Fortin's latest Kali Pre-Amp Distortion Pedal captures those classic 80's California Modded Marshall Sounds of Jose Arredondo

Jose Arredondo definitely seems to be flavour of the month these days - with Friedman having just recently released its ’Tribute’ Amp Head - based on that Amp Technician’s legendary 80’s Marshall Mods. Where Fortin’s equivalent Cali amp was launched all the way back in 2019.

This renamed Kali is the Pre-Amp Pedal derivation of that specific amp - making use of all those killer Jose Arredondo Modifications to Plexi and JCM800 Marshall Amps in particular.

Fortin very much seems to be on a roll these days - with this Kali completing its High Gain Pedal Trifecta - alongside its superb Natas and Meshuggah forebears. Since I own those two already - it’s kind of a no-brainer that I should go for this one too - to complete the set!

I love a good Marshall Preamp - will be interesting to see how it stacks up against the Sinvertek MGAT-1 Golden Era and Tsakalis AudioWorks Room #40 - this cover similar territory!

Ola Englund seems to love the Kali - and he’s usually on the ball for these sorts of things - so the Kali really promises well. There’s also the recent Fourteen Modded Tube Screamer Fortin pedal to consider - which I have indeed thought about, but not assigned a priority yet. The Kali would certainly be prioritised over the Fourteen.

Controls - Bass, Mid, Treble, Master - Vintage / Raw / Saturated, Gain 2 - 1 / 0 / 2 (Bright), Gain 1 - 1  / 0 / 2 (Bright), Channel 1/2 Footswitch, On/Bypass Footswitch.

This is a smart 2-Channel Pre-Amp - with the mods presumably rendered courtesy of those 3 x 3-way switches. Interesting colourway here vs those Marshall routes - obviously shared the same colourway as the white Cali Amp - which is unusual for Marshall inspired variants.

In any case - I’m pretty convinced now - so it’s just a matter of waiting for these to get into distribution in Europe - which always seems to take a while - and typically at least a month after the announcement!

Since there is no specific artist involved here and no need to pay royalties - this one is at the same time price as the Natas - or $299, and currently available courtesy of the Fortin Webstore.

I don’t believe any of my myriad Marshall pedals are in homage to Jose Arredondo - so it will be interesting to see how this one distinguishes itself say from the Sinvertek MGAT-1-GE!