The Gladiator Preamp / Overdrive is a guitar preamp/overdrive inspired by Steel String Singer amps, designed to deliver a clear, dynamic and highly articulate drive.
It acts as a true preamp stage, bringing body, precision and amp-like feel to your fingers.
🎥 Video demo
A full demo will soon be available to illustrate the dynamic response and different uses in real-life situations.
Musical intent & use cases
The Gladiator excels in clean boost, edge-of-breakup, and expressive overdrive applications.
It can be used as an always-on sound base, as a main preamp in front of a neutral amp, or as an additional gain stage.
Its highly dynamic response preserves pick attack and playing control, even as gain increases.
The Clean control lets you mix clear and saturated signals to fine-tune response.
Who this pedal is for
The Gladiator Preamp is designed for guitarists looking for a dynamic guitar preamp / overdrive, capable of structuring sound with precision and finesse.
It is particularly suited to musicians who value clarity, dynamics and signal control.
This pedal is for you if :
- you're looking for an expressive preamp like a Steel String Singer
- you want a clear, dynamic always-on sound base
- you want fine control over your signal with a clean/drive mix
Positioning in the range :
The Gladiator Preamp offers a more open and dynamic preamp-like approach, with more headroom.
Gladiator Overdrive adds more compression, sustain and a more singing, expressive texture.
It differs from British overdrives in that its response is smoother, softer and more focused on sustain.
Closing note
The Gladiator Preamp / Overdrive is a precise and expressive tool, designed to offer a true preamp feel with advanced signal control.
Key design points
- Preamp/overdrive inspired by Steel String Singer architectures
- Clean control for mixing clean and saturated signals
- Compression switch to adjust response
- Gain, Tone and Volume controls
- Internal Bass control to tailor low-end response
- 100% analog circuit, hand-built with through-hole components
- True bypass
- Standard 9V DC (center negative)
- Compact 125B enclosure