The Steel Panther Pussy Melter is a distortion pedal announced in August 2018 by Satchel, guitarist with the band Steel Panther. It arrived with the band's trademark humor attached: a bright pink enclosure, control names that read as a joke, and a limited sales window. Behind the bluster, gearnews.com described it as a genuine, playable effect and a real distortion pedal rather than a novelty item12.
The controls
The pedal keeps four conventional distortion-style knobs under deliberately unorthodox names: Dirty, Sizzle, Booty and Load. There is also a two-position switch that toggles between Moist and Gushing, giving players a voicing choice on top of the knobs3.
| Control | Type |
|---|---|
| Dirty | Knob |
| Sizzle | Knob |
| Booty | Knob |
| Load | Knob |
| Moist / Gushing | Toggle switch |
Background and availability
The Pussy Melter followed a controversy earlier in 2018. A TonePrint for the TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb, created with Satchel and carrying the same name, was taken down after a petition to remove it received over 450 signatures. TC Electronic later re-released that TonePrint under the new name Repeat Offender4. The standalone pedal was announced shortly afterwards as a real hardware product, and Satchel released a demo video of it on YouTube so players could hear it3.
The Pussy Melter was a limited edition available only until 1 October 20183. It is not a current production pedal.
Jedspeds, a maker of pedal homages, later noted the pedal's notoriety: "So earlier in 2019 the Steel Panther Pussy Melter pedal caused a right fuss." The same page described it as a great effect beyond the bluster2. Steel Panther followed the pedal with another joke-named limited release, the Poontang Boomerang delay1.
Questions
What does the Moist/Gushing switch do?
The Pussy Melter has a switch that toggles between two settings labelled Moist and Gushing. Published coverage of the pedal at its 2018 announcement lists the switch alongside the four knobs, Dirty, Sizzle, Booty and Load, but does not describe a specific tonal function for either position, so treat it as a two-mode voicing selector on this distortion pedal.
Is the Steel Panther Pussy Melter still available?
No. The pedal was announced as a limited edition in August 2018 and was only available until 1st October 2018, according to gearnews.com. It has not been reported as a regular production pedal since, so finding one now means looking at the second-hand market.
Where is the Pussy Melter made?
The Pussy Melter is made in the USA, as reported by gearnews.com when the pedal was announced in August 2018.
How much did the Pussy Melter cost?
The Pussy Melter carried an RRP of USD 199 when it was announced in August 2018, according to gearnews.com.
Sources (4)
- Steel Panther Poontang Boomerang delay pedal: Will this one get banned, too?, gearnews.com, 2019-03-15
- Satire | DIY Guitar Effects Pedal Kits, Jedspeds (jedspeds.co.uk), 2019
- Steel Panther, gearnews.com, 2018-08-07
- TC Electronic revives controversial Satchel TonePrint under new name, MusicRadar, 2018-07-25
