As one of the early architects of the boutique pedal boom, Scotty Smith and his brand, ProAnalog Devices, built a catalog of pedals—including the Dual Drive, the Boost Royale, and the MKII Tonebender-style fuzz—whose tone and handbuilt craftsmanship still make them revered.
Today marks the release of the Manticore Version 2 and the start of a new era for ProAnalog Devices, with a new distributor, a new website, and the beginning of a new product line (along with the new Manticore, the Strident VTB is set for release in January 2019).
After struggling with addiction and closing his business for a time, Scotty is now celebrating four years of sobriety. His comeback pedal was the Manticore, a modified Klon clone circuit that found many fans after its release in 2017.
"I built one for an old customer—he found me on Instagram—and they were over in the UK," Scotty explains in our video above. After sending one in the wrong color chassis, he made another and had this customer send the first to That Pedal Show. "I got, like, 750 or 800 emails and it just took off from there."
In order to scale up production of the Manticore Version 2, Scotty developed a relationship with engineer Jon Cusack at Cusack Music, which will allow him to make 1,600 units for the pedal's first run.
The second iteration of the circuit adds what Scotty calls a "Savage" control to the earlier design, a low-pass filter that adds gain. The Drive knob is a clean drive, while Gain is the overdrive knob. In blending them together, you can craft an "always on" tone that works best for you.
In our video above, you can hear Jeff Massey put the pedal through its paces, dialing in his gain and using the tone-shaping controls of the Treble and Savage knobs to showcase the different voices of the pedal. Be sure to watch the full video to hear more from Scotty and to hear all that the Manticore Version 2 can do. And click here to buy your own on Reverb now.