JDM Pedals "Little Steamer"" Harmonic Distortion / Fuzz and Sound Enhancer Using Vintage 2N404 and 2

The “Little Steamer” is a unique pedal, and you won’t find any other pedals out there that create the same tone. Based on the mysterious “Harmonic Percolator” circuit developed in the 1970′s, we have tweaked the design to allow you to dial in sparkling light overdrive tones, warm sustaining overdrive, or nearly synth-like fuzz/drive sounds that sustain forever. The Germanium/Silicon hybrid circuit does an amazing job of giving your the the warmth of Germanium overdrive tones while retaining some of the “snap” of Silicon fuzz.

If you are not a fan of the Tubescreamer “mid hump”, but still want an overdrive that will help you cut through the mix for both rhythm & lead playing, the Little Steamer might be just the right pedal for you. The unique properties of the circuit create a pleasant (if at times wildly overdriven) sound no matter how you dial it in. It’s like coffee; it’s going to pep your tone up no matter how you brew it, you just need to dial in your flavor.

There are four controls – “Roast”, “Volume”, “Steam”, and a “Clip” switch.

Volume is obvious. The Clip switch is also pretty straight forward – when in the “Clip” position, the signal is sent through a series of diodes, both silicon and germanium, to create additional distortion in the signal, increasing the harmonic content, and giving it more “bite” and drive. This results in a small volume drop which you can compensate with the volume knob.

The “Roast” and “Steam” knobs are completely unique to our design. Roll back the “Roast” for mellower overdrive sounds, crank it for a “dark roast” high-gain overdrive with a solid midrange that will still cut through the mix even at wild gain levels. “Steam” lets you reign in the the drive in a different way; turned down (to the left) the circuit gain is reduced, but high end “sparkle” is maintained – perfect for spanking rock and country rhythm guitar sounds. As you crank it up, the gain increases and the sound becomes somewhat darker and focused, allowing you to create furiously steaming lead sounds that won’t steam your eardrums with harsh harmonics. The interaction of “Roast” and “Steam” provide an amazing range of tones from old school rock and mellow overdrive to gutsy distortion and slippery fuzz tones.

Get your Little Steamer now and pipe up your tone there, flapjack.