MI Audio Crunch Box
High Gain British Distortion at its best! 3 external and one internal control - Gain - from the lightest breakup to insane high gain scream
- Tone - custom taper control which adjusts the high end cut of the pedal.
- Volume - updated taper for a more gradual and controlled volume sweep.
- new - internal presence control for adjusting the 'shape' of the Crunch Box's sonic footprint.
Professionally powder-coated and silk-screened enclosure, measuring only 4.3 * 2.2 Update available for older versions (see 'in depth' section)
Listen to the MI Audio Crunch Box
Introduction
The wait's over! The Crunch Box is finally here. This pedal rounds out my overdrive/distortion/fuzz pedal collection. I had one goal in mind with this pedal, namely to create a pedal which captures the huge crunch of a Marshall on steroids. I am VERY happy with the results,...
Simple and straight forward, just gain, tone and volume. The Crunch Box has some similarities to the Tube Zone, in the sense that the design is based on a multiple clipping architecture (the signal is clipped 3 times). However, there are significant differences which make these two pedals sound quite different from each other. The Tube Zone is designed to have a very 'broad' sonic footprint. The Crunch Box on the other hand has a strong mid-presence to it, similar to the great British amps. Also, the Crunch Box has a relationship with the Blues Pro, since the tone shaping is similar to the Blues Pro.
The results is really quite spectacular. In the lower gain range, the tone is very punchy and throaty. There are some great classic rock rhythm sounds to be found in there. As the gain is wound up, the Crunch Box develops a beautiful singing lead tone. The tone is shaped in a way which makes the pedal very touch sensitive, and variations in picking technique produce a very big difference on tone. Pinch harmonics are a breeze. I have put in there more gain than anyone should need, but due to the way I handled the pre-overdrive tone shaping, the pedal always stays tight and each pickup retains its character, including single coils.
Come and get 'em!
Version 2
I have talked to quite a few Crunch Box owners, and I've pooled together their comments to improve the already amazing design. I have improved the Crunch Box in the following way:
Wider Tone control sweep with more top end - The new Crunch Box has more top end. The new Crunch Box with the tone set to 1 O'clock is about the same as the original with the tone control dimmed.
Updated Volume Control Sweep - The Crunch Box has a lot of volume up its sleeve. In fact, many users found it difficult to dial in, because the volume control was so sensitive. So in order to help with this, I've changed the taper of the volume control. Now 12 O'clock is close to 'neutral'
New internal Presence Control - Like the Tube Zone, I've included a presence control to help control the 'shape' of the pedal. By winding up the presence control, the lows won't feel as powerful (which some people found to be a bit too much). Also, this creates the effect of giving the pedal even more top end. So with the new Crunch Box, there is no chance that the pedal will be too dark.
