This design is archived and is not in current production. For more information on archived pedals, click on the Archive link at the top of this page.
 
The Sentinel is an original design MOSFET overdrive/distortion that also doubles as an excellent preamp. The design began as a one-off entry for a charity auction to raise funds for PCDH19 research, and now the same design has been made in this small batch release.
 
With so many overdrives and preamps on the market, the Sentinel stands out for the rich harmonic content provided by the MOSFET clipping section, as well as the powerful character shaping control provided by the low clip knob. The pedal also doubles as a preamp, which can be used in the studio, live on a pedal board, or even as a stand-alone preamp driving a power amp.
 
The signal path is split between a clean path and a distortion path, and these signals can be mixed back together with the blend knob. The gain knob controls the input level of the signal. This increases the harmonics of the distortion as well as the clean volume, so that when blending, the volume levels between the two signals are proportionate to one another.
 
The low clip knob controls the amount of low end sent to the distortion section, and determines the character of the distortion in a powerful way. When set low, you get a grindy, raspy tone. Turning up the low clip can bring the character into Rat territory. Even more gives a mid focused overdrive tone. Higher settings of the low clip knob give a full frequency wall of sound effect. Experiment with different settings of blend, low clip, and master to achieve a wide variety of tones.
 
The tone control knobs are active boost/cut controls with a flat response being at the noon position. The bass and treble controls are shelving type, with the frequencies at approximately 80 Hz and 3 kHz. The middle control frequency can be varied from 200 Hz to 2 kHz.
 
The master controls the output volume. There is a ton of volume on tap, so you should set it to the minimum position and slowly increase until you find the level you need. For instrument level signals, the 9 o’clock position will likely be all that is needed. For line level signals, you may need to go to noon and beyond, depending on your blend and gain settings.
 
The Sentinel requires a DC power supply (not included). The DC supply should be a standard Boss style connector, center negative polarity. It can accept 9 to 24 volts. The current draw is 20 mA. Higher voltages will not affect the character of the overdrive, but will increase the headroom of the clean signal path. A 9V will provide sufficient headroom for most instruments, but if you have a very hot signal, you may wish to increase the supply voltage to avoid clipping the clean path.
 
The Sentinel has a true bypass switch.
 
Dimensions: 4.77” long x 2.6” wide