distortion effects

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Distortion_pedal

Dunable

Dunable Guitars was founded by Sacha Dunable, the guitarist and singer of prog-metal band Intronaut. Dunable has been making guitars since 2011: he started out in his garage and by 2014 he was able to go full time as a guitar builder. Dunable USA Custom Shop instruments and pickups are still built in Southern California by a small team of 6-7 people. There are also mass produced Dunable instruments like the DE series introduced in 2020 which is made in South Korea. They also make effects pedals and previously made amp heads.

Source: Dunable Guitars website (17 March 2022)

Valeton

Valeton is a Chinese effects pedal brand. The team behind Valeton had been producing designing and building products for other brands for 10 years before coming together as a single company, with a new catalogue of original designs. The range  includes affordable effects pedals, multi-fx processors and amplifiers.

Source: Valeton website (14 March 2022)

Nobels

Nobels is a German guitar effects and audio electronics company founded in 1985 by Bernhard Kurzke. During the 1990s they developed an affordable range of effects pedals, plus programmable multi-effects, MIDI foot controllers, good-sounding practice amps and “Little Helpers” (small inexpensive splitters, A / B switches, loop-in paths, MIDI switchers, DI boxes for the pedalboard). The first effects pedal series was made from 1993 to 20003. They have also made OEM effects pedals for other brands - e.g. the Washburn Rhino pedals were made by Nobels. Circa 2022 their range is focused on their successful Nobels ODR-1 overdrive pedal, available in standard, mini and software-plugin form.

Source: Nobels website (25 March 2022)

Matthews Effects

Matthews Effects is a guitar effects company founded by Rick Matthews in Eastern Washington, USA. Rick started by building switches as he tried to learn more and more about circuits and what made them tick. He was hired and then mentored by Keith Vondurhulls of buildyourownclone.com which set him on the path to build his own circuits. Through approaching designing from a different perspective Rick has been able to design circuits and pedal layouts that are unique and inspiring.

Source: Matthews Effects website (25 March 2022)

KMA Machines

KMA Machines is a German guitar effects company founded by Enrico Preuß. He started out doing  one-off custom pedals for friends and fellow musicians. In 2013 he decided to make a business out of it - his first product was a ‘Jordan Bosstone’ clone with a bias control and a wider frequency range called the Fuzzly Bear. His friend Karlowitsch, a talented graphic designer, provided the graphic design for that pedal and they have worked together ever since. Initially, the business was run in Enrico's shared apartment but due to the growth of KMA Machines popularity they are now in  to their own workshop in Berlin. KMA pedals tend to be versatile with intuitive features and controls giving a wide pallet of tonal options. Influenced by vintage sounds and modern stuff, KMA aim to bring both worlds together, by taking classic and well-known circuits and give them a modern touch to fit the needs of modern musicians.

Gamechanger Audio

GAMECHANGER AUDIO was started in 2015 by Ilja Krumins, Kristaps Kalva, Martins Melkis and Didzis Dubovskis. Their first project was to create a sustain and sostenuto pedal for all musical instruments. The first prototype of the PLUS Pedal was completed in December 2016. The following year, the PLUS Pedal was brought to life through a successful crowdfunding campaign, and it became widely available in 2018. Their next project was the revolutionary PLASMA Pedal. The PLASMA was also successfully crowdfunded, and manufacturing began in the Autumn of 2018. Since then, they have gone on to develop the MOTOR Synth, the LIGHT Pedal, three additional variations on the PLASMA Tube circuit, and most recently the BIGSBY Pedal. Their research and manufacturing base is in Riga, Latvia.

Source: Gamechanger Audio website (22 March 2022)

BMF Effects

BMF Effects is a hand made effects pedals company founded in 2005 in Southern California by Scott Kiraly. All BMF Effects pedals feature custom made steel enclosures, industrial grade powder coating and silk screening as well as true bypass switching and DC jacks.

Scott revealed the history of BMF Effects in an interview with Stomp That Box:

Analog Alien

Analog Alien is a boutique guitar effects company established in 2010 by brothers Joe and Jack Napoli (Cloud 9 Recording Inc.). They got started in effects pedal building through first modifying some of the large collection of effects pedals owned by their Cloud 9 Studio, and then offering mods for other guitarists. Jack then decided to have a go at building pedals from scratch, learning from books and by trial & error. He made several prototypes until he felt confident that he had a pedal that most guitar players would want to have in their collection, even if they didn't really have a pedal collection. He tested the circuit using several different guitars and amps until he was satisfied with the results. He also let other guitarists use it but never said that he made it. Soon his overdrive/fuzz face pedal became the pedal of choice for a lot of guitarists that were recording in the studio.

Damage Control

Damage Control Engineering was founded in 2004 by four ex Line 6 employees: Pete Celi (embedded systems expert), Gregg Stock (analog engineer), Lucian Tu (industrial designer) and Dave Fruehling (embedded systems expert). Their first products were a line of four tube-driven distortion units: first the Demonizer and Womanizer and, later, Liquid Blues and Solid Metal.  Dave and Pete designed some more intensive DSP-driven pedals also incorporating tubes known as TimeLine and Glass Nexus.  Although the pedals got great reviews, sales did not take off, and the team increasingly spent time consulting for other firms instead of working on new Damage Control pedals. Lucian Tu left the team, but a colleague Terry Burton who had been working independently in the Damage Control offices came up with the Strymon brand name.

Strymon

Damage Control Engineering was founded in 2004 by Pete Celi, Gregg Stock and Dave Fruehling, their first products were a line of tube-driven effects pedals. In 2009 they began to develop effects under the Strymon brand name. With models like the OB.1, a simple clean compressor and boost, and the Lex, a small power-house rotary pedal, to BigSky reverb and Timeline delay, Strymon has established itself as a leading guitar effects brand.

Source: Strymon Effects Pedals website (16 February 2022)

Radial

Radial Engineering was founded in 1996 by Peter Janis. Janis had a background in music and pro audio industry having worked for TMI for 10 years before starting his own company. He took over Canadian cable company, Cabletek in 1991 and renamed it JP Cabletek Electronics Ltd. in 1992. JP Cabletek imported various brands including Presonus, Audix Microphones, Hafler, Microtech Gefell, Mogami cables, Jensen Transformers and Sonex acoustical products. Over the next few years the company grew to making custom snakes while Janis decided to expand globally. He chose a company name that could be easily translated into many languages (Radial Engineering) and a logo that represents the inside of a quad cable, in 1996 he launched the first Radial product, the Radial JDI. In 2022 Radial employed over 100 people and produced a range of pro-audio gear including: direct boxes, splitters and audio interfacing devices.

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