The Perf De Castro Signature Bad 94 Distortion is a fantastic sounding Modified take on the Marshall Shredmaster

This pedal is a natural consequence of my recent Hot Pink feature. I originally found this pedal because of its colour - but then listened to and loved the demos that I heard. Perfecto De Castro is probably the best known guitarist to come out of the Philippines, now based in LA. And his Bad 94 Distortion is yet another for my country list - in being my first Filipino pedal!

Perfecto has adapted this pedal towards his own playing style - and imbued the circuit with far greater range on each dial, in particular decent amounts of volume, gain and sustain.

As I mentioned earlier this sounds fantastic in all the demos, and fortunately I was able to pick up a pristine second hand edition of the Hot Pink Colourway - here in the UK. The current colourway is a cool purple - while I personally much prefer the more striking appeal of the Hot Pink Edition.

Controls - Bass, Contour (Mid Sweep : Hump > Scoop), Treble, Volume, Gain.

I normally prefer my Marshall effects slightly scopped, but with this one - the perfect settings for me are with Bass @ 3 o’c, Contour @ Min, Treble @ Max, Volume @ 3 o’c, and Gain @ Max. I’m all about getting maximum texture and harmonics - and having the Gain on full whack makes a difference. For some pedals that would load up too much compression - while this Bad 94 is exceptionally well calibrated and very well behaved. The output remains tasteful and usable at all levels - you don’t get any sense of stridency  - rather there is quite an elegant edge to this Distoriton.

I have around 70 Marshall style pedals, not many specific Shredmasters, but a few. And this one is probably my favourite of those.

Perfecto De Castro very evidently knows tone - and this is a beautifully executed Marshall Distoriton. Not that High Gain all things considered - but beautifully textured at all times!

The Bad 94 Distortion is available currently from the Perfecto de Castro Webstore - where it goes for $175 and equivalent (note that the current edition is purple). Perfecto is often just referenced by an abbreviated ’Perf’ - and I use both monikers in this article.

I’m really glad I managed to snag one of the earlier Hot Pink ones. Per the Hot Pink visual below - I have the middle diagonal, and bottom-left featured ones - as illustrated by demarcation line / area - albeit a white version of the Lightspeed. And I’m still waiting for my OC201 Preamp and Fat Sugar to land. I may even get the Foxgear Muffin - as I’ve seen that as low as £50. Both those delays are Mono though - and I’m already more than happy with my Flower Pedals Dahlia Stereo Analog Delay.

So good news all-round really. It’s unlikely I would have found my way to this Bad 94 without this Hot Pink exercise. It’s always about what you are exposed to!