The Guitar Tone Company Bloody Finger is a true boutique distortion pedal, handmade one at a time by a single person1. The maker bills it as a distortion, booster and sustainer in one box, built on an analog circuit and housed in a mirrored plexiglass enclosure that Paul Riario noted in his Guitar World review2. Pedal of the Day credited its creation to David Harrington and described it as a plexiglass-covered aluminum pedal made by hand, one at a time, with attention to detail inside and out3.
With only two knobs, the pedal keeps its sound shaping simple: Volume sets output and interacts with gain, while Tone sweeps a wide range of coloration, from fuzzy, cocked-wah style rumble to cutting, compressed midrange. Guitar World gave it a street price of $275 in October 20172.
What it is and where it came from
Guitar Tone Company positions the Bloody Finger as an original circuit rather than a copy of an existing design. The maker's product page states plainly13:
"It is not a clone, but a totally original design that sounds like no other."1
Pedal of the Day echoed that in its 2017 review, calling it "a true one-of-a-kind effects pedal" that was "really unlike anything else we've heard"3. The pedal is built by hand rather than on a production line, which RockBoard's PedalPedia describes as one person making each unit individually1. Riario observed that the enclosure is similar in size to ProCo's Rat distortion stompbox, so it fits a standard pedalboard footprint2. The pedal has also drawn a glowing endorsement from Adrian Belew of King Crimson and Talking Heads, according to Pedal of the Day3.
The controls: Volume and Tone
The Bloody Finger's entire control surface is two knobs plus an on/off switch and an LED2. Both knobs do more than their names suggest.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Volume | Boosts output, and also increases gain and brilliance as it comes up2 |
| Tone | A musical filter: counterclockwise it gives a saturated cocked-wah sound with fuzzy bottom-end rumble; past noon it sweeps in cutting midrange and compression2 |
Riario found the Volume control's dual behavior especially useful, noting that turning it up "not only boosts output but also increases gain and brilliance," which "works amazingly well for adding even more sustain and definition to an overdriven amp"2. Pedal of the Day took a similar view of the two knobs working together, writing that "mixing and matching variations of the Tone knob with the sheer output power of the Volume knob yields a multitude of useful sounds"3.
The Tone control's range is unusually wide for a single knob. Pedal of the Day mapped its extremes to two very different players, with the counterclockwise end giving a Billy Gibbons kind of sound and the clockwise end a Brian May sound, with a huge range of subtle tonal coloration in between3.
What it sounds like
RockBoard's PedalPedia describes the pedal's character in confident terms: "The Bloody Fingers harmonically rich crunch is unsurpassed and its note definition and sustain unmatched"1. Pedal of the Day heard it as "containing all the power, fuzz, distortion and dirt you could want," maintaining "a creamy, harmonic crunch, complete with insane sustain and gorgeous feedback"3.
Riario got more specific in Guitar World, tying the sound to the Tone control's position: past noon, the distorted crunch "sound[s] like a hot-rodded Seventies Marshall Super Lead at full throttle"2. Run into an amp that is already overdriven, he found the pedal's volume boost added sustain and definition rather than just more dirt2.
Power and practical notes
The pedal runs on a 9V DC supply with a center-negative plug, the same standard as most modern pedals, and it also takes a 9-volt battery12. Its true bypass switching means the signal path stays out of the circuit when the pedal is off2.
The $275 street price is from Guitar World's October 2017 review2. The pedal is handmade one at a time by one person1, so availability may not match mass-produced pedals.
Videos
Pedal of the Day
Bill Altman
Bill Altman
Questions
Is the Bloody Finger true bypass?
Yes. Paul Riario's Guitar World review of the pedal, published in October 2017, states that it is true bypass, so with the effect switched off the signal passes through without active buffering.
Does the Bloody Finger run on a battery?
Yes. The pedal is powered by a 9-volt battery or a 9V adapter, and the maker specifies 9V DC with a center-negative plug. Either power option works, so it can go on a pedalboard or run standalone.
Is the Bloody Finger a clone of another pedal?
No. Guitar Tone Company describes it as not a clone but a totally original design that sounds like no other, and Pedal of the Day called it a true one-of-a-kind effects pedal, unlike anything else they had heard.
What does the Bloody Finger sound like in front of an overdriven amp?
In Guitar World's review, Paul Riario found that running the pedal's volume control into an overdriven amp works amazingly well for adding even more sustain and definition, with the maker describing its harmonically rich crunch and note definition as unsurpassed.
Sources (3)
- Bloody Finger by Guitar Tone Company, RockBoard PedalPedia, 2026
- Review: Guitar Tone Company Bloody Finger Distortion Pedal, Guitar World, 2017-10-06
- Guitar Tone Company Bloody Finger Distortion, Pedal of the Day, 2017-11-22