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The S21 is housed in a custom stainless steel casing.

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• Review

The name TwinStomp might be new to us, but this UK-based company is gaining a reputation for its line of pedals. The most recent is the dual-channel S21 Overdrive.

Unlike a lot of boutique builders, TwinStomp makes its own pedal casings. So bid farewell to the generic project box, and say hello to a cast stainless steel lump of a housing. It has four rubber feet, which can be removed, turning the existing 'ears' into mounting holes if you want to bolt it to a pedalboard.

TwinStomp has also designed a patent-applied-for battery holder, so getting the juice into the pedal doesn't involve any screwdrivers or fiddly battery flaps. Instead, there's a metal keyring-style loop attached to a plastic cable-tie.

"We're impressed with the sound of the overdrives, which take you from a smooth clipping to a thicker blues sound."

The battery presses into place, and you pull the metal ring to pop it back out. Easy.

The S21's first channel offers less gain than the second, but both can give a clean boost if you want to drive the front of your amp harder. We're impressed with the sound of the overdrives too, which take you from a smooth clipping to a thicker blues sound. TwinStomp says that channel two has more 'edge', but it's a subtle difference to our ears.

It is an overdrive rather than a distortion, but the second channel could benefit from having slightly higher gain. But still, if you're after a 'drive pedal with character, this is worth a try.