Scott Ian pairs with KHDK Electronics for a signature distortion/boost pedal

Guitarist Scott Ian has teamed up with KHDK Electronics for a limited-edition pedal, a distortion/boost unit that recreates Ian’s old-school crossover and thrash sounds from his bands Stormtroopers Of Death and Anthrax.

On the pedal, you’ll find (alongside Stormtroopers Of Death’s mascot Sargent D), two footswitches. One engages the boost side of things, and the other engages the amp-modelling distortion circuit.

The boost section has a two-band EQ as well as a boost level control, while the distortion has controls for volume, gain, midrange, treble and bass. The boost runs before the distortion meaning its EQ can shape the sound you want to hit the distortion side – or your amp’s preamp. It recreates the circuit of “an iconic booster pedal Scott used in the early days of Anthrax and Stormtroopers Of Death.”

David Karon of KHDK said of how the pedal came about: “Scott knew what he wanted – a ruthlessly vicious pedal that captures his S.O.D. amp tone. Of course, the absolute maniac that he is, he also wanted it to work as a magical booster and make even a shitty $50 amp sound like a monster. He then requested that the pedal have wheels and a built-in drone and follows him around whilst humming the ‘Knight Rider’ theme, but our engineer Antonin Salva drew the line at that.”

Sargent D himself added in the pedal’s product description “Get this if you want to stop shitting in people’s ears with your ass tone,” and also that the run consists of “250 pieces only. If I see you flipping this on eBay I’ll stab you in the liver.”

You can hear the pedal in action with KHDK’s demo below.

The pedal lists for $ 249.99. Find out more over at khdkelectronics.com.