gone. Also a perfect utility for compensating levels in a long FX chain.

Compulsive OD

Inspired by boutique overdrives the connoisseurs all rave about, Compulsive OD complements pretty much any amp it goes into. We obsessed about every detail of Compulsive, designing a touch-sensitive, warm - and if pushed just enough, even wild - OD that breaks the mold and sounds different. OK... not just different, but good. Added bonus: a U.S./U.K. switch that facilitates Transatlantic travel.

Dragon Claw

Here is a special fuzz/distortion pedal designed to get the best of the modded '60s and '70s buzz boxes. Featuring deep and harmonically rich distortion that instantly evokes the sounds of the high cotton era of Classic Rock, Dragon Claw is a prime weapon in the arsenal of any discerning soloist. One of our favorite mods to this type of pedal is included via the "M1/M2" switch: just go from a thick, vintage fuzz tone to a clearer distortion that complements chord work or sizzling leads.

Fury Unleash'd

Fury Unleash'd is a rich, thick distortion favored by Hard Rock and Heavy Metal players. Our redesign also features a switchable mod to reduce the "woofiness" of the original and increase clarity, purportedly favored by a certain Neo-Classical guitarist. Combined with one of our British stacks, Fury Unleash'd makes for a great, aggressive lead tone in the style of old-school Heavy Metal.

Fuzz Bender

This gadget brings you back to about 1965. The nasal, snarky tone in stuff like 'For Your Love' or that album with Hindenburg coming down in flames owed a lot to this unique, Mother-Country fuzz. Its genealogy is somewhere between the earlier British boost units and the smiley, fuzzy faces yet to come - but its tonality is unmatched by either.

Fuzz Maze

Designed after the germanium transistor fuzzes that lit up arenas and certain London recording studios in the younger side of 1968. Germanium fuzzes have a rounder, 'tubier' sound compared to their silicon cousins, and were known to be very temperamental to external factors such as temperature, or whether a wah-wah came before them. None of that here in the digital realm: impedance is matched by default, so you can put the big old red smile wherever.

Green Tube Classic

The famous green overdrive with added tone sculpting. The unique frequency response of the original 1458 chips is built in right here, but we added two mutually-interactive tone controls that suit the purpose of the purposeful guitarist. If you gave its also-green cousin a 9, this would be an 8, followed by a 0, then by another 8.

HeadBanger

HeadBanger is an old school, heavy, hairy distortion that fulfills any metal guitarist's needs. With a voicing especially designed for high gain lead and rhythm playing, HeadBanger comes with a 3-band active EQ with adjustable mid frequency that lets you boost or cut lows, mids and highs.

Hotel Seattle

Mean, gritty, lo-fi. We purposely designed this one to be as ugly as possible when all the knobs are at 11 (our official top dial), yet as sweet and romantic-like when tweaked with a bit of care. Watch out for this one, as it'll cut though any mix.

Metal Monger

This one is full of thick, creamy distortion. The tone controls help you sculpt your sound and match it to your amp. With heavy distortion, the key is the control of the mids, hence the dual mids knobs. With one, you choose the frequency target while with the other you boost or cut that target. Suddenly, palm muting becomes an exploration.

Muffin Pie

A thick, heavy fuzz that can also sing like a string quartet. With a unique, two-duty tone control, this one was happily discovered by a certain 'black strat' owner and found its way into many, many, MANY other rigs. Here in its Soviet flavor, fellow traveller.

Octer Fuzz

A unique rectification/octave doubling circuit that turns hazes purple and roses golden. We added a dedicated fuzz knob that you can dial the dreaminess with. Best if used with the neck pickup, even better if the tone's rolled off, just like the maestro has discovered.

Orange Juice

A staple of every guitarist's rig. A clear, straight-forward distortion with plenty of definition and a unique tone control make this a very versatile distortion that can be placed pretty much anywhere in your signal flow.

Superb OD

Superb OD is a warm, tube-y overdrive that complements our virtual-tube amps perfectly. With a little bit more drive and sizzle than other similar overdrives, Superb OD follows your picking dynamics very well and gives you plenty of that classic tube distortion tones.

Yes M'Lud

A tribute to the amp-in-a-box overdrive pedals that came out in the early 1990s and heralded complex boutique designs. M'Lud features a very wide range of gain that goes well with pretty much any musical style: and specifically when dimed, can result in an insane amount of thick, hairy distortion. Our design includes a full, interactive tonestack, like the ones found in our amps, that gives you extensive control over the tone and dynamics. To keep things exciting, we added a toggle to switch between a British-style topology and a tighter, more scooped American design. Also: perfect in front of a clean amp when you want that light-and-shade thing happening.