Pettyjohn Electronics Gold Overdrive Mk II

The GOLD MKII, much like its predecessor the GOLD v1, was designed to capture the classic tones of the Marshall Plexi (1959SLP) in the simple format of a guitar pedal. The original GOLD was great at providing players with that classic crunch and character so many of us have come to desire and was easily our best selling effect, until now.

Since the release of the MKII series at Winter NAMM ’19 Stephen has been revamping and improving our popular Foundry Series V1 overdrives; first the CHIME MKII in January, the IRON MKII in June and now The GOLD MKII this July. The same proprietary power supply and Quiet Bypass Switching System from the CHIME MKII and IRON MKII is now in the GOLD MKII along with its redesigned MKII enclosure. That means by only plugging in 9V 200ma of power you get 36V of internal headroom, with a totally quiet bypass switching system, that won’t obliterate your delay’s and reverb’s when the unit is engaged. With 36V of internal headroom the GOLD MKII is as close to an amp in tone and response as is possible from only a 9V power source.

Aside from these new features the GOLD MKII boasts twice the gain range. The sweep of saturation and tonal character on this pedal is stunning. Low gain exists from 7-10 o’clock on the Gain knob. The low-gain settings are great at adding some punch to rhythm tones or for fattening up a bridge/hook. Mid gain is from 10-2 o’clock. Here the GOLD MKII starts to come alive with sweet harmonics and incredible dynamics that are guaranteed to make any player leave it on through an entire show. Beyond 2’clock the notes are simply pulled out of the guitar. There is plenty of saturation on tap that doesn’t suck or get muddy even when stacked with other Overdrives and Distortions.