My Thermion PowerDrive and PowerMuff have landed, both excellent value versatile gain pedals with plenty of range

Controls - Volume (typically start at noon), Gain (significant range), Tone (Active Highs 400Hz+ control), Mode / Voicing : MODERN (More Gain + Drive - with tighter, more aggressive character in line with a modern British Amp) / CLASSIC (softer more balanced overdrive with mids present, and for adding punch and saturation - sort of pushing an amp up to the edge of breakup).

So essentially - this pedal is inspired by the Klon, BluesBreaker, Guv'nor and Riot. I didn't feel it was quite cutting or fully searing enough for a Riot necessarily, but it certainly delivers the other 3 varieties with ease!

There are my 3 preferred Settings :

• Breaker : Volume @ 2 o'c, Gain @ 9 o'c, Tone @ Max, Mode : Classic
• Klone : Volume @ 2 o'c, Gain @ Noon, Tone @ 3 o'c, Mode : Classic
• Plexi : Volume @ 2 o'c, Gain @ 3 o'c, Tone @ 3 o'c, Mode : Modern

Generally a pretty great sounding versatile overdrive, it's not as magical in the mids and harmonics as some of my other overlapping overdrives - but generally really decent - and very easy to dial in. I have other preferred varieties for each of those different core voicings.

While overall there are few better all-rounder overdrives at this price point. I was pretty satisfied with this one all-in-all, while within my own collection it's not quite up with the best for each of those genres.

If you're looking for a single overdrive pedal with a lot of range coverage - then the PowerDrive is a very decent proposition!

Controls - Volume (start at noon), Gain (vast range), Tone (largely typical Big Muff Tone-stack), Mode / Voicing : MODERN (added Starve & Cut Behaviour (adjust with trimmers) for more clipped, gate and dynamic / reactive sound) / CLASSIC (a wide, dense distortion with a classic wall of sound feel, but with more mids and a articulation, and a tighter sound).
 
Internal Trimmers - Starve (Modern Choke control), Cut (Modern Sustain Cut), Bass (amount of low end in signal for both modes).

You can think of the Modern Mode as something of an alternative Preset to Classic - which you set via 2 of the internal controls - Starve and Cut (Sustain), while the 3rd Bass trimmer applies to both Classic and Modern Modes.

When I first tried the pedal - I felt it sounded a little muddy, so I dialled back the Bass a little, and spun the Starve & Cut fully CCW - where I mostly enjoyed the improved output, but still didn't feel it was quite right.

I next cranked all those trimmers up to Max - which delivered a thunderous output profile, while - apart from the increased sag on the pick-attack and a tiny bit more sear, there really wasn't that much difference in the 2 profiles. And so I left the Bass up, but dialled the others back to give me more variation between Modern and Classic. I usually equate Classic with Scooped, and Modern with Mids Boost - but it's really just adjusting the Starve & Cut here - with perhaps just a soupçon more gain and punch - but still very similar in profile at the core.

Generally you need to ideally set the first 2 internal trimmers so you get a substantially different output sound for Modern. Where at one stage I was getting a little more Bass for Classic, and a little less / with more Push on the Modern. While a lot of the time it can be quite subtle, and there's little to assist you on dialling those trimmers in - I could have done with more documented direction! Generally I found that tweaking process more than a little awkward, and spending way too much time on my knees! - continuously unplugging the pedal, adjusting the trimmers, and trying it all over again and again. It's just a source of huge frustration for me. All those controls should ideally be surfaced - or at least accessible Vemuram-style - without the need to continuously need to take the back panel off the pedal. It just leads to a lot of frustration.

I was actually hoping that I would not need to adjust the trimmers at all, but the original settings didn't really do it for me - particularly against the other Big Muffs I had on the board at the time. I believe I have around 130+ Big Muffs in the reference collection now - and typically I favour those with 4th Mids controls of some variety - either toggle-switch or fully variable knob. The V7 from Overkill Effects was already on the board, and alas the PowerMuff can't really compete with that - the V7 is a mix of Civil War and Green Russian - and delivers a more powerful and versatile tone via the ability to switch off either or both the Diode pairs, and has a fully variable Mids control that goes from fully scooped to massively boosted. That one is at a slightly higher price point - but with significantly more range, verve and vibrancy.

The PowerMuff is still very decent, but its enjoyment is marred a little by the need to keep taking off the back of the pedal to adjust the Modern settings!

I obviously still have the Dazatronyx Big Fuzz Console on the board, and that and the Overkill V7 are most definitely top tier - which doesn't really help the PowerMuff - it can't compete in that company alas.

I did manage to get some pretty great tones out of it - mostly with all the dials at either 3 o'c or fully maxed out. For internal controls you're probably best starting with each of those trimmers in the middle - that gives you a decent differential on the Modern Mode. You can then easily tweak the Bass trimmer later. Tweaking all 3 in tandem is trickier than I would have liked it to be!

I personally would have preferred to have had the internal trimmers as additional Gain and Mids controls - that would probably have suited me better. The Starve and Cut are quite distinct for sure, but they don't necessarily bring out the best in the Big Muff format for me, at least not for my preferences and sensibilities, I guess it's in part knowing what you like. While the PowerMuff was up against some incredibly stiff competition that was on the board at the same time.

The PowerMuff is still a very worthy pedal at that price-point, and for sure worth checking out if you're looking for something slightly different in the Big Muff department! And you can indeed dial in some excellent big muff sounds. Possibly I spent too much time on trying to get a suitably distinct and different voicing out of the Modern Mode!