Master Effects Martyr

The Master Effects Martyr is a high gain preamp pedal that puts the preamp of the Marshall Valvestate 8100, a solid-state amp from the 1990s, on a pedalboard. Master Effects describes it as a preamp simulator based on that amp, and the Valvestate 8100 is an amp Delicious Audio credits with defining the sound of death metal¹². For a player who wants that era of direct, high-gain Marshall-style distortion without carrying a head, the Martyr recreates the preamp stage in an analog pedal³.

The current version runs all high gain OD2 all the time, in a smaller 125B enclosure with top-mounted jacks, and Master Effects says you still get that classic Valvestate tone¹.

A Marshall Valvestate 8100 preamp in a pedal

The Valvestate 8100 was a hybrid guitar amp Marshall built in the 1990s, and its preamp section is the circuit the Martyr recreates. Master Effects puts it plainly: the pedal "is based on the preamp found in the legendary Marshall Valvestate 8100 amplifier from the 1990s"¹. Delicious Audio frames the same idea from the player's side, calling the Martyr "a pedal voiced after the sound of the Marshall Valvestate 8100 from the '90s, a guitar amp that defined the sound of death metal"².

That lineage matters for what the pedal is. It is not a general-purpose distortion pedal with a Marshall flavor; it is a preamp pedal, meant to reproduce a specific amp's gain stage, EQ curve and feel. RockBoard's PedalPedia entry describes it as capturing "the essence of the classic Marshall Valvestate 8100 amplifier" and putting it on your pedal board³. Premier Guitar's review found the payoff in the feel as much as the tone:

The controls

The Martyr carries six knobs: Volume, Contour, Gain, Treble, Middle and Bass¹. The three-band EQ is standard, but the Contour knob is the one that sets the pedal apart. Delicious Audio describes it as "an extra Countour knob that acts as a 'mid focus' control," part of a 3-way EQ section with enough range to adapt to most amps or sculpt a specific tone².

For a death metal or high-gain player, the Contour control is the practical tool: scooping or focusing the mids is central to that style, and having it on a dedicated knob means you can reshape the voicing without rebuilding the whole EQ. Delicious Audio's take is that the EQ section has enough range to adapt to most amps, which matters because a preamp pedal into a clean amp and the same pedal into a driven amp behave very differently².

The rest of the pedal's build is straightforward: top-mounted jacks, a powder-coated enclosure, and a soft-touch relay true bypass footswitch, which Master Effects specifies for improved reliability¹.

Versions: from OD1/OD2 to the V2

The Martyr has gone through a clear line of changes, and a used or older listing may differ from what Master Effects sells today²¹.

• Original version: Had a mini-switch for OD1 and OD2, the two channels of the Valvestate 8100 circuit¹.
• Current version (from November 2021): The toggle is gone. Master Effects announced "The new Martyr is all high gain OD2 all the time!", in a smaller 125B enclosure with top-mounted jacks¹.
• V2 (covered by Delicious Audio, December 2023): The smaller enclosure and top-mounted jacks carried over, along with internal 15V operation and the expanded EQ controls².

The OD1 channel was not just a lower number on the same knob. Premier Guitar's review of the earlier version found "the lower-gain OD1 channel can be dialed back to near-clean for round, low-gain tones that could convincingly stand in for a clean amp"⁴. So the change to OD2-only is a real trade: the current pedal is committed to high gain, and a player who wants that near-clean low-gain option from the same box would need to find an earlier unit.

The V2 naming follows a pattern common across the boutique pedal world, where makers refine a circuit and rerelease it: Delicious Audio's coverage of the Martyr V2 sits alongside its write-ups of other second-generation pedals, and the site describes the V2 simply as "V2 of this circuit"².

Power, warranty and ordering

The Martyr runs on a standard boss-style 9V power supply¹. Delicious Audio notes the V2 circuit operates internally at 15V², meaning the pedal generates the higher voltage internally from the 9V input, which gives the circuit more headroom than the supply voltage alone suggests.

The pedal is ordered direct from Master Effects. The price is $199 plus shipping as listed in October 2026¹, with shipping at $20 within Canada and the US and approximately $60 to the UK, Western Europe, Australia and Japan¹. Orders typically ship within 2 to 4 weeks¹.

What reviewers said

Premier Guitar reviewed the Martyr in June 2023 and its verdict centered on responsiveness: the lightning-fast response is what "will put the Martyr in the sights of metal players and anyone else who seeks a direct, savage pick-to-speaker response"⁴. The review also noted the OD1 channel's near-clean range on the earlier two-channel version⁴.

Delicious Audio's coverage of the V2 emphasized the practical improvements: the smaller enclosure, top-mounted jacks, internal 15V operation, and the 3-way EQ with the Contour mid-focus control, enough to adapt to most amps or sculpt the tone you are looking for².

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