The Solstice Amp Distortion is a recreation of the Marshall Shredmaster, a mid-gain amp-like distortion pedal. It was first released in 1991 alongside the Bluesbreaker and the Guv’nor, which was previously released in 1988 as the Drivemaster. The Shredmaster is known for being used by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead.

Contrary to its name, the Shredmaster is not an ultra-gain metal pedal like the Boss Metal Zone. It does have the ability to scoop the mids, allowing for some sounds that approach the metal territory, but overall, the name is misleading.

The Shredmaster shares similarities with the Guv’nor/Drivemaster, with the first half of both circuits being nearly identical. However, the Shredmaster has an additional gain recovery stage, and its tone stack is different under the hood.

The Solstice Amp Distortion faithfully recreates the original Shredmaster, but with one added modification. It includes a switch that allows you to choose between different clipping diodes. The original Shredmaster has a low clipping threshold with just one 1N914 diode in each direction, resulting in a gainy and compressed clipping character. However, by stacking two additional diodes (as in the Bluesbreaker) or using LEDs (as in the Guv’nor), different sounds can be achieved with a higher clipping threshold.

Overall, the Solstice Amp Distortion offers the versatility of the original Shredmaster with the added flexibility of different clipping diodes, allowing for a wider range of tones and sounds.

Summary created by AI from the original source.