8 Monster Gain Machine Pedals

www.chasebliss.eu/preamp-mkii

Controls - Volume, Treble, Mids, Freq, Bass, Gain, Jump : Off / 0 / 5, Mids : Off / Pre / Post, Q : Wide / Moderate / Narrow, Diode : Off / Silicon / Germanium, Fuzz : Off / Open / Gated, Bypass (Save) Footswitch, Preset (Bank) Footswitch.

Alas discontinued now, but still a total marvel of a device - with those tightly visually appealing and practical motorised sliders. This is a fantastic chameleon - not as full on as say the Fuzzbillion - but with a vast range of its own. Like all of these - this one's a little on the large size - but it mostly justifies its footprint - still a wonderful multi-gain pedal which delivers overdrives and fuzz sounds galore - not so much in the higher gain department - but a really solid allrounder! Of course Pedal of the Year for 2020 too!

www.dazatronyx.com/#big-fuzz-console

Controls - KNOBS } Stage 1 Q4 Transistor Selector, Sustain, Stage 2 Q3 Transistor Selector, Stage 3 Q2 Transistor Selector, EQ-HPF, EQ-Mid-Scoop, EQ-LPF, EQ-Tone, Volume, Stage 4 Q1 Transistor Selector, SWITCHES } STAGE 1 : R13, R22, C1, C10, R9, R2, Sustain, Bright, Buffer, STAGE 2 : R18, R21, C4, C12, R17, R19, CLIP : C6, C7, STAGE 3 : R11, R10, C5, C11, R15, R12, TONE : R5, C9, R8, C13, C8, STAGE 4 : R6, R4, C2, C3, R7.

My current major project - I'm really loving this one at the moment. I happen to have over 120 Big Muffs in my reference collection - while this one can cover off near enough all of those. There are some of mine that are more evolved towards high gain delivery - which can outgain the Big Fuzz Console - but nothing comes close to it in overall range or granularity. A quite magnificent engineering achievement - and brilliantly thought out and conceived in every way. If you're into the Big Muff Fuzz format - you really need this - the unabridged compendium of Big Muff Sounds - or the Ultimate Multi-Muff as I call it! I feel fairly certain already that this is going to end up as my Pedal of the Year for 2026 - it is utterly amazing!

www.elektron.se/support-downloads/analog-drive

Controls - Manual/Preset Switch, Screen, Preset Select, Gain, Mode : Clean Boost / Mid Drive / Dirty Drive / Big Distortion / Focused Distortion / Harmonic Fuzz / High Gain / Thick Gain, Level, Low, Mid Frequency, Active LED, Mid, High, Previous Preset Footswitch, Bypass / Select, Next Preset Footswitch.

This behemoth was the first of these for me - where I often struggled to accommodate its enormous girth - particularly as the board expanded and grew. I had very high expectations when I picked this up - and it's a wonderful fully analog pedal with 8 separate full THT gain circuits - while I have much preferred varieties of all those different circuits each Mode is based on. This is a fantastic all-rounder Multi-Gain pedal, but it did not manage to push aside any of my existing favourite types - I still somewhat preferred to deploy those individual for those specific timbres and tonal characteristics / qualities. I quickly came to lear that multi-drives of this nature are very much ballpark devices for each individual 'flavour' profile. And however good this is - and indeed it is excellent - there were still several compact pedals that I preferred for each of those flavours and ended up gravitating towards them. I'm sure if Electron revisited this pedal today - they would be able to make it significantly smaller and better sounding. Still a classic in its own way though!

kernom.com/en-gb/products/moho

Controls -  Electricity (±Octave / Harmonics / Ring Mod Adjust), Mood (Character/Nature/Flavour/Texture), Volume, Post Tone, Pre Tone, Fuzz (Gain / Saturation), Preset Footswitch (Hold for 2 seconds to save favourite), On / Off Footswitch, Midi In / Out, and Expression ports on rear.

This was my Pedal of the Year for 2023 - and still ranks as my favourite ever Fuzz / Multi-Fuzz. The range of flavours that Kernom managed to cram inside this device is something of a miracle. And you definitely need a Midi Controller for this one - to save all the presets - as the 6 controls are so interactive - that it can be tricky to replicate favourite settings if you don't have presets on-hand for direct access. This covers every single family for fuzz - right across the history of that format - it is still the best of Kernom pedals. If you're a fuzz fan - you definitely need this one. No other single fuzz pedal can deliver as much!

kernom.com/en-gb/products/ridge

Controls - Mid, Mood (Clipping Style), Volume (up to +30V @ Max), Post-Clipping Tone, Pre-Clipping Tone, Drive, Preset Footswitch, On/Off Footswitch.

The first of the Kernom Mood-Morphing Hybrid Wonders - this one delivers a full range of drive tones - all the way up to vintage high gain. It doesn't quite rich Modern High Gain levels - but it gets pretty close - and covers everything from the most wonderful of cleans - to all those classic overdrive tones that you're already familiar with. As with the Moho - this one often requires deft and delicate dial in, not quite as delicate at the Moho - but near enough every bit as marvellous - even though the Moho is my favourite. The format was kind of evolved from the Klon Centaur enclosure - I feel the pedal could be more compact - and would love to see a more compact version in the future. The fit and finish here is second to none - best in the industry as far as I'm concerned - with incredibly luxury egg-shell style powder-coating - luxurious to the touch too! This was the runner-up Best Pedal of the Year for 2022 - after the Sinvertek MGAT-1 Gold Hyper-Preamp.

origineffects.com/product/revivaldrive-and-footswitch/

Controls - SILICON RECTIFIER } More | Presence, Lows, Master Volume / Gain, Ghost Note, Blend : Dry > OD, Output Level, Preamp : GB / 0 / US, Bright Cap : GB / 0 / US, VALVE RECTIFIER } Master Volume / Gain, Lows, More | Presence, Output Level, Blend : Dry > OD, Ghost Note, Bright Cap : GB / 0 / US, Preamp : GB / 0 / US, MID ASSIGN } Mid Assign : Engaged / Footswitch, Mid Level, Mid Frequency, RE-AMP EQ } EQ : Power Amp / EQ2 / EQ1, Hi Shelf±, DRY BLEND } Dry Gain±, On Footswitch, Silicon / Valve Footswitch, CUSTOM EQ PANEL } Shelf Frequency : II / I / III, EQ2 Adjust±, Mode : I BRT / II DRK, Cut Frequency : II / I / III.

A somewhat misunderstood pedal - where I feel I wrote the definitive original overview with my First Impressions piece. I rationalise each of those controls - and how I just treated them as an extended EQ section - not simply just to 'Adjust' towards your own amp setup - but to use generally to get you into further interesting areas. There's a lot of controls on here - but it doesn't take you very long to get up to speed. This is another pedal which requires some delicacy on the dial-in - and it really rewards those who are patient with it. Delivery a blistering Vox AC30 voicing on the Left Valve Rectifier Channel, and a killer Marshall Plexi on the Right Silicon Rectifier Channel. This is a fantastic dual-channel preamp - with enormous range - and the Footswitch is absolutely essential for getting the most out of it!

teachingmachines.co.uk/product/fuzzbillion?v=7885444af42e

Controls - Input : Line Level / Guitar Level, Components Wheels #1-#11 - each with options numbered 0-9: #1 Boost| #2 Opamp Gain | #3 Waveform Peak Diode Clipping | #4 Waveform Dip Diode Clipping | #5 Tone : Bass > Treble | #6 Octave Fuzz Drive | #7 Octave Fuzz Intensity | #8 PLL Harmonizing Fuzz | #9 Negative > Positive Bias | #10 Output Diode Clpping | #11 Output Treble-Cut, Volume Kmob, Output : Line Level / Guitar Level.

Last years 'Pedal of the Year' for me - an every-way amazing mechanical wonder - with its 11 combination wheels. And my good friend Grindle engineered the PCB for this one. This isn't as complicated as you might thing - while there is a set order of deployment, and some of these combination wheels have to be in the mix - or else you inadvertently cut off the signal. Takes you from the most subtle of boost through every voice of overdrive, fuzz, and distortion - absolutely killer in every deparment- and reassuringly a robustly solid. It's probably the heaviest pedal I own in terms of its overall weight. The way you control all those analog components in that mechanical fashion - it just utterly unique. I covered this back in October of last year - while some are only picking up on this now - recently stocked at Andertons too!

tubesteader.com/products/gainlord

Controls - Lower Blue Plexi Style Channel 1 } Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Bright Switch, Gain; Upper Red JCM800 Channel 2 } Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Bright Switch, Gain; Tone Bypass for Direct Out on side of pedal.

This is another heavy hitter from last year - and is still holding onto its slot (#19). It was 3rd last year in the Pedal of the Year awards - after the above Fuzzbillion, and the Nucleo Reverb from Cornerstone. Like for the RevivalDrive - the optional Footswitch is an essential for you here too - as it opens up in effect a 3rd Channel. So this becomes a killer 3-Channel Amp that you can ramp up in stages. In terms of combination of functionality and output - this is the best of Dual+ Channel Marshall Types. While the greatest overall Marshall pedal to date is the Sinvertek MGAT-1 EVO - which is also currently on the board (on Slot #33!). This is the perfect Marshall preamp for switching up on-the-fly. Probably Tubesteader Olly's finest to-date!