Swell G-TOD

About as close to plug in and play as anything gets...it's even simpler than most amplifiers these days. Set your amplifier to its best clean tone, then use your guitar volume control and this pedal (with two gain settings) for all of your drive needs from grit to scream. One thing to remember though is to use the supplied AC adapter for it because of the power needed to run the tube (as it runs at true high voltage).

I use the G-TOD with multiple set-ups for different gigs and it excels at every one of them. Until I started using this pedal I was never happy with anything but true amplifier gain, but this device sounds like a cranked amplifier at any volume with the same drive, feel, and transparency of a good tube amp...but especially when plugged into a good tube amp. I don't know of any other pedal that sounds this good through an old single channel Marshall...period. My pedalboard is very simple>>>DOD FX-17 Wah, the G-TOD, an old Ibanez chorus (18-volt), volume pedal (with out to Boss tuner), and a Boss DD-6 delay. Just so you know, the G-TOD kicked an OCD and a Boostiest off the board as they seemed redundant and didn't sound as natural (not to knock them because it's still a great combination... it's just my preference). Guitars are generally Tom Anderson and Hamer, both Strat and LP types, into a Mesa Tremoverb or Heartbreaker, a '73 Marshall Superlead, or a Matchless Clubman. Speakers are 2 X 12's w/Celestion 30s or combination Celestion 90/EV cabs. This box is the best I've heard in replicating a true amp sound without artifacts and with as little noise as anything I've ever tried. I still have to try some other tubes in it to see what effect they have, but I know it Rocks with a 12AX7.

I'll comment here but I can't rate it as yet. That said, I almost always take back-ups (of some sort) for every gig...everyone has met Murphy. I did have a problem at a gig with one of the switches on but my pedal but the unit never failed...just had to hit the switch again to make it trip. Please see Customer Support>>>

Mike O fixed the pedal after I had a problem with one of the switches and got it back to me before the next gig. A 10 year warrantee makes me think I can count on them to keep me functional for a long time. Mike also mentioned trying the other features of the unit saying the recording out sounds just like an amp through a recording console, and to try some different tubes in the unit (12AT7, etc.). Since then I've heard a recording...and it truly does sound like an amp, but I have not tried other tubes due to a fairly continuous gigging schedule.

I mostly play in a Rock band that covers everything from the 60's to today, and a Praise band that plays two services every Sunday. As I've intimated >>> the G-TOD covers what I want to hear for everything I do. I'm going to show my age here as I state that I've been playing for 35 years, went to GIT, have always looking for THAT TONE (guitar into cranked amp at a reasonable volume), and IMHO: This is the best I've heard. Now I'm not going to get into a gear pissing match here, suffice it to say I've got my share of good stuff and I've already mentioned the usual gig rigs. One caveat, I don't play metal so I can't vouch for that style, but for everything else that needs the sound of high gain amplification at a reasonable volume this is it. And, that said, I will probably purchase more Swell product...it's the Tone!

This is your basic analog overdrive/distortion box. 4 knobs (Drive1, Drive2, tone and volume) and 2 footswitches(Drive1 and Drive2. I really haven't been able to get a bad sound out of this pedal. If you like the sound of your guitar and amp and want to add a very natural/musical sounding gain stage with very little to no color this is a pedal you'll want to try.

I play a Fender American Deluxe Strat with Texas Special pickups through a Carr Rambler 2-12. With the addition of the G-TOD, I was able to remove a Fulltone FD2 Custom, a Keeley modded RAT, and a Boss SD-1. This pedal has every sound I need, from a mild overdrive all the way to a full tilt Marshall. Our band plays a variety of music, spanning the 60's through the 90's and I am not having a problem find the range of tones needed. I'm seriously thinking of buying another G-TOD for live applications in order to have a wider array of tones available at the stomp of a footswitch. (Less time spent bending over to adjust gain/tone settings....I know....Lazy) Aside from the noise I get from using single coil pickups, this pedal is dead quiet, even with gain maxed out. This is the only distortion pedal I have ever used that sounds totally natural and organic. It sounds more like I'm switching channels on my amp (no the Rambler does not have channel switching)instead of kicking on a pedal.

The pedal is of very high build quality. I have no worries from gig to gig whether it will work or not. Of course I have several other overdrive/distortion pedals that I could use if the G-TOD ever failed, but I can honestly say that the night would be ruined if I was forced to do without the G-TOD.

I bought this pedal used on Ebay for about half of the retail/list price. When the pedal arrived, I immediately found a place for it on my pedalboard and plugged in. The pedal sounded awesome, but there seemed to be something wrong with the Drive2 footswitch. It didn't always engage and sometimes had to be tapped several times in order to get it to work. I knew that SWELL offerd a 10 year warrenty, but being as I bought it used I wasn't sure if they would transfer the warrenty. Not to worry, Mike O from SWELL fixed the switch free of charge and he even paid the return shipping ($13). He got the pedal on Monday and I had it back in my hands on Saturday. I have never talked to him personally, but several email correspondences were handled very timely (same day response...even on a Sunday...)& professionally. He generally seems to care about his customers and their needs....and he stands behind his products.

Like I stated earlier, I'm in a band that covers a variety of material from the 60's - 90's and I couldn't be happier with this purchase. I have been playing guitar for around 27 years and have owned a multitude of gear over the years. Currenty the G-TOD resides on my pedalboard along with a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe, Peterson Strobostomp, BBE Soulvibe, Fulltone FD2 Custom, Fulltone Choralflange, MXR Carbon Copy, and a Fulltone Fatboost. If the
G-TOD were lost or stolen I would replace it without hesitation. I know that no product is perfect, but I really can't think of a negative comment or complaint for the G-TOD. It does what it is supposed to do and it does it in spades. I have yet to come across a pedal (at any price) that sounds this good and natural. Considering that when I play through this pedal I want to play for hours and hours and hours....I would say that the G-TOD gets its' thing done while encouraging the creation of music.

Very easy to work with - set the tone at 12 o'clock and the level maxed out and then dialed in the drive controls. No patches here just good old analog knob turnin'...simple and easy. There is a manual with sample settings included(thanks)but I didn't really need them. I haven't done anything yet but I do plan on trying out different tubes in the g-tod.

I have a Gibson Les Paul Custom for the heavy stuff and a Fender American Tele for everything else. The g-tod sounds amazing with both guitars. I can't believe how quiet this thing is. Inbetween songs when nobodys playing there is no noise at all. I have a Fender dlx reverb reissue and a Marshall vintage/modern half stack. We play everything from Nickelback to the Allman Bros to Kenny Chesney and I am nailing all of it. The tone is dead on and it's so smooth.

No problems yet and I don't expect any from a pedal of this quality. All of my gear is quality stuff which means I paid a little more for it but it's worth every penny.

No opinion - never contacted Swell.

My band plays a wide mix of styles and music and I never thought one pedal would do it - I was wrong. My pedal board has a Boss DD3, Analog Man Bi-chorus, Keeley Compressor and a Dunlop crybaby wah. I got rid of my OCD for the the G-tod. I really dig the dual drive thing. Just the right amount of distortion when you need it.I do want to check out the EQ and boost pedals by Swell too.

The Swell GTOD is a super simple, great sounding pedal. It really is the best overdrive/distortion pedal I have ever heard. I am a studio guy and have worked in various music stores for the past couple of years. Point being, I have heard a lot of pedals and nothing can touch the swell pedal.

The tone controls are super simple and almost self explanatory. The tone knob is a high cut, you have two drives.

The first drive is automatically engaged once the pedal is turned on. The drive button activates drive 2.

The circuit is built around a 12ax7 vacuum tube. These tubes are commonly found in more expensive/boutique guitar amps and certain pre amps.

12ax7 tubes are known for adding perceived "warmth" to sound.

The sound quality is unrivaled by any other pedal on the market. There may be much more expensive pedals that I am unaware of that may come close, but I personally haven't heard anything.

I will not pretend to be an amazing guitar player, I play as a hobby and my place in the "music industry" is really behind a computer as an audio engineer. I have a ridiculous collection of microphones and I am very picky when it comes to "tone." I am the type of player that can't even play an instrument if the tone is not right.

To me good tone inspires good playing and it has always been that way for me. The swell pedal definitely inspires good playing everytime I plug it in.

This thing is the real deal! It even acts like a tube guitar amp as far as how it responds to dynamics. If you roll back the volume on the guitar IT CLEANS UP! I'd like to see a boss pedal do that.

I have a bunch of different amps...fender bassman, fender super 210, tech 21, roland jazz chorus, peavey valveking...the swell pedal sounds great with all of them.

I really like it with my super 210 because the super 210 is just SUPER clean and the swell pedal really seems to work well with that. Again, it works well with ALL my amps.

One thing that really blows my mind about the swell pedal is the noise. You can crank the gain up to ten and the thing is DEAD QUIET. If you do not believe me run to your local swell pedal dealer and hear it for yourself! It is as quiet as a high end studio preamp. Unheard of in a guitar pedal.

The circuit sends 100 volts to the tube. Most pedals with tubes in them are barely even using the tube, it's a gimmick. You won't see any GLOWING LED lights showing off the simple fact that a tube is in the swell pedal. It's all about tone and no gimmicks. This is a pedal for real players who demand real tone, or a tool for a recording engineer!

It has a amp output and a record output. I have always been a purist when it comes to recording guitars. You start with a good amp and a good microphone and go from there. Recording direct wasn't even a considerable option. I decided to try it with the swell, and while I don't think any pedal will ever touch putting a good mic in front of a good amp, the swell is the best i've heard.


Another point of interest....you can easily change the tube that is in the pedal. It comes with a chinese made 12ax7 (most all pedals/amps come with these tubes stock or something similar)

You can get totally different tones by trying different brands of tubes, such as Electro Harmonix, Groove Tubes (12ax7M Mullard re-issue), Tungsols, and JJ tubes.

You can also swap out the 12ax7 for 12AT7 tubes. The AT7 tube is basically the same thing, but it has 70% gain of a 12ax7. I have a nice vintage 60's-70's era GE 12at7 tube in my pedal right now.

For different sessions I may use different tubes, it is really enjoyable and the possibilities are endless.

Not everyone will be lucky enough to get a hold of vintage tubes, but even different brands of new tubes will produce different tones.

Tungsol tubes are known for being a bit cleaner than their counterparts, and a Groove Tubes 12ax7M will lend itself to more of a "british vibe."

I am a tube fanatic and I could swap tubes out of amps/pedals for hours. I would compare the swell pedal to a HIGH END mic pre...

What I mean is that with a high end mic pre you REALLY begin to notice the subtle differences between microphones.

With the swell pedal I REALLY notice subtle differences between tubes. Every different tube I have tried has sounded slightly different.


I would recommend trying a 12AT7 in place of the standard 12ax7 if you have a REALLY nice high end guitar. 12AT7's will generally add less "color" and reproduce a truer representation of the guitar tone with the added distortion.

12ax7's are more likely to add color and saturation, which is considered desireable in most cases.

Super reliable pedal with a ten year warranty. I had a minor issue with the power supply and the guys solved the problem for me in hours after one phone call. They brought me a new power supply and everything!

Read section above. Super friendly guys, who truly believe in their product and care about customer satisfaction.

I play rock and jazz mostly. More rock but have recently been dabbling in jazz music. I have been playing various instruments (bass, drums, guitar, piano, trumpet) since I was about 15 years old. SInce i've bought the swell pedal I haven't touched any my other instruments.

I have tons of pedals, amps, microphones, a few different guitars and again the swell is one of my favorite pieces of gear. If it were lost and stolen I would buy a new one the same day.

I love everything about the swell pedal, ESPECIALLY how it reacts to swapping tubes.

A separate knob for Drive 1 & 2, a tone knob, volume knob and two foot swithces (both w/LED indicators): 1 on/off the other selects between the two drives. This configuration made it extremely easy to dial in any setting I wanted. The manufacturer also included some sample settings which was very helpful.

The G-TOD has top mounted jacks which made it easy to mount on my pedal board. In my opinion, top mounted jacks are the way to go with effects pedals. They take up less space on pedal boards.

Clear, real, transparent and very quiet. This is the pedal I've been looking for. The G-TOD feels more like channel switching rather than a pedal in front of my amp.

I have a small rack system with two pre-amps: a Marshall JMP-1 and an Alembic F-2B for my clean tone. I always liked the pushed/drive tones you get from a Fender DeVille or Hotrod Deluxe. I've tried the Fulltone Fulldrive 2 and the Toadworks Mr. Ed in front of my clean patches to achieve this tone but to no avail. The G-TOD... well... Mission Accomplished. The funny thing is, I just finally purchased a Fender White Lightning Hotrod Deluxe but now I prefer the G-TOD in front of the clean channel instead of the drive channel on the amp. It sounds better to me and it's quiet where the Fender Deluxe is not.

The record out feature is handy as well for use with head phones or recording direct.

Although extremely light weight (I understand there are no transformers used)this pedal is solid. Made of strong metal and high quality switches and jacks. I expect a life time of use and wouldn't hesitate to use it in any live or studio application.

The web site has plenty of info and insight into the features. When I contacted them for more info they were knowledgeable and sounded very passionate about their product. When I found out they are players it all made sense.

As I stated earlier, this is the pedal I've been looking for. Compared to the Fulltone Fulldrive 2 and the Toadworks Mr. Ed this pedal is far superior in my application. I'm a diverse rock player of 20 years and there are times you come across an instrument or a piece of gear that will stay with you for as long as you live. The G-TOD is one of them.

Very easy to dial in just the right amount of gain and tone needed. Included sample settings were helpful.

I have a few different amps(Marshall and Boogie) and guitars(Fender, Gibson, Ibanez) and the G-TOD sounded killer with all of them. I don't think there is a bad tone in this box. The overdrive is very real sounding - sounds like my amps but with more gain and control. The G-TOD is THE most quiet pedal I think I have ever owned - even when turned all the way up.

I have owned it for a few months now and have had no problems. It feels to be a very high quality pedal - I don't expect any problems.

I emailed SWELL with a few questions and they got back to me fast and seem to be pretty cool.

I have played guitar for over 15 years now. Right now I am in an all occasion band which means we play a little bit of everything and this pedal does it all better than anything I have ever owned. And I think I have owned at one point or another every drive pedal in existence. What I liked the most is that it sounds, feels and reacts like a real amp - realistic drive and cleans up with my volume knob. I like the record out too although I have not recorded with it yet - I have been using it with headphones to practice with. If this were lost or stolen YES I would by another one. I am looking forward to trying different tubes in the G-TOD - read about it online.

With just four knobs and two footswitches, this pedal couldn't be easier to use.

It has two distortion modes (Drive 1 and Drive 2) with a gain control for each and a footswitch to toggle back and fourth between the modes as well as an on/off true bypass, master tone and volume controls.

The manual includes sample settings to get you started.

In my opinion a good distortion enhances the sound of your amp not colors it and the G-TOD doesn't disappoint.

The two drive sounds add levels of gain to your sound as if you were turning up the gain control on your amp without colorization.

I use this pedal through a Marshall JCM800/1960A (Greenback-loaded).

Through the 800 I set the gain at 6 and use the Drive 1 on the G-TOD set at 4 for extra crunch and kick Drive 2 set at 6 for a solo boost. Having this pedal is like turning my 800 into a 3-Channel amp.

Before I bought this pedal I used a Blues Driver and a TS-9 and would step on one or both at the same time to get the sound I wanted. Now I just use the G-TOD and have my Marshall tone with more gain when I need it. My tone is much clearer.

The pedal has avery botique feel and fit and finish is very nice. It comes in a hefty metal box but is very lightweight. The serial number is hand-written. I'm guessing the power supply will break before this thing ever does.

Sent an e-mail to these guys asking about the differences between the G-TOD and G-Drive. Got a detailed response the very next day. Very cool.

I've been playing over 20 years and play mostly hard rock stuff like Cry of Love, Black Crows, etc. I mostly use Strats w/humbuckers in the bridge or my Les Paul Standard. I tried stuff from Fulltone and the Keeley-modded pedals but what attracted me to this was the 12AX7 and it's simplicity. I was blown away at how transparent the tone is and also how quiet it is overall. The fact that is has a recording out and can be used with headphones are a total bonus. I highly recommend this pedal and would definitely but one again.

This unit sounds good on just about any setting.

I was lucky enough to get one of the first Swell G-TOD pedals here in Nashville a few months ago.(You can check 'em out at www.swellpedals.com) It's a new pro pedal which has a 12ax7 at high voltage, and true bypass. I saw their ad in Vintage Guitar and contacted them and got one. Anyhow...
I've been using it on gigs for a while. Everyone in the band including the soundman comments on how awesome the tone is. And since I've owned this pedal, I've had several players come up to me at gigs and ask what I'm using for a drive. My guitars consist of a Strat, a Les Paul, and a Blade JM series hotrod and they all sound wonderful through this device.
From bluesy to full throttle modded Marshall - it's got it all. The tone knob is really musical sounding not harsh or floppy, so tweeking is a breeze.
There are two switches that allow you to get two different levels of overdrive. When I kick in the second stage... Oooo La La! This is the first pedal that allows the true tone of my guitars to shine through. It's also nice to be able to crank up the output and not have a "hissy fit" going on. It's SUPER quiet and being a session guy, the last thing I need is a noisy mess! It also has a direct out... something I thought I would NEVER use until I tried it. Very cool! It sounds like a freakin amp! I cut a few tracks on my protools rig and you really couldn't tell that it was direct. Ya know... I almost want to keep this gem a secret so I'll have a signature sound goin' on in town, but I've gotta give these guys props. It's built like a tank with a 10 year warranty (Wow), it sounds great, and the guys at swell are cool. TONE TONE TONE! Next up... The Swell XL BOOST. Sorry wifey... I gotta have it too.

I've only had this for a few months... but as I said, it's built like a tank and has a 10 year warranty.

The guys at Swell were awesome. When I contacted them to ask about their pedals I could tell they were players and not just some tweek geeks filling boxes with components. They actually invited me over to try one out since they were right here in town. It was nice to talk shop with other players who understand the gear.

I'm a so called "hired gun" living in Nashville, a town spilling over with, well... pro guitar players. I usually get called for the pop/pop country as well as rock stuff. Some recent gigs have included; opening for U2 in Hawaii this past December(work, work, work, LOL!)and a few national TV performances with various artists, and I was lucky enough to get a few movie cuts this past year. I also play in a local Corporate/Private Event band so my family can eat! LOL!! Not tryin to drop names or cool gigs here, it's only meant to inform you of my skill level. I got on here in the past to check out some pedal reviews only to find out it was a twelve year old Malmsteen addict playing through a Peavey Backstage 10. Nothing wrong with that... as I was also a twelve year old Malmsteen fan once upon a time. But, MY Mom was so cool she bought me the whole Peavey stack!! LOL. I spent two solid summers terrorizing my folks with blazing penatonic minor scales. And then came the eyeliner... Sorry Mom & Dad!
Anyway... I think that overall I would have to give this little box a big fat 10. I made some real estate available on my pedal board for some more Swell stuff. I would highly recommend this pedal!