The Pioneers of Djent - Meshuggah - get their own signature and eponymous 2-Channel Fortin Distortion / Preamp Pedal, based on their signature Blackout Amp

Readers will know that I was / am a huge fan of Fortin’s NATAS High Gain Preamp Pedal - based on their same named killer amp. Both I and Henry Kaiser are keen fans of the tight and searing sounds of that beautifully balanced distortion pedal. That was a fairly pricey proposition at $299, while the new Meshuggah one is even more - at $349 - presumably to cover band royalties.

I got my Natas direct from Fortin at the time - while it will be impractical to do so for the Meshuggah. Pretty much the only dealer in Europe that stocked / stocks the NATAS is Thomann in Germany - so I hope they will get in the Meshuggah model too - and I can grab one at the start of next month! Buying one direct will load on too severe customs and import charges - making that route highly impractical. Thomann really is likely the only option seemingly!

Controls - Active Bass, Active Mids, Active Treble, MVC Master Volume, Gain 2 (Low-end Frequencies Distortion), Gain 1 (Bright / High-end Frequencies Distortion, Gain Structure (Saturation & Compression) : Lo / Hi, Zuul (Noise Gate).

Obviously this comes with a superb 3-Band Active EQ, its own built-in Zuul Noise Gate, 2 Channels, and 2 Gain Structure Modes.

The only thing that really needs further explanation is the two channels, and how the Gain 1 and Gain 2 knobs impact those - it’s not just a case of Gain 1 being Channel 1 and Gain 2 being Channel 2. In fact Gain 1 and 2 both apply to the Red Channel 1, while only Gain 2 impacts Channel 2. Those are a little like typical dual amp inputs - you often see Bright and Normal Channel inputs on an amp, where here on this Messhuggah - Gain 1 is kind of the Bright / more top-end frequencies Distortion Gain control, where Gain 2 tackles the Low-End Frequencies Distortion.

You have Lo and Hi Gain Structure Modes which allow you to ramp up the Saturation and Compression further on both Channels.

As you can see / hear from Ola Englund’s below demo - this Meshuggah Distortion hits hard, is super saturated and tight - for that perfect palm-muted Djent sound. Obviously Ola’s Chug does a similar thing - while this Messhuggah seems to be even more of a monster in some ways.

It sounds superb to me - and really seems to fully capture that Meshuggah sound - where that was initially served by the super expensive and limited Blackout Amp. You may think $349 for a high gain distortion pedal is pricey - and it is, but it’s just a fraction of the near $7k cost of the original Point-to-Point Handwired 50W Blackout Amp - where only 50 of those were produced.

The Blackout Amp is supposedly supposed to be somewhat adjacent to a Jose Arredondo 80’s Modded Plexi - with that extra sear and saturation!

For sure a pricey proposition - but one that I will be investing in - as soon as it turns up on the Thomann Webstore!