The Guyatone Hell Monster is a distortion pedal from Guyatone, a Japanese brand. It was released sometime in the 1990s as part of Guyatone's Flip Series, and its most distinctive feature is a 12AX7 tube inside the pedal, the same tube type long used in guitar amplifier preamp stages1.
What it does
The Hell Monster is a distortion pedal: it pushes the guitar's signal into the saturated, sustain-heavy territory players use for rock and heavier styles. What sets it apart from most distortion pedals of its era is the 12AX7 tube built into the circuit. A 12AX7 is the dual-triode tube found in the preamp section of many guitar amplifiers, so a pedal carrying one approaches distortion by actually heating and overdriving a tube rather than only simulating that behavior with transistors or op-amps1.
JHS Pedals, in a piece on the greatest pedal names ever, picked it as a standout, saying: "I think it would be the Guyatone Hell Monster distortion."1
Where it came from
The Hell Monster belongs to Guyatone's Flip Series, a line of pedals from the Japanese maker, and the series was released sometime in the 1990s1. For comparison with other Guyatone distortion designs, see the Guyatone HD-2 Harmonic Distortion, or browse other overdrive and fuzz approaches to dirt on the site.
Videos
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Sources (1)
- GREATEST PEDAL NAMES EVER, JHS Pedals
