Revv Northern Mauler

The Revv Northern Mauler is a Revv distortion pedal with two complete circuits in one box: an Amp circuit built on a custom-voiced Revv G3 topology, and a Chainsaw circuit that is Revv's own homage to the Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal, the pedal behind the "Swedish chainsaw" sound of death metal¹². A Blend knob mixes between the two, from 100% Amp circuit to 100% Chainsaw circuit, with an equal mix of both at noon³.

It is a Glenn Fricker signature pedal, made in Canada, and Revv positions it as a way to get massive, multi-layered distortion without the phase cancellation and low-end loss that comes from stacking separate drive pedals¹².

Two circuits in one

The Chainsaw side is Revv's take on the HM-2 sound. Revv is explicit that it is not a clone: "We didn't base the Chainsaw circuit on any specific example of an HM-2 or the other pedals it's inspired, it's our own" homage¹. The original HM-2, with all its knobs maxed, produces the signature "chainsaw" tone that defines the Swedish death metal guitar sound⁵, a sound built from soft clipping diodes, hard clipping and crossover distortion⁶. Guitar Player has called it a legendary "chainsaw" tone⁷, and TONEHOME describes the HM-2 as the cornerstone of the Swedish death-metal "buzzsaw" guitar sound⁸.

The Amp side is a custom-voiced Revv G3 topology, the same family as Revv's G3 high-gain pedal, tuned to deliver what Revv calls "the surgical, palm-muted tightness and percussive foundation" of a modern high-gain amp². Revv says the voicing sits between two of its best-known amp channels: "the Amp circuit isn't exactly the Red channel or Purple channel, it's somewhere in the middle"¹. The result, in Revv's words, is "a thick but still punchy high gain amp sound that's unique to the Northern Mauler"¹.

Because both circuits live in one pedal and are blended rather than stacked, Revv says the Northern Mauler delivers "massive, multi-layered distortion without the catastrophic phase cancellation and loss of low-end tracking typically associated with stacking drives"².

The pedal works three ways, depending on where the Blend knob sits³:

• HM-2 style pedal: Blend fully to the Chainsaw side for the Swedish chainsaw sound on its own.
• Amp-in-a-box pedal: Blend fully to the Amp side for the Revv high-gain voice.
• High-gain amp boost: Blend 100% to the left uses the Chainsaw circuit to push the front of an already high-gain amp³.

The controls

The control set splits between the two circuits. The Amp circuit gets a three-band EQ, while the Chainsaw circuit has its own shaping controls for the frequencies that define the Swedish death metal sound¹².

The Bite and Growl controls are where the Chainsaw circuit gets surgical. Revv describes Bite as targeting the 1kHz honk and treble fizz that make the HM-2 sound what it is, while Growl handles the lower-midrange thickness so that seven- and eight-string players can add grit without mud².

Power and connections

The Northern Mauler is a straightforward pedal to power and fit on a board. It uses top-mounted 1/4" input and output jacks, which keeps the sides clear for tight pedalboard layouts¹².

History: Glenn Fricker's signature pedal

The Northern Mauler is a signature pedal for Glenn Fricker, designed in collaboration with Revv¹⁹. RockBoard's PedalPedia entry describes the collaboration: "Glenn Fricker is one of Revv's earliest supporters & a lifelong opponent of stale, sterile guitar tone. Together, we set" out to build the pedal⁹. It is Revv's second signature pedal, following the Tilt Overdrive made for Shawn Tubbs⁴.

It was Revv's second signature pedal, following the Tilt Overdrive made for Shawn Tubbs⁴. The concept pairs Revv's own high-gain pedigree, established through its G3 and G4 pedals, with the Swedish chainsaw sound Fricker wanted, letting a player mix the two rather than choose between them¹⁹.

At launch, gearnews reported a price of $250.00 at Thomann, with an MSRP of EUR 279⁴.

What reviewers said

Published coverage of the Northern Mauler itself has been brief. At launch, gearnews' Jef wrote favorably about the choice of maker⁴:

The Amp circuit's foundation, the Revv G3, has a longer review record. Pedal of the Day found the G3 remarkably broad in coverage: "Metal, classic rock, fusion and more are easily achievable here, without much coaxing or time spent"¹⁰. Guitar.com's Michael Watts concluded his review with an "Excellent selection of hard rock and metal tones" verdict¹¹. The G3 line has since evolved into the G3 V2, which Revv lists as true bypass with zero signal loss¹², the same bypass approach the Northern Mauler uses.

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