MI AUDIO  CRUNCH BOX

 High Gain British Distortion at its best!

· 3 external and one internal control

o Gain - from the lightest breakup to insane high gain scream

o Tone - custom taper control which adjusts the high end cut of the pedal.

o Volume - tapered for a more gradual and controlled volume sweep.

o Internal Presence control - for adjusting the 'shape' of the Crunch Box's sonic footprint.

· Professionally powder-coated and silk-screened enclosure, measuring only 4.3" * 2.2"

· Heavy Duty 3PDT footswitch with True Bypass

· 9V Battery or DC power supply with up to 25V headroom
 

                

The Idea

The Crunch Box Distortion is my take on high gain British amp distortion. The history of the Crunch Box actually goes back a few years. I came up with the design after careful study of the way that modern British style amps get their overdrive. I found that there was a very big concentration of the frequency information in the midrange. So I started to experiment with different prototype ideas, until I settled on a design in late 2003. Since then, various prototypes were sent out for serious road testing, and the final design was released in early 2006. The realisation of the Crunch Box meant I achieved my goal of creating a pedal, which captures the huge crunch of a Marshall on steroids. I am VERY happy with the results... Within 2 years the Crunch Box has become one of our most popular pedals and 1 of the fastest selling boutique distortion pedals in the world.

 

The Features 

Simple and straightforward, with just gain, tone, volume and an internal presence control. The Crunch Box has some similarities to the Tube Zone, in the sense that the design is based on a multiple clipping architecture (the signal is clipped 3 times). However, there are significant differences which make these two pedals sound quite different from each other. The Tube Zone is designed to have a very 'broad' sonic footprint. The Crunch Box on the other hand has a strong mid-presence to it, similar to the great British amps. Also, the Crunch Box has a relationship with the Blues Pro, since the tone shaping is similar to the Blues Pro.

The results are really quite spectacular. In the lower gain range, the tone is very punchy and throaty. There are some great classic rock rhythm sounds to be found in there. As the gain is wound up, the Crunch Box develops a beautiful singing lead tone. Pinch harmonics are a breeze. The tone control has a wide sweep with a lot of top end. I have put in there more gain than anyone should need, but due to the way I handled the pre-overdrive tone shaping, the pedal always stays tight and each pickup retains its character, including single coils.

The Crunch Box has a lot of volume up its sleeve. You will find though that 12 O'clock is close to ‘neutral’.

Internal Presence Control - Like the Tube Zone, I've included a presence control to help control the 'shape' of the pedal. By winding up the presence control, the lows won't feel as powerful, which some people might find to be a bit too much. Also, this creates the effect of giving the pedal even more top end. So with the new Crunch Box, there is no chance that the pedal will be too dark. In short, the Internal Presence Control is very useful if you wish to match the Crunch Box to your amp because some amps can be a lot brighter/darker than others.