Clark Amplification Gainster

Very easy to use, but there is advise I have to make this pedal sound its best/turn the level 1/2 way up and start from there/ think of your level as a first gain stage with awesome beautiful rich clean tone/

(clean boost)= this will send the klon running with its tail between its legs/ I have used this with a Clark Beaufort,Fargen Blackbird and a Badcat Cub/reverb with the same results of outstanding beautiful tone/ I have even used this straight into a mixing board direct to tape with a little digital reverb mixed in and it sounded exactly like a cross between a tweed deluxe and tweed twin with no and I mean no noise
(distortion/overdrive)with the level at least 1/2 way up and turning the gain from 2:oo up you get beautifull blues sustain with your notes and chords always on top and not hidden in anyway/chicago blues or anyblues this pedal is the best period/get in line because the wait is well worth it/try slide with it and you will think RY Cooder walked into the room/ the guy below should get his hearing checked this pedal is the best of the heap

depend on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its point-point wired like one of Michaels amps/same part quality as in his amps/ this thing would take a direct hit by a scud missile/the guy below is off again/ a bargain at Michaels price of $289

dependable and honest, can you say more than that?

I play Blue's, Country Blue's and some Country(Willie Nelson etc)If lost I would order one tomorrow/remember the KLon is a toy compared to this pedal

Unless you were born with severe birth defects you should be able to figure this one out because it has only three knobs and a footswitch. The usual on/off switch, and knobs for volume gain and tone.

It sounds like your typical $300 boutique booster gain pedal. Compare it to the Klon and the Banzai Cold Fusion and the Maxon OD-820. Some reviewer below says this pedal has no IC chips but I can see a chip pretty clearly on the circuit board. I guess there is one born every minute.

One guy makes them. I always wondered what would happen if this guy died. Then who would fix my pedal?

Likewise.

Its a good pedal but seems to be overpriced. Its another example of a pedal maker taking advantage of the boutique market by introducing a pedal at a reasonable price and them raising the price substantially soon afterwards. Its way too difficult to obtain this pedal. You must wait for months until one appears on ebay and then bid for it, or send this guy a check and wait three months for him to build the pedal and ship it to you. Since this pedal wont ever be available in walk-in music stores it will probably go down in history as one of those totally overrated pedals that is impossible to buy anyway.

Very simple to use, even a monkey could. Set the dials where you like them and press tthe button - how easy can it by.

I use the GAinster with a PRS Cus 22 Artist pack, and currently a Calrk Beaufort amp. This combination is fantasic. The pedal isn't noisey when switcched on but mine does give a click through the amp when switched off! A minor problem. I used to be the kind of player who had lots of effects ie Boss ME10 then a GT3, but all I use now is the Amp, Gainster and Guitar. Let down only by the on/off click.

This thing is bomb proof, having seen the workmanship inside of it I have no concerns about its promised long life.

Coming from outside the US my customer service is provided direct from Mike Clark. Any questions I have had have always been answered promptly. Clark Amplification warrants thier products for life, no matter if you are the original owner or not.

The build quality, dedication and sound mean the if I had to I would replace both my Clark Amp and Gainster without looking else where. Mike if you read this - I will never play another type of amp or overdrive pedal again.

I have had my Gainster for about two months. I originally got it to use with a Tone King Comet amp. I was gonna get a Klon Centaur, but after talking to Bob at The Perfect Note (who also sells Klon), I decided that the Gainster might work better for my needs.

My unit is medium-to-dark blue with a hammertone finish and white and red painting. Pretty cool Three knobs, just like most other overdrive pedals. I hate a lot of controls on my equipment. This pedal is very easy to get good sound out of, providing it matches the amp you are using it with (see more below).

To be honest, I was not bowled over by the pedal when I tried it with the Tone King. It sounded good, but nothing THAT different from any other gain pedals I tried with the Tone King. I ended up using the overdrive in the amp, which sounds good but its too loud compared to the clean channel.

So the pedal just sat around, and I thought about selling it. But... then I sold my Tone King lastg week and picked up a Fender Twin tweed amp (replica)--not a Clark or a Vicky--but a very authentic 5E8-A replica with beauriful tweed sounds through a pair of Original Jensen P12Q speakers.

Well that was what the doctor ordered! The Gainster is a fantastic match with the tweed amp. I suppose that Clark voiced it that way since he is a tweed amp builder himself. Now I can set the amp to be clean with my 60 Relic Strat and then kick on the Gainster to get any type of overdrive I want: warm, clean, creamy, punishing, you name it. And all of the sounds come through with utter clarity and minimal background noise. I think I actually like the sound better when the Gainster is switched in all the time and I can just use my guitar volume knob to overdrive the signal.

I love using the Gainster with my amplifier!!!!!!

Have not had it long enough to tell, but it looks like one of the best built pedals I have ever seen. AND NO INTEGRATED CIRCUITS! I would depend on this thing to save my life it is built so well.

Never had to deal with them, but all I have ever heard is praise for both The Perfect Note and Clark Amplification. Bob was very cool, being both patient and helpful before I ordered. And Bob got the pedal to me within a day after it was delivered from Clark Amplification. Excellent service!

I am mostly a home and studio guitar player. I have not played electric out at a live gig for a while, but if I do the Gainster will be at my feet. As I said before, I did not realize the benefit of the pedal until I tried it with a Tweed Fender style amp. I cannot believe well it complements the sound of the amp. No noise, no mush, no screech. I have a few other overdrive pedals still sitting around (Marshall DriveMaster, Carl Martin, etc.) and none of them sound even remotely as good with my current amp.

In summay: If anybody out there who owns a tweed Fender, or tweed replica, is thinking about getting an overdrive pedal, I recommend that they check one of these out. They are hard to come by, so resale shouldn't be a problem...especially once the word gets out!

I purchased the Gainster to replace a TS9 (808 modded) Tube Screamer. Pretty simple to setup-volume-tone-gain--very quiet-tru bypass. No instructions included-none needed.

My signal chain is 65' Vibrolux Reverb-Teese Wah-Gainster-Fulltone Choralflanger-PRS Standard 22 with McCarty pickups. The unit is very quiet-tru bypass-goes from a clean boost to medium overdrive-actually sounds like my vibrolux on 10 only I can keep the amp volume down. With the tone control turned down it sounds like the Fender cranked dead on. As you turn up the Tone control it adds a nice shimmer-works like a presence control.

I've only used it at 4 gigs but seems bullit proof.

Clark and Perfect Note were very helpful--has a long warranty-built like a tank--open it up and look at the hand soldered point to point fiber board--looks like my 57' tweed champ when you open it up--for you amp guys this is a work of art!

I have played off and on for 30 years-currently play in a classic rock cover band-anything form Van Morrison to Cream to 3 doors down. This unit sounds especially good on our Aerosmith and Free covers. It is exactly what I was looking for in an overdrive pedal. In most of the clubs we play my amp volume is around 3 on the vibrolux-nice clean headroom-the overdrive gives me the sound of the amp on 8 or 9 without coloring it. I would replace it if it disappeared.

Very straight forward setup on this one. It has level, tone, and gain knobs. Couldn't be easier.

I have a few Clark tweed amps, so maybe I'm a little biased. I think this pedal sounds great. It sounds and feels really transparent. This description has been thrown around quite a bit when talking about expensive boutique pedals, but the Gainster is the only one that hasn't left me disappointed. It has no midrange hump to speak of and no weird compression feel. It doesn't goof up the interaction between the guitar and amp which is usually the first thing to turn me away from any pedal. It has true bypass and so far hasn't caused any offensive popping sounds through the speakers. This is also the quietest overdrive pedal I've ever used. It has hardly any hiss until wide open and even then much less than any other I've had experience with. The description on Clark's website is right on the money really, no hype, no BS. I think Clark has a real gem here. It adds a nice drive or cleanish boost without mucking things up. Seems simple enough but this is the first one to really pull it off to my satisfaction.

BTW, I play pretty loud so I'm not making any reference here to bedroom levels.

I'm not worried about reliability. You should see the guts of this thing! It's wired like an old tweed amp. It has full size capacitors, carbon comp resistors, full size pots, cloth covered wire, and is all hand wired on an old style fiber eyelet board. I've never seen anything like it in a pedal format. I've been playing Clark amps for several years now and never had a problem. Full confidence. Hell, it has a ten year warranty on everything but the switch. How can you beat that?

Couldn't ask for better customer support. I'm treated like family by these guys and I'm on the opposite side of the country.

To be honest, I usually hate pedals. I like the sound of my Clark amps too much to goof them up with pedals. The Gainster just does its thing extremely well, just like Clark's amplifiers. Looking at the way it is built and listening to it, I got the idea that this is the sort of thing that Michael could have very easily incorporated into his amps as a second footswitchable boost channel and everyone would have been knocked out by it. I have never used another overdrive pedal that sparked that sort of enthusiasm. And it's all because of how natural it sounds and, once again, how natural it feels playing through it.

Great product!

This pedal is extremly easy to use. 1/4" I/O, True By-pass foot switch, on/off LED, 5.5mm x 2.5mm barrel type 9v jack, and 3 knobs: Level, Tone, and Gain.

This unit can be used as a clean volume boost or an overdrive/distortion pedal. The overdrive is very reminiscent of an overdriven vintage Marshall.

I have used this with various guitars including Strats, Telecasters, PRS, and Les Pauls equiped with both humbuckers, P-90's and single coil Fender type pickups. Amps include Fender BF Vibrolux, Clark Tyger (3x10 tweed Bandbaster) Clark Piedmont (4x10 tweed Bassman) 1971 Marshall 100SL, THD Univalve, Clark MTC-45 Thor (KT66 JTM-45).

This pedal sounds incredible with any combination of guitar and amp. High level and low to no gain provides a clean almost noise free volume boost (much quieter than a Klon Centaur). Higher gain settings and a unity level setting provides a wide range of distortion/overdrive sounds.

The Tone control acts like a Presence control; it is the only control I need to change when I change giutars with similar output. This sits on my pedal board and is very compatible with other pedals.

Clark uses full sized components such as caps and resistors on a hand wired vintage type board. No micro components is one reason I believe that this sounds so good.

Built like a tank. Only one goes to gigs. This pedal features a 10 year warranty on all parts and components except the switch. The footswitch is warranted for 90 days.

Michael at Clark Amplification and Bob at The Perfect Note provide superior customer service and support. It is a pleasure to do business with them.

Nice quiet clean boost or a vintage Marshall in a box. In 30 years of playing this is the best pedal I have ever come across. Tone to die for and compatible with every guitar and amp combination I can find.

At $189.00!!!
Well Done!

Very easy to use, 3 knobs. Gain knob goes from a light boost to medium distortion sounds. Also vol & tone. Not difficult to figure out, no manual, none needed. LED indicator, true bypass switching.

Pedal isn't noisy at all until you max the gain setting, which I would expect with any od/distortion pedal. With low gain settings, doesn't sound like you're using a pedal at all. Brings out the character of a good tube amp and sounds great for rhythm/chord work. With the gain and volume up a bit, makes a nice lead boost. Works well with both single coil and humbucker equipped guitars.

Pedal is very well built. NOS full size components. I don't know of any other manufacturer currently using this caliber of components or with this attention to detail. Wouldn't consider a backup.

I have done quite a lot of business with Clark over the past couple of years and am happy with their support. 10 year warranty. Pretty much speaks for itself.

Last reviewer was right, didn't take long for the price to go up. No matter, I've spent lots more on pedals and been sorely disappointed. Not so here. Keep in mind, this is not really a sit in the bedroom, play quietly into a ss amp and sound like the record kind of effect. It sounds best at performing/full band practice volume levels. Interacts well with tube amps, but doesn't kill the amp's character. Brings your sound into the forefront when used more as a boost (which is how I use it.)

It's impossible to get a bad sound out of it (unless you've got a dead battery or something). Plug it up, set knobs to desired position, play, be in awe!
Three knobs - volume, tone, gain. No matter where you set these knobs, you will have an unbelievably organic and "true" tone. For my personal taste, the tone knob is nearly off - say around 8 o'clock, and the gain is straight up. The volume varies, depending on the needs of the day.

Mainly a Fender Deluxe Strat with Kinman noiseless pickups (check 'em out) into a Clark Penrose Ltd. Edition (see my review if you're interested). I had a Menatone Red Snapper for a while which I raved about. Then I sold it, preferring the Clark unaffected. A few weeks later I learned that Clark was making a transparent gain pedal of his own, so I had to try it out.
OH YEAH! This pedal is everything I could ask for in terms of overdrive! It literally takes the true tone from your guitar and amp and just gives you more ot it. You can vary the amount of overdrive to fit your taste. I basically leave mine on for everything I play, because even clean sounds are more crisp and full - I just back off on my Strat until it cleans up.
It's very quiet as well.

If you are familiar with Clark Amplification, then you don't even need to read this section. His amps indestructible (trust me, I would have killed mine by now if it were possible), and his accessories follow suit. Open up this pedal and look inside. There is NO ONE manufacturing pedals using parts of this quality. For better or for worse (better for us, worse for his profit margin), Mr. Clark refuses to compromise on materials - even pedals.

I live very close to the Clark operation, so I have had many opportunities to talk with Michael and his staff. One of the biggest reasons I am so gung-ho about their products is because of how impressed I am with them as people. Integrity still exists in small businesses.

I play blues, rock, jazz - anything that grooves - in a church youth environment and in a local rock band. This pedal stays on for all my engagements. It will help your overall tone for every style of music, with the noteable exception of pre-amp tube over-saturated 80s hair metal and certain varieties of modern rock.
I've tried TONS of overdrive pedal over the years. To be honest, the Red Snapper was my favorite - until the Gainster came on the scene. They are actually quite similar, but the Gainster has a certain undescribable "vibe" to it - not to mention the quality parts.
Buy one ASAP, because the price is only going to go up as they sell more of them!