The Apollo Preamp Drive Mk. I is a pedal that is based on the Hiwatt amplifiers used by Pete Townshend of The Who during their “Live at Leeds” performance in 1970. It is an adaptation of the Catalinbread WIIO pedal, which was originally released in 2009 as a limited run of 100.

The WIIO pedal gained a lot of attention and popularity among gear enthusiasts, leading to a high demand and limited availability. This caused some controversy as people bought up all the preorders and resold them for profit.

Catalinbread was not completely satisfied with the original circuit of the WIIO, so they made some changes before releasing the non-limited version. They reduced the gain and tweaked the EQ to make it more versatile as an amp platform. Most people consider the second version to be superior, but the hype surrounding the first version has given it a lasting reputation.

The WIIO was later succeeded by the RAH pedal, which is essentially the same circuit but with the addition of a midrange knob. The circuit was also re-voiced for Led Zeppelin’s famous show at the Royal Albert Hall. The RAH was referred to as the “Royal Albert Hall Edition of the WIIO” in the manual. The WIIO was discontinued shortly after the release of the RAH.

The Apollo Mk. I is a direct adaptation of the non-limited version of the WIIO pedal. The only modification is the addition of a trimmer that allows for adjustments to the gain, tone, and feel of the circuit. There is also an Apollo Mk. II version available, which is based on the RAH pedal.

It is important to note that according to Catalinbread, the WIIO (and therefore the Apollo pedal) should only be run at 9V. It should not be used with an 18V adapter or with the Aion FX 18V bypass PCB.

Summary created by AI from the original source.