Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
God City Instruments' Brutalist is a great sounding throaty distortion with super smart controls
Key Points
God City Instruments' Brutalist is a throaty distortion with 2‑Band Baxandall EQ on the main Bypass footswitch, plus Level and Distortion controls. The pedal family reportedly took 10 years to develop and follows earlier iterations including the BJR Compact.
A Filth footswitch engages Band‑Pass and All‑Pass filters. The All‑Pass alters phase (the element that with an LFO makes phaser sounds) and here functions like a fixed wah; together they yield phasey, cocked‑wah style textures and a distinctive distortion accent.
Controls: Level, Treble, Distortion, Filter A (Band‑Pass), Bass, Filter B (All‑Pass/Phase), Filth and Bypass footswitches.
As of the article, the price was £209 (circa $259). The circuit is believed to be John Snyder–designed; first batch sold out and more were hoped for on the God City Instruments webstore.
This is the first time I’m covering a God City Instruments pedal - I’ve come close before as there are other intriguing pedals on its roster - but this is surely its most intriguing one. Supposedly this Brutalist has been 10 years in the making - and there have been previous iterations of this family of effects - including the most recent BJR Compact.
The Brutalist as it says in the title - is beautifully textured throaty distortion with 2-Band Baxandall EQ on the main Bypass footswitch - alongside Level and Distortion Controls.
It then also has Band-Pass and All-Pass Filters - which you engage via the Filth Footswitch. The Band-Pass is a well worn element, while All-Pass is rarely used on these kinds of pedals. It essentially impact the phase of the pedals output and is the element that in conjunction with an LFO generates that Phaser sound we’re so familiar with. While here this is sort of more of a texturising element and operates more like a fixed wah - where you park the Phase in a particular spot.
The combination of Band-Pass and All-Pass can the give you sort of phasey cocked-wah style sounds and textures around that ballpark. In a sense a very unusual solo boost of sorts - but really more of a distortion Accent I guess!
Controls - Level, Treble, Distortion, Filter A (Band-Pass), Bass, Filter B (All-Pass / Phase), Filth Footswitch (Filter), Bypass Footswitch.
I really love the core voicing and texture on this - and the Filters / Filth element is surely just a matter of learning curve - figuring out how best to deploy that. While the Brutalist already sounds fantastic and is worth the price of admission for just its core voicings!
It’s priced for me at £209 - which equates to circa $259. I believe this is another John Snyder designed circuit - so its credentials are excellent. I normally say available now on the God City Instruments Webstore - while that first batch was sold out quite a bit before I got to it - hopefully there will be more soon.
It’s another one that I would definitely like to add to the reference collection!
Demos
