The Thunderclap V3 is a distortion pedal from Bardic Audio Devices, and it was developed with bass players in mind first and foremost1. Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson placed it in a roundup of compact Rat-style distortion pedals and summed it up as "A proper potent extended range Rat"1, meaning it takes the classic Rat circuit's character and pushes it into a wider tonal range, with the controls to shape it.
Bardic Audio Devices has ceased trading, as of November 2025. The Thunderclap V3 and the company's other pedals are now generally found only on the second-hand market.
What it does
The Thunderclap V3 is a high-gain dirt box built around a Rat-style circuit stretched to cover more ground, and its control layout reflects that. Where a basic Rat gives you three knobs, this one adds a full EQ section and a mode switch, which is what makes it workable as a bass pedal: you can dial the low end back in rather than losing it under the gain1.
The full control set, as listed in the 2024 Guitar Pedal X roundup1:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Gain | Sets the amount of distortion |
| Tone | Shapes the overall character |
| Treble | High-frequency cut or boost |
| Bass | Low-frequency cut or boost |
| Preamp | Sets the level hitting the dirt circuit |
| Dirt | Level of the distorted signal |
| Low-Mid | +15dB / Flat / -15dB |
| High-Mid | +15dB / Fat / -15dB |
| Mode | Distortion / Overdrive |
| Dirt footswitch | Engages the dirt channel |
| Bypass footswitch | Bypasses the pedal |
| XLR out | Balanced output for a desk or interface |
Two things stand out for a player comparing it against a plain Rat clone. The first is the Mode switch, which lets you run the pedal as a distortion or as an overdrive, so it can cover both heavy rhythm work and lighter push duties from one box1. The second is the XLR Out port1, which matters most for bassists and anyone recording or going direct to a mixing desk: you get a balanced feed alongside the normal instrument output.
The three-position Low-Mid and High-Mid switches, each offering +15dB, Flat and -15dB (with "Fat" as the boost label on the High-Mid position), give you a coarse but useful midrange shaping tool, which is where a lot of bass pedals live or die under distortion1.
Where it sits in the Bardic Audio Devices range
Bardic Audio Devices built a small lineup of dirt pedals around the Thunderclap. The Beast was an op-amp distortion/fuzz with a clean boost channel, a blendable octave up and a reversible section order. The Berzerker Fuzz took the Russian Big Muff as its starting point, with Clean level boost, Shift, Attack and Clip controls. The Rival, launched in 2023, was a Mark V inspired amp-in-a-box distortion with a 5-band graphic EQ, and the HM Demon rounded out the high-gain end of the range. The Thunderclap V3 is the bass-focused, EQ-heavy member of that family, and the one with the direct output.
What reviewers said
Stefan Karlsson, writing in Guitar Pedal X's 2024 roundup of compact Rat-style distortion pedals, included the Thunderclap V3 at its $160 list price and described it as1:
"A proper potent extended range Rat"
That verdict is the main published assessment of the pedal on record: it reads the Thunderclap V3 as a Rat circuit with more range and more control, rather than a departure from that sound, which fits with what the control layout suggests on paper1.
Videos
Shaun Sova
Sources (1)
- Guitar Pedal X, guitarpedalx.com, 2024-08-30
