Pete Cornish NG-2

The Pete Cornish NG-2 is a fuzz pedal, custom built to order in the UK by Pete Cornish. Where most fuzz boxes aim at a musical clipping character, the NG-2 is described by its maker as "specifically designed to simulate 'Imminent Amp Death'", and Pete Cornish frames it against the competition plainly: "In the range of generally available fuzz boxes covering a scale from 1 through 10, this one goes to 15!"¹

The circuit works in three separate stages. The first is a linear DRIVE stage with up to +27dB of gain, feeding a stabilized germanium preamp as the second stage. The third stage simulates the sound of a tube amp failing, and the SUSTAIN control sets how hard you drive into it, from what the maker calls "Tired Output Tubes" at one extreme to "Melted Tubes and Shorted Output Transformer" at the other¹. Aion FX's circuit trace describes the topology as an op-amp boost stage followed by a germanium clipping stage².

Controls and what they do

The NG-2 keeps its control set small. Three knobs on the front panel, plus an internal trimmer that is set during testing rather than adjusted by the player³²⁴.

On the original NG-2 the bias control was an internal trimmer, not a user knob⁴. That changed on the NG-3, where the bias control moved to the front panel as a potentiometer with a 68k limiting resistor, compared with the NG-2's trimmer wired directly to ground on the counterclockwise side².

Power and connections

• Recommended supplies: Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus, or the BOSS PSA series for a single unit¹
• AC adapters must not be used¹
• Daisy chaining with the BOSS PSA may cause hum¹

Input and bypass are handled by Pete Cornish's high impedance RFI rejecting input and bypass buffer¹. Aion FX notes that these buffers are a signature of his designs, and that a widely circulated schematic lacking them could not have come from a standard-issue single pedal².

Where it came from and who played it

The NG-2 was first added to Pete Cornish's website product list in early 2004, replacing the N.G. Fuzz⁵. Its best-known user is John Mayer, who used it on his version of Crossroads in 2009⁵; Aion FX's project pages also credit Mayer with the pedal on that recording⁶.

Each unit is hand built, wired and tested by Pete, Lynda and Mingus Cornish¹. The pedal is housed in a rugged die-cast box with "Chicken-Head" pointer knobs, and uses a heavy duty custom made all-metal footswitch with a Hi-Brite LED¹.

How it differs from the NG-3

Aion FX traced both circuits and found the differences are small but real. The resistor that sets the gain ratio of the op-amp stage, R12, is 3k9 in the NG-2 and 3k3 in the NG-3, which means the NG-3 is capable of slightly more maximum gain into the germanium stage². The bias control is a trimmer in the NG-2 and a front-panel potentiometer in the NG-3². In practical terms, the NG-3 gives the player a bias knob to adjust germanium character by hand, while the NG-2 leaves that set at the factory.

Price, ordering and warranty

The NG-2 is a custom built unit ordered directly from the maker: to place an order you email Pete Cornish advising your delivery location¹. On the maker's Gray Series price list dated 31 March 2026, the NG-2 is listed at 519.25 GBP for international customers and 623.10 GBP including VAT for UK customers; the UK ex VAT figure is also given as 519.25 GBP⁷.

The warranty runs two years from the date of purchase, with repairs of original manufacturing faults carried out at the maker's address. It is voided if the guarantee labels are damaged or removed, it is not transferable, and it excludes the customer's own connected equipment, normal wear, misuse, unauthorized modifications, accidental damage and AC adapter damage¹.

In the fuzz landscape

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