Many ideas begin in the abstract, but the Warthog project began as a simple mantra: "Be better than everything else." That's an awfully bold starting point, especially in the current age of distortions aplenty. However, the challenge was met. Enter: the Warthog. Too often, distortion pedals boast some such nonsense about the range of distortion available. Most of the time, the controls range from "distorted" to "more distorted." The Warthog bucks this convention and between two controls-Calibre and Gain-players can cop anything from a light, velvety sheen to a full-on audience-leveling gain beast. The Calibre control is a pre-gain push control, which drives the op-amp into distortion. When the control is turned all the way down, it leaves the distortion to the op-amp, a configuration that already possesses plenty of range. When this core is overdriven, look out. A master Tone control is carefully voiced to be usable throughout its entire range, unlike almost every Tone control on any pedal. From the careful, high-quality part selection, immaculate engineering and stunning, yet utilitarian looks, one might assume that Mr. Thorpe has a military background. Guess what? He does. The man is a former British military explosives expert-he knows the value of a bomb-proof design and his knowledge in the field pays dividends for you. This is one pedal on which your great grandkids will be wailing away.
