You Wouldn't Download A Car - mids tunable centered distortion w/ low end wall of muff

PIRACY. IT'S A CRIME.

the early 2000s. I was so blessed to have been born in 2001 and experienced the 2000's. What felt like the afterglow and evolution of 90's culture, forever lost in the 2010's, with 2020's riding on the nostalgia of the 90's and 2000's. It feels like I got the last breaths of the authentic feeling and culture of the 2000's. This pedal is inspired by the feeling those days had.

This circuit was something I wanted. I had always been intrigued by the boss XT2 XTORTION.

a commercial failure from boss, this pedal is underlooked, underthought of, and a sleeper. It did need some tuning to bring out the most in the circuit, so mine has a different voice but still has the XT2 character.

Then I wanted to add one of my favorite muff variants- an elk sustainar with endless tonal options.

The elk sustainar is a rare, vintage, expensive and very sought after japanese big muff variant, made famous through its use by Wata of Boris. If you have listened to their music, chances are you have heard this pedal. Pair with an orange head and a 4x12 cabinet for the full experience.

This pedal feels like a blurred mesh of the best era of music.

what category of effect does this fit into?

Distortion (X side)- this is for players who want a very heavy and saturated crunch that is similar to overdrive- but far heavier. Helps hit those pinch harmonics and brings out all the weird little hidden artifacts that are not present in clean guitars. Feels more linear/predictable to play than a fuzz pedal, but has a raw crunchy texture similar to some fuzzes. Maybe a good way to say is- plays like an overdrive, saturated like a fuzz.

Distortion/Fuzz (elk side)- this side is a 4 transistor muff style circuit, and these blur the lines between fuzz and distortion. In the hands, feels more like a distortion, but a bit looser and more unwieldy (think like maneuvering a light sword vs a heavy sword) but each note hits massive, with the decay and texture of a fuzz.

how would I describe the feel and texture?

X-It is a truly unique sounding distortion pedal. Quite high gain, able to volume boost a lot. The punch knob employs some sort of magic that gives the distortion a deep mids crunch and hollow sounding resonance, that feels like raunchy 90s metal, alt rock, and even 2000s metalcore/deathcore.

with the dark knob, you can get a bright and fuller sounding frequency output around 12 o clock, with a super deep scooped tone as you dial it forward.

with external 3 mode clipping toggles for both soft and hard clipping, you get many different gain voices that are not available with the original. The clipping toggles feel like they chop off certain frequency ranges in the gain structure on this side.

Elk- of all the muffs, this one represents an avalanche. Rumbling, massive, fat low end. 

with the addition of a bias control that can slam the muff even louder, or create broken glitchy decay, sounds you never knew a muff even had.

3 way clipping on the muff interacts with the entire circuit, it genuinely feels like 3 different circuits. a bit hard to describe in words. One mode is more compressed and smooth overall, one is a classic muff sound with harder edge on the notes, and the middle position is blown out transistor clipping,

Lastly- 3 way mids toggles that adjust either the low pass or high pass mids on the tone knob- theres deep scoop, stock, and flat. Naturely, the big muff has very scooped mids since the tone control is a low pass or high pass, filtering out the middle frequencies. This toggle changes that, allowing for deeper tone control.

what kind of player would like this stompbox?

I made this pedal because I wanted it. It is a unique distortion that fills a role that other distortions like my Plague and SR-71 do not. I think the mids characteristics (the punch and dark knobs in specific) are so unique that I enjoy the vibe it gives me. This side fills my needs for metalcore, deathcore, nu metal, and just general 90s inspired heavy music. of course, it is not limited to those genres.

Of course, the elk side is my favorite muff (tied with the V1 triangle I do) and the bias knob does so much to the circuit, having these two side by side just felt right, and unique. This one fills the wall of sound, massive, shoegaze, nugaze, stoner, sludge, drone, doom void.

features

premium, soft click foot switch. abuse resistant and longer lasting.

with the amount of sounds in this box, it is quite a compact format. about 5 inches long, 3.7 inches wide.

9v, center negative operation. around 100 ma current draw.

BUILT TO ORDER

custom color- message me via instagram (@twilightmidnightelectro) or email (twilightaudioelectronics@gmail.com) for a percolator build in a custom paintjob of your choice.

To get an idea of what is possible, look at my past/archive works, current live listings, and my instagram gallery. Feel free to send inspiration or your own ideas as well.

Please note that many finishes are unique and the style can be replicated, but not the exact result. 3-10 business days to complete and ship generally.

raw aluminum- comes in a very lightly sand polished, raw aluminum finish enclosure.

3-7 business days to complete and ship generally.