Adventure Audio Glacial Zenith II

The Adventure Audio Glacial Zenith II is an analog overdrive pedal from the Rochester, New York builder Adventure Audio, announced in September 2018¹. At its most basic it is three effects in one box: a Drive, a 3-band EQ, and a boost¹. What sets it apart from most dirt pedals is that the order of those three circuits can be rearranged by the player, with the drive kept in the center position².

As Premier Guitar put it in the announcement: "What really takes it to the peak is the ability to put them in effectively whatever order you want"¹. Adventure Audio pitched it as a new approach to overdrive pedal stacking and gain staging, letting one box cover ground that would normally take several pedals cabled in a fixed order¹.

What it does: overdrive, EQ and boost in a routable order

Gearnews described the pedal as combining "three classic analogue gain effects into one icy-looking package"³. The three sections are a Drive circuit, a three-band EQ, and a Boost, each with its own controls, and Boost and Drive each have their own footswitch so they can be switched independently²³.

The routing is the headline feature. Two mini toggles change the signal order¹²³:

• EQ Post Drive toggle: left position puts the EQ before the Drive, right position puts it after².
• Pre Drive toggle: puts the Boost before or after all the other circuits²⁵.

In the EQ → Drive order, you shape your guitar's tone before it gets dirty, which Pedal of the Day found gives more control over the actual texture of the dirt sound⁵. In the Drive → EQ order, the EQ directly shapes the sound coming out of the distortion stage, the classic order on most dirt pedals⁵. The Pre Drive toggle works similarly for the boost: placed after everything (right position) it increases the output volume, while placing it before the drive slams the Drive harder and increases distortion²⁵.

A third switch, the Shape toggle, offers two clipping modes: the left position gives a more clipped sound, and the right gives less clipping and a more crystalline sound²⁴.

The controls

The knob set is straightforward: Volume, Drive and Boost, plus the three EQ bands⁵³. The Volume knob controls the overall output⁵.

Adventure Audio also published four suggested presets with glacial names: "Global Warming", "Mini Fridge", "Snowed in" and "Hypothermia"⁶. "Global Warming" is the scorcher: all three switches flicked left, Boost and Volume maxed, for scorching overdrive tones³.

Power and the Soft Switch option

The Glacial Zenith II runs only from a 9V center-negative power supply, with no battery operation³. Gearnews noted the pedal "should do its bit for the planet by avoiding batteries"³.

At launch it could also be ordered with a Soft Switch option, presumed to reduce clunking and popping when engaging the effect³. Pre-orders were listed at $189, or $219 with the Soft Switch⁶; Gearnews gave the recommended retail price as USD 189, or USD 229 with Soft Switch³. By 2021 Premier Guitar listed the street price at $189⁴.

What changed from the original Glacial Zenith

The Glacial Zenith II is a follow-up to the original Glacial Zenith, pairing the same trio of drive, EQ and boost capabilities⁶. The addition that defines version II is the routable circuit order: the EQ placement toggle, the boost placement toggle and the two-mode Shape clipping switch².

What reviewers said

Pedal of the Day's review leaned into the pedal's namesake:

Pedal of the Day, 2019⁵

Premier Guitar's later quick-hit review was positive on range, finding a "fantastic array of tones for guitar, baritone, or bass, from warm and gushy to sparkling to bristling, singing high gain"⁴. The reviewer also noted using the shape toggle set to the right for less clipping and a more crystalline sound⁴. Delicious Audio summed up the two Shape positions as a choice between a "focused, tactical affront or reckless, unruly barrage"².

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