Fortin FOURTEEN

The Fortin FOURTEEN is a dual-channel overdrive and boost pedal from Fortin Amps, designed by Mike Fortin. It puts three of his best-known circuits, the HexDrive and his takes on the TS808/OD808 and TS9/OD9, into one box, with two identical, fully independent channels that each offer three modes: HD, F9 and F808¹. Fortin describes it as a "3 in one pedal," and the circuits are analog rather than modeled¹.

The FOURTEEN is a dual channel overdrive and boost pedal from Fortin Amps, carrying a list price of $249.99 USD¹. It is aimed at players who want tight control over their amp's front end, particularly in high-gain territory: Delicious Audio notes it is "designed to give players a lot of control over the amp's tone and push it into higher gain territory"².

Two channels of Fortin-modded Screamer overdrive

The core idea of the FOURTEEN is simple: two identical channels, each running one of three Fortin circuits at a time. Gearnews describes the design as "two identical channels, each offering three distinct modes"³. Each channel has its own Drive, Tone and Level controls plus a Mode selector, so you can set up, say, a clean boost on one channel and a saturated overdrive on the other, then move between them with the CH 1/2 footswitch².

The two footswitches are:

• CH 1/2: switches between Channel 1 (red) and Channel 2 (green)¹
• On: true bypass, relay-based soft footswitch; the pedal powers up in the same state it was powered off¹

A feature that sets the FOURTEEN apart from most dual overdrives is amp sync. Fortin fits a 1/4" side jack for remote switching synchronized with amplifier channel switching¹. As Gearnews puts it, "remote switching allows you to change the channel of your amp as you activate the pedal"³, so one stomp can bring the pedal in and flip your amp to its other channel.

The controls

Each channel carries the same three knobs²:

HD, F9 and F808 modes

The three modes are three different Fortin circuits, and they climb in output and saturation¹.

HD (HexDrive) transitions from clean boost to overdrive. Fortin notes the DRIVE sweep is key: it does not add dirt until about the 10 to 11 o'clock position, then delivers a sweet midrange push at higher gain settings¹. Guitar Pedal X describes it as "an intriguing evolution of Tube Screamer which features all of Mike Fortin's key Screamer Mods"⁵. Delicious Audio frames it as "a clean boost that can turn into a nice overdrive," with lower gain settings boosting the amp without much dirt and higher settings giving a sweet, focused midrange².

F9 uses an alternative clipping circuit and can provide a fully clean boost at low DRIVE settings, moving into tube-like clipping as DRIVE increases, with enhanced midrange and a more articulate pick attack. Its LEVEL output is twice as much as the HD mode¹. Delicious Audio hears it as "a bigger clean boost to make it naturally distort more," with a punchier midrange as gain rises².

F808 is the hottest of the three. Fortin says it surpasses the other two modes in output level and saturation, functioning as an amp booster or a pure distortion pedal, with two clipping stages, an enhanced upper midrange and preserved low-end girth. Its LEVEL output is three times as much as the HD mode¹. Delicious Audio describes it as designed to sound like a tube amp breaking up, with more compression and smooth blooming sustain².

Power

The FOURTEEN runs on 9V DC, center-pin negative, fully regulated, from an external adapter or power supply only, which is not included¹. There is no battery option, unlike the single-channel HexDrive, which supports a battery¹. Current draw is 115mA at 9V DC¹, notably higher than the HexDrive's 25mA, so plan a dedicated output on a isolated supply rather than a daisy chain shared with low-draw analog pedals.

History and circuit lineage

The FOURTEEN gathers circuits Mike Fortin developed across his TS-modding work: Fortin describes it as "three of Mike's most loved TS mods all put together in to one pedal"¹, combining his well-known Hexdrive with takes on classic OD-9 and OD808 circuits³². Of the HexDrive's roots, Fortin says it "shares similar heritage to the humble TS, it is far apart from the regular little green box"⁶.

The F9 and F808 names come from his Tube Screamer-family modifications, and the FOURTEEN brings them together in one box: Premier Guitar notes that "Mike has integrated his sought-after TS-style modifications, the F9 and F808, into the new FOURTEEN"⁷. The pedal combines the classic TS808, TS9, and more into one compact green colored stompbox³, building on the Hexdrive legacy with two additional, meticulously calibrated modes³.

Gearnews sums up the lineage: the pedal "combines the classic TS808, TS9, and more into one compact green coloured stompbox," building on the Fortin HexDrive legacy with two additional calibrated modes³.

What reviewers said

Published coverage of the FOURTEEN has been largely descriptive and positive in tone. Guitar Pedal X calls it "an intriguing evolution of Tube Screamer" whose HexDrive take "elevates the boost nature of that format"⁵. Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio frames the pedal as packing Fortin's best custom tweaks into a dual-channel format, walking through each mode's behavior from clean boost to full distortion². Gearnews highlights the relay-based soft footswitch and the amp-sync remote switching as practical gigging features³.

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