Jack White’s Third Man Hardware and MXR have collaborated on a special two-in-one boost pedal that combines a pair of Micro Amp circuits in one compact guitar effects pedal – and Reverb is offering it as an early limited edition release in an exclusive yellow-on-black enclosure.
For a player with such a Willy Wonka sensibility when it comes to pedalboard curation and his electric guitars, the Double Down is as simple as it comes – and yet it is a very clever twist on the boost pedal, splitting the incoming signal from your guitar into two and running it between two independent circuits.
It has two dials, both oversized, both yellow, and both controlling Gain, making us think of an alternate universe, a better universe, a happier universe in which all dials on all pedals control gain and gain alone. But what this allows players to do is clever.
We want to make things that appeal to people from all kinds of genres, and a Micro Amp like that has a vast appeal to people for all kinds of applications
Jack White
Under each gain dial there likes up to 26dB to hit the front end of a guitar amp and make it sing, while a phase switch on the left-hand side of the pedal gives you a stereophonic effect by inverting the phase of the second output signal. A yellow LED lets you know when the stereophonic phase mojo thingame is active.
With two boost circuits, there are of course two outputs, so you can use this one boost pedal to add oomph and a healthy amount of welly to two separate signal chains – ideal for a dual-amp setup, and the small enclosure format will make it a no-brainer for many players who are running short on ‘board space.
“We want to make things that appeal to people from all kinds of genres, and a Micro Amp like that has a vast appeal to people for all kinds of applications,” White says. “You could see people using this for vocals or some kind of stereo effect for instruments.”
The Double Down also features switchable bypass, so you can run this buffered or true. And if you miss out on this limited edition run via Reverb, which is priced $169 / £189 and available now, there will be another run, with black text on a yellow-painted enclosure.
Now, all these specs are great, but what’s better is watching Jack White demonstrate the pedal’s capabilities, playing through his custom blue sparkle Fender Telecaster, and making some seriously gnarly sounds.
For more details, head over to Reverb, or to Third Man Hardware.
