Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
King Gizzard's Stu Mackenzie collaborates with JAM Pedals to recreate his signature Tiny Amp sound - courtesy of the Tiny Amp Destroyer Triple-Gain-Stacking Pedal
Key Points
Stu Mackenzie of King Gizzard used cheap $20–$30, roughly 10W solid-state practice amps, whose low headroom created early, dirty distortion featured on recent albums. He combined the Tiny Amp with one or two JAM Pedals Boomster Boosts.
The limited-edition JAM Pedals Tiny Amp Destroyer recreates this in one large enclosure, with Gain 1, Gain 2 and a Treble Booster across three footswitches, plus Magic, active bass and treble, notch, volume and level controls.
Pricing was listed at €369 / £319. It was available from JAM Pedals and expected at international dealers, though the run size and order window were unclear.
A few years back Stu picked up a few cheap tiny solid state practice amps from his local Cash Converters pawnshop ($20-$30 each!). This included the Max Music Guitar Amp model featured in the below video/s - which is seemingly an OEM amp which carries various labels - solid state, and around 10W in output. The net effect of such small amps being almost no headroom - which means they crunch up and distort very easily and early on - and generate a pretty grand and dirty output - which belies their tiny origins.
That Tiny Amp has been featured on the last 3 or 4 King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard albums, and this limited edition JAM Pedals collaboration seeks to emulate and expand on that blown up tiny amp sound - hence the Tiny Amp Destroyer Pedal!
Stu would typically use one or two JAM Pedals Boomster Boosts in combination with his Tiny Amp, and so JAM and Stu - have recreated and evolved that within a single triple footswitch multi-stacking gain pedal.
The Tiny Amp Destroyer has 3 channels essentially - the dirtier / higher-gain : Gain 1 Channel, and the somewhat cleaner and lower-gain : Gain 2 Channel. The middle footswitch then allows you to engage a further Treble Booster - so you can dynamically and on-the-fly ramp up through several gears of gain - by using those footswitches in various combinations.
Controls - Gain 2 Level, Volume, Magic (Voicing) : Tiny Amp / Stock, Gain 1 Level, Active Bass, Active Treble, Notch (Scoop), Treble Booster Master Volume, Lower Gain1 Footswitch, Treble Booster Footswitch, Higher Gain 2 Footswitch.
This is a really fun project, with a suitably arresting and vibrant King Gizzard style artwork.
Obviously the size of this pedal is somewhat governed by its 3 footswitches - so this is a large enclosure. I don’t typically go for those, and I’m already fully booked up for this month as far as budgets go! But I could definitely see myself owning one at some stage - if the fates allow!
This is supposedly a limited run release - while I don’t see any number limit or specific order window. So I’m not 100% clear on how many will be available and for how long!
Pricing seems to be about right at - €369 / £319 - I’m sorely tempted here, but it can’t be this month!
Available direct from JAM Pedals, and imminently at leading International Dealers presumably!
Launch Videos
