JAM pedals Tiny Amp Destroyer

A NOTE FROM STU
What kind of absolute maniacs would decide
to recreate a tiny $30 pawn shop amp in a guitar pedal? An amp that no one (except me) thinks is cool. One deliberately designed to be cheap and nasty. Crunchy. Boxy. Buzzy. But... there’s something about that amp... It can do things that nice big amps can’t do. And anyway, shitty is pretty! JAM pedals
and I chatted a couple of years ago about some
other cool ideas which never eventuated, but when they asked if I’d be up for a limited-edition King Gizz pedal to celebrate our 2025 residency in Athens I said:

“TINY AMP DESTROYER!”

I’m sure they thought to themselves “what the fuck”, but what they said to me was: “Colour us intrigued!” (I’d been running two Boomster clean boost pedals into my favourite tiny amp and it felt like destruction.)

JAM pedals tracked down the same amp and I told them all about how it had been around the world with me and why I loved it, and through some kind of sorcery they recreated my favourite tiny amp in
a pedal (I have no idea how).

I am forever grateful because this pedal rules. It also has some other cool tricks up its sleeve. Like a treble boost. And a “magic” switch. It can actually be subtle if you want. Or extremely wild. You can use a clean amp or a dirty amp. Any guitar, any pickup. You’ll get different results, but always exciting. But you don’t need to know any of this. You just need a guitar. And a couple of cables. And a 9V power supply. And some fingers. And then you can be the destroyer. It’s fun.
Enjoy the Tiny Amp Destroyer! Love, Stu xox

HOW WE GOT HERE

Stu had been building around a very particular sound in recent KGLW records: two Boomsters pushing a tiny Cash Converters amp far beyond where it was meant to go.

We recreated that setup on our side and spent time with it until we understood where it starts to come apart. There’s a point where the amp stops smoothing itself out. The breakup shifts, the response changes, and the whole thing starts behaving in a way bigger amps simply don’t.

That’s the part we kept.

TAD is a way of getting into that same territory, but with enough control to shape it. The gain is split into two stages you can run on their own or stack, letting it move from driven tones through to much heavier ground.

It can lean into that blown-out, small-amp character, or sit as a full-range drive that holds its place in a mix, from low gain breakup through to dense, saturated distortion. There’s enough shaping there to move well beyond that boxed-in feel when you want it to.

It’s not a polished distortion. It comes from pushing something past where it’s meant to go and staying there.

The artwork by Jason Galea, the visual mind behind much of King Gizzard’s world, reflects that same idea. Something held in place and forcing its way out.

We took a prototype to Stu during KGLW’s residency in Athens to see how close we had got. He plugged in, played for a minute, and said, “you nailed it.” He used it for the rest of the tour, and from there the final shape of TAD came through real-world use.

Details
Two independent drive stages
G2 is the more restrained stage, covering lower-gain breakup and driven tones. G1 runs hotter, moving into heavier overdrive and distortion. Use either stage independently or stack them for TAD’s most saturated sounds.

Active tone shaping
Both drive stages share an overall Level control and active Bass and Treble controls with boost and cut. Add weight, tighten the low end or introduce the focus needed to hold your place in a mix.

MAGIC voicing
Engaging MAGIC shifts the response towards the compressed, boxy and unstable character of a tiny amplifier being pushed beyond its limits.

For the strongest small-amp character, keep the gain stages lower, engage MAGIC and use Notch to shape the boxiness.

Notch control
Notch begins in a neutral position and progressively removes a key frequency band as you turn it up. It can transform a full, forward sound into something increasingly scooped, hollow and unconventional.

Independent treble booster
The third footswitch activates an independent treble booster based on our Rooster. Positioned before G1 and G2, it tightens the low end, sharpens the attack and changes how both drive stages respond.

Use it to push either stage, drive the complete stack harder or run it independently as a standalone treble boost.

Two booster voicings
An internal DIP switch provides two treble-booster responses:

• Full: A broader response with greater low-frequency content
• Standard: A more focused, traditional treble-booster response

TAD ships in Full mode.

G1 Global Bypass
G1 Global Bypass mode allows the G1 footswitch to control the entire pedal. Leave G2 and the treble booster engaged, then bring the complete sound in with one press.

Hold G1 while connecting power to select the operating mode:

• Two LED blinks: Normal operation
• Three LED blinks: G1 Global Bypass

Signal flow
Input → Treble Booster → G1 → G2 → Output
Bass, Treble, MAGIC and Notch affect G1 and G2 only. The treble booster remains fully independent.

Specifications

• Bypass: True bypass
• Power requirement: 9 V DC, centre-negative
• Maximum power consumption: 90 mA with all circuits engaged
• Input impedance with treble booster off: approximately 500 kΩ
• Input impedance with treble booster on: approximately 50 kΩ
• Output impedance: less than 5 kΩ
• Dimensions: 14.5 × 12.4 × 5.9 cm
• Dimensions in inches: 5.7 × 4.8 × 2.3 in
• Weight: 511 g / 1.13 lb