/MUSEWIRE – Music News/ — Boutique pedal company McGregor Pedals has launched its second pedal: The Crunch Plus overdrive. It follows on the heels of the McGregor’s debut pedal, the Crunch Transparent Overdrive, a single-channel, low-gain overdrive pedal for guitar and bass, released in December 2019.

Designed and built by Garth Heslop, the brand new Crunch Plus pedal starts where the Crunch leaves off, building on the same circuit by adding a third gain stage and a second clipping stage. Beginning with the gain at minimum, the Crunch Plus pedal is similar to the Crunch Transparent Overdrive on 3/4 gain with a bit of an edge.

It never loses that edge as you bring up the gain. The Crunch Plus takes it to the next level while still maintaining the transparency you would expect from a McGregor Pedals overdrive pedal and is suitable for both guitar and bass.

See the Crunch Plus demo video here:

The Crunch Plus has a straightforward control set:

• Gain: This controls the amount of gain driving the pedal’s hard clipping. Minimum setting is similar to the Crunch Transparent Overdrive on 3/4 gain with a bit of an edge. The Crunch Plus pedal never loses that edge, it builds on it as you bring up the gain.
• Tone: A mid-range control that works very much like the tone control on most guitars.
• Vol: This Attenuates the amplified and clipped signal after it leaves the tone filter.
• Trimpot on side of pedal (unmarked) controls LED Brightness: As someone who plays daytime outdoor shows, Garth Heslop wanted a super bright LED; however, this made it horrible to use in any other situation. The added trimpot allows you to vary the LED Brightness from dark stage to bright sun. Please make the adjustment gently using a jeweler’s screwdriver.

Key Crunch Plus features:

• Hand soldered in Vancouver, Canada
• High grade components picked for their superior sound and response
• True bypass with soft-click switch
• Standard 9-volt DC center-negative power operation (no battery compartment)
• Top-mounted audio jacks and power input to help with packed pedal boards

The Crunch Drive is priced at $210 and can be purchased directly from the McGregor Pedals online store via https://www.mcgregorpedals.com/.