The GAIN STAGE RED pays homage to the great tones of players such as Carlton and Ford whose smooth and articulate tones continue to define their genres. It has a seductively subtle compression quality that doesn't flatten out the dynamics nor add too much girth to the chords or single notes. What the Gain Stage Red does is add rich sustain and bloom. This quality can be dialed from barely detectable to lush and fat with the overall gain settings.

The Gain Stage Red is a very easy pedal to dial in. There really aren't any tricks--almost any combination of settings will yield usable tones!

• Gain: Sets the overall amount of overdrive. The Gain Stage Red might best be thought of as a medium output overdrive. This characterization is a bit deceptive however! What the Gain Stage Red doesn't do at higher gain settings is square-wave. What does this mean? Simply put, the Gain Stage Red never gets into the territory of fuzz-like qualities. It remains warm and natural sounding, never brash or harsh.
• Tone: The tone control was designed to not have an extreme swing. The goal was to a have a very well centered tone control specifically voiced for controlling the all important midrange frequencies. At the fully counter clockwise setting, the tone is mellow and smokey. At the full clockwise setting it is aggressive but not brittle and piercing.
• Hard/Soft Switches: This switch operates somewhat as a presence boost with a slight increase in overdrive. The overall response and feel of the pedal is determined in large part by this switch. Much can be accomplished with this simple control. It is particularly useful in a live setting where you might want that "little extra" to cut through the mix.