Joe Gore Cult Germanium Overdrive (1-knob)

***BRAND NEW*** Authorized Dealer - Full Manufacturer Warranty

While TS-style pedals employ an IC chip which compresses your signal, the Cult goes in the opposite direction - dramatically expanding your dynamic range.

Note attacks crack like knuckles. Your phrases have an electrifying presence that seems to lunge from the speakers. When you hit the input hard, the bold, harmonically rich distortion maintains its edge, even in crowded musical contexts. Cult doesn’t go “squish.” It barks.

The dynamic response is simply astounding—you can go from crystalline to meltdown by touch and guitar knob settings alone. With your guitar volume rolled back, the tone is nearly indistinguishable from bypass, so you can literally leave Cult on all night and conjure a huge range of overdrive/distortion tones directly from your guitar.

Cult isn’t for everyone. If you’re looking for an overdrive to smooth out your sound for consistent, predictable results, run away! But if you’re the sort of player who likes sculpting sounds via touch and dynamics, or if you enjoy tones that walk the tightrope between clean and distorted, Cult can be a revelation.

TO USE: Plug in with your guitar knobs at maximum, and use the single knob to set the maximum desired gain level. (I usually just floor it.) Then lower your guitar settings and soften your touch to explore the pedal’s extraordinary dynamic range. Try combining Cult with other drive and distortion effects—you’ll find that it layers beautifully.

CAUTIONS: Cult works best when you whack your amp pretty hard. (That’s why it has no master volume control.) Cult probably isn’t a good choice if you want thick distortion at whisper volume.

Also, be sure to place Cult before any buffered devices in your effect chain. Placed post-buffer, the pedal can sound relatively thin and shrill. Cult almost always works best at or near the front of your chain. Fortunately, it sounds great driving downstream distortion pedals.