Vorp FX

The Beta Preamp is inspired by solid state amplifier from the late 1970s of the same name that was rediscovered by several grunge bands in the 1990s. It is loud, sludgy and gritty and perfect for stoner doom tones. A 3-band EQ allows versatile sound shaping, and a voice switch improves the sound for drop tuning or bass guitar. With gain at maximum, this is LOUD. It is best used as a preamp to go directly into your power amp, but it can also be used as an overdrive/distortion pedal. Requires a 9V DC power supply.

PEDALS MADE: 1
CURRENT STATUS: OUT OF STOCK
FUTURE AVAILABILITY: MAYBE

This pedal uses a PCB by PedalPCB Mania that attempts to closely reproduce the sounds of the Sunn Beta Lead and Sunn Beta Bass amps. I used a kit that came with a couple of wrong components, but got everything working just fine without any problems.

If the pedal is used as a drive pedal and with the Gain below 3 o'clock, the Treble knob behaves a bit funky immediately before it reaches maximum. It behaves normally if the pedal goes directly into a power amp or if the Gain is set above 3 o'clock. I think it may be a design kink or an issue with my amp. If it is due to an (unlikely) mistake I made when building the pedal, I'll find out when I build the second one.

This is probably the loudest pedal I've ever built. It uses overdriven CMOS gain stages, which results in a fairly unique and powerful sound. I quite like it, but it may be a bit too powerful for the music I'm playing. However, I'm sure some stoner, doomer or grunger can put it to good use.

I have two kits for this, so I'll build two pedals, and that will be it - a limited edition of two.