Blue Colander Stompboxes is a Poland-based builder of guitar pedals. Their GT420 is presented as an “emulation of some desirable vintage amp that’s actually never existed,” which is somewhat refreshing. It features a Rangemaster-style boost (left side) followed by a two gain stages distortion circuit: the first one is a harmonically rich overdrive, followed by a real power amp “operating at its overspeed so it sonically collapses under its own capabilities when pushed hard.”
This circuit, according to the manufacturers, delivers a tone that’s…
…tight, crunchy and striking, not truly super high gain, though its structure and tone section makes it appear really heavy in vintage flavour, with nice clean tones and great clean-up available too. GT420 is great to be used for low gain drive tones or even as a simple EQ box for another pedals, but it’s best purpose is to turn any amp into a true and instant doom machine.
The Boost is not of the clean variety, rolling off the low and high end to better interact with the following stages, and has its own separate footswitch. It’s followed by a Tone knob that works in conjunction with the 3-way Shape toggle switch, this way:
• Middle toggle position presents classic mid-scooped tone.
• Left mode sets mid-scoop lower and deeper (also rolling high end off a little when tone knob is set for bright tones).
• Right toggle position turns midrange back what yields in a simple bass cut/treble cut knob operation.
Check out the sounds produced by the Blue Colander GT420 in the video below.
Think of GT420 as emulation of some desirable vintage amp that’s actually never appeared in existence. Also a first-choice unit for the one who wants a BMP to be an overdrive/distortion pedal and much more, including additional booster onboard.
Its operation is based on two different gain stages. First stage delivers responsive overdrive, close to the feel of tube preamp saturation, with plentiful harmonic content. This strikes into a real power amplifier operating at its overspeed so it sonically collapses under its own capabilities when pushed hard – and honestly this is all we want to hear for maximum sonic pleasure. Product of this circuit is deeply saturated tone which brings the appearance of a big amp abused. Distortion character produced by GT420 is tight, crunchy and striking, not truly super high gain, though its structure and tone section makes it appear really heavy in vintage flavour, with nice clean tones and great clean-up available too. GT420 is great to be used for low gain drive tones or even as a simple EQ box for another pedals, but it’s best purpose is to turn any amp into a true and instant doom machine.
If that’s still not enough, there’s additional preceding booster to bring even more gain on tap and kind of two-channel operation for further amplifier resemblance. This section is based on the classic Rangemaster circuit and is tuned for dirty midrange boost. Its low end is reduced just as much as needed to keep it dynamic and not too distorted, while top end is rolled off a little to match well with further stages. You can use this booster to expand gain range of the distortion section, or to bring ’dirty’ channel for distortion at lower drive settings. You can even use it independently as separate dirty boost pedal for more hairy clean tones or to drive your amplifier into natural overdrive. There’s a handy internal switch to chose from stock DARK boost setting (recommended for use together with distortion) and NORMAL setting which is nice for independent booster use. Also boost gain trimpot is available for turning it from almost clean to pretty dirty operation. Endless possibilities.
Tone shaping stage is based on BMP EQ with three different shapes. Middle toggle position presents classic mid-scooped tone. Left mode sets mid-scoop lower and deeper (also rolling high end off a little when tone knob is set for bright tones). Right toggle position turns midrange back what yields in a simple bass cut/treble cut knob operation. All of these provide large amount of tonal manipulation possibilities. Again, if this is still not enough, there is TONE BYPASS internal switch to disable EQ section and bring HUGE volume boost which is able to set any proceeding device into insane overload.
Volume knob is a master volume control, so no worries to put GT420 into maximum saturation and run it in a quiet environment when needed, or to push following device with it’s full brutal power.
