Empty Head Effects releases the King Alex II Obliteration Distortion

November 4, 2025 · 2 sources

Empty Head Effects has released the King Alex II, an analog high-gain distortion pedal built around a modified Electra distortion core with silicon transistors¹. Guitar Pedal X described it on November 4, 2025 as "a killer Obliteration Distortion"².

According to PedalPedia, the circuit pairs the Electra core with a selectable op-amp pre-gain stage placed ahead of the primary circuit to push and overload the transistor drive¹. Clipping is handled by an asymmetrical arrangement including 2N4124 silicon transistors and a yellow LED¹. The pedal has Volume and Gain knobs, toggles for op-amp bypass and a hi/lo pre-gain mode, and three internal dip switches to adjust input capacitance and high-frequency roll-off¹. It uses true bypass switching, runs on 9V DC center negative and draws 9mA¹.

Guitar Pedal X gives the controls as PRAY (op-amp pre-gain stage, up for bypassed and down for on), BOW (volume), BEG (gain structure, up for lo and down for hi), MORE (gain level) and ADORE (engage footswitch), with the three internal switches labeled Input Cap A, Input Cap B and Hi-Cut². The reviewer wrote that above roughly 1:30 to 2 o'clock on either dial the distortion "really chokes out the output and you suffer some volume loss," a behavior he said the maker calls ducking². He also noted that down is on and hi-gain while up is off and lo-gain, which he called "the opposite of ergonomic logic"².

Guitar Pedal X reported the price as 150 euros, equivalent to $173². The reviewer said the enclosure is powder coated with excess powder for a texture like igneous rock, with laser-burned legends, and that each pedal gets individually made 3D-printed knobs². He wrote that the King Alex II began as a pedal the maker built for a friend's birthday and evolved from there².