The Riot, as its name playfully hints, is a high-gain distortion box that will make a small clean tube combo sound like a raging stack. We have heard many distortion boxes and were never quite satisfied with how they sounded or felt with a clean amp. We wanted the sonic characteristics of the distortion and the way the pedal reacted to your touch like a high-gain 100w tube head. After much testing, re-working, and re-builds of the Riot over a period of a year, we are finally satisfied with how it performs and sounds in real world music applications with pro musicians performing live or in the studio. The Riot will make you forget that you're playing through a pedal.
It works with the amp to deliver a big full sound that never sounds artificial or overly electronic. There are no bees-in-the-jar buzziness, harsh high-end or tubby lows that are often what you hear in high-gain distortion pedals. Again, a pedal is highly dependent on the amp it's connected to and how the amp is set, but the Riot will perform exceedingly well with virtually any decent tube amp out there - even with old vintage-style Blackface type of amps. Get musical distortion and an amp-like feel from the Riot. If you need alternative high-gain sounds without adding anoth