Description
Paul Gagon designed the Blacksmith’s concept decades before it hit pedalboards, back when he was building pickups and amps for Jackson Guitars and fielding requests from players like Jeff Beck and Steve Vai who wanted their Marshalls to sound like they went past eleven. Rather than a simple boost, he built a distortion-generation circuit feeding a passive 3-band EQ modeled on the tone stack from a ’69 Plexi. That EQ is the heart of the pedal’s flexibility: dial it to tame a bright-sounding Marshall or wake up a dark one, or scoop the mids and push the lows and highs for a shred-ready voice.
Place the Blacksmith ahead of a clean or lightly-driven tube amp and let the LED-based gain circuit do the work of pushing your amp harder without losing note definition. It’s engineered specifically to complement Marshall-style amps but works just as well in front of Mesa and Fender heads, giving you a distortion character that feels like an extension of the amp rather than a pedal stamped on top of it.
Build quality follows the same philosophy as the tone: 1% metal-film resistors and high-voltage poly caps sit on a mil-spec circuit board with wide signal traces, all wired true hardwire bypass so your tone stays untouched when the pedal’s off. A 1 megohm input impedance keeps your pickups loaded properly, while blue LED status and an easy-access battery compartment round out the practical side.
- Gain, volume, and passive 3-band PLEX-EQ controls
- LED-based gain circuit for smooth, high-output distortion
- 1MEG Ohm input impedance for proper pickup loading
- 1K Ohm output impedance when engaged
- 1% metal-film resistors for consistency
- High-voltage poly caps for improved tone
- Military-spec circuit board for reliability
- Blue status LED, low power draw
- Easy access battery compartment
- True hardwire bypass
- 5-year warranty
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