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Amptweaker FatMetal Pro Distortion Pedal

Amptweaker introduces the new FatMetal Pro, an update to the original FatMetal distortion with expanded controls.

Amptweaker FatMetal Pro

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This new distortion pedal follows a similar format as the TightMetal Pro pedal, only this one is voiced to have a thicker and buzzier gain. It is ideal for players who prefer a warmer metal tone, or are looking for a metal-friendly distortion pedal that complements brighter guitars and amplifiers.

The original FatMetal distortion pedal was released last year, and according to Amptweaker, they received many requests for a two button version with extra features – and that is exactly what they did with the new FatMetal Pro pedal.

The most notable feature of this pedal is its multiple boost control, where it lets you adjust the boost setting in three ways. First of which is a knob that lets you add boost before the distortion effect, the second one is a button that boosts the middle frequencies, and last but not the least, another boost knob that adjusts the boost levels after the distortion effect. This versatile configuration gives you in-depth control over the resulting tone and output, much like having a distortion pedal with multiple boost pedals in a single chain. With this, you can easily configure FatMetal Pro for riff work and for solos that will surely cut through a loud metal band.

FatMetal Pro is designed to be substantially different from TightMetal Pro in terms of tone, but the controls and connectivity features are basically the same. Amptweaker said that they extended the low range of the Tight and Tone controls to give the pedal a fatter tone, while the Black Gain switch was tweaked to get the buzzier gain required for Black Metal and similar genres.

The company describes the pedal as being “designed for players who wanted a warmer metal tone that works better with brighter guitars and amps, but also is less aimed at palm-muted metal, and works better for tremolo-picking Black metal, and darker sludge and doom metal tones.

There’s also a Thrash switch that lets you transform the sound of your guitar into a heavier, mid-scooped tone for playing old school metal. Since FatMetal have more lows and reduced highs, the noise gate section of the pedal was tweaked to match accordingly. It is still internally adjustable, so if you want a tighter gate, you can simply crank the control.

Check out the official video demo below:

To make this pedal behave more like an amplifier, Amptweaker equips it with effects loop, and three at that. It has a universal loop, a loop for active with boost, and a special “SideTrak” loop which activates when the pedal is off. These effects loop functionality allows for complex signal routing, allowing you to instantly add multiple effects like compressor, chorus and others that you only use when playing clean tone. You can even use it to switch to another distortion pedal for an alternate sound with just one press of a switch. It goes beyond basic effects routing and behaves like an advanced A/B box. LED indicators are also provided to let you know which effects loop is active.

Amptweaker adds, “Another cool SideTrak trick is that if you only plug in the SideTrak Send, and don’t plug in the Return, then that Sent dry signal can be sent to another amp…..meaning you could have the FatMetal Pro going through a 412 halfstack while sending the clean tone to a Twin or some other clean amp. All this ability comes from two simple jacks on the side of the pedal!

Other features of the new Amptweaker FatMetal Pro include LED illuminated controls, true bypass switching and the internals are protected by a 14 gauge steel housing. For more information, you can head over to Amptweaker.

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