Poison Noises Knuckle Sandwich Overdrive V3

The Knuckle Sandwich Overdrive V3 is an overdrive pedal from Poison Noises, released on 16 September 2022 as part of the maker's overhauled lineup of effects pedals¹. Pedal of the Day describes it as a versatile drive pedal designed to work as a low mid boost at lower drive levels, which puts it in the territory of pedals that push the mids and low mids rather than the treble-forward character of many classic overdrives¹. As the drive is turned up, the pedal is designed to cover a wide range of overdriven sounds, so it can sit in front of a clean amp as a push or carry a rhythm sound on its own¹.

What it does

At lower drive settings, the pedal is designed to work as a low mid boost, and as the drive comes up it covers a wide range of overdriven sounds¹. That makes it a pedal a player can leave on all the time at low gain, using it to thicken the low mids, and then push into fuller drive sounds when a part calls for it¹.

The V3's main selling point over earlier versions is the pair of toggles that change how the pedal clips the signal¹:

The toggles work together: three clipping modes on one side and three diode selections on the other give the player a matrix of clipping combinations to choose from, which is where the wide range of overdriven sounds comes from¹. The Clobber knob is the pedal's answer to a common complaint about classic "T-Style" overdrives, which tend to thin out the low end; turning it up restores that low end¹. Pedal of the Day summed up the V3's changes this way:

Where it sits in the Poison Noises lineup

The Knuckle Sandwich Overdrive V3 is Poison Noises' take on a flexible drive, and the maker describes the Knuckle Sandwich as a versatile drive pedal¹. The versatility comes from its clipping arrangements: the Left Hook toggle provides three different clipping modes, and the pedal offers three clipping modes and three diode selections via its toggles¹. Poison Noises says that with these added clipping and diode configurations, the Knuckle Sandwich Overdrive V3 is more versatile than ever¹.

The Crook is the maker's other overdrive, and the two sit in different corners of the drive category. The Crook's V3 was described by Pedal of the Day as a streamlined drive pedal with easy to use controls, no MIDI and no presets, whose sounds "easily solidify it in the powerhouse pedals category"². Where the Crook keeps things simple, the Knuckle Sandwich leans the other way, using its two toggles to put a range of clipping and diode voices in one box¹². A player choosing between them is choosing between a straightforward drive and a multi-voice one, both from the same maker's overhauled V3 generation¹².

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