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For those unaware Amptweaker is a company started by amp designer James Brown who famously created the Peavey 5150. I have owned multiples of their pedals in the past and until recently they were easily my favorite pedal company in the US. Features such as full metal enclosures, a unique stompbox design that makes it so you are much less likely to accidentally hit a knob with your foot, and some of the best potentiometers I've felt on a pedal, but most of all a willingness to experiment and listen to customer feedback made them my go-to pedal company.Sadly, times have changed. To the best of my knowledge Mr. Brown is dealing with personal issues that have led to him having to sell the Amptweaker brand. Unfortunately it immediately reflects on the new output of pedals they have released. The enclosures are made of plastic, the unique pedal shape is gone, and quite surprisingly this pedal has the WORST potentiometers I've ever felt on a pedal. I am not exaggerating when I say the $30 Donner pedals I have are of much higher quality. Since this pedal has so many knobs crammed so closely together it is very difficult to move one without accidentally bumping another one, and the pots used here are so loose and sensitive that the slightest nudge will move them a quarter turn or more. As this is my go-to distortion pedal I am often adjusting the gain knob to compensate for hotter pickups, and every time I move that knob the adjacent "tight" or "high" knobs will move out of place. Additionally I have had some very strange issues with the boost loop on this pedal. It makes no sense to me but when placing certain pedals in the boost loop they do not receive any signal. If I put the same pedal in any of the other loops or anywhere else in my effects chain it works perfectly. And for the record I'm not talking about finnicky pedals such as fuzzes, this issue has happened with delays as well as overdrives, and to date still has me stumped. The nail in the coffin though is how the company treats its customers. The comments have since been deleted, but in the past if you checked out their youtube channel any time there was a customer comment that was even remotely critical the company would respond in a frankly disgusting matter, saying things such as "we don't need your business" and casting doubt upon the guitar abilities and technical know-how of people who had legitimate issues with their products or were providing constructive criticism, which previously was applauded and taken under consideration when the company was under its original management.TLDR: Quality has tanked, there are some INCREDIBLE things about this pedal, however they were almost all present in the previous version (and what was missing was an easy and common mod). Combined with the downgrades, cheap components, signal chain issues, and most of all how what was originally a customer-focused brand has become toxically anti-consumer and seems to be coasting off of the hard-earned reputation of the previous owner make this a product and brand I will no longer be recommending to anyone. Do yourself a favor, buy a used Amptweaker pedal from before the buyout and don't support companies like this.

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