Kingsley Hatchet

The Kingsley Hatchet is a custom tube-based phase inverter pedal, listed under the phaser family of effects. Where most pedals in the phaser category sweep a modulated phase shift across your signal, the Hatchet is built around a different job: it replicates the phase-splitting section of a push-pull tube amplifier. That lets a preamp signal, such as one from a preamp pedal, drive a power amp section with real tube-derived power amp overdrive and harmonic content.¹

What it does

In a push-pull tube amplifier, the phase inverter splits the preamp's signal into two halves that the power tubes amplify in opposite phase. The Hatchet reproduces that stage in a pedal, so a player running a preamp pedal into a power amp, or into the return of an amp's effects loop, can get the phase-splitting behavior of a tube amp rather than relying on the power amp's own inverter stage. RockBoard's PedalPedia describes the result as tube-derived power amp overdrive and harmonic content.¹

Kingsley says the Hatchet works especially well when paired with Kingsley preamp pedals, where the combination is used to achieve classic Plexi-style distortion and dynamic tube character. In that setup the preamp pedal supplies the gain stages and the Hatchet supplies the phase-splitting stage that feeds the power amp.¹

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