JAM Pedals Tiny Amp Destroyer Stu Mackenzie King Gizzard Signature Drive Pedal
The JAM Pedals Tiny Amp Destroyer (TAD) is a collaboration with Stu Mackenzie of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, created to capture one of the strangest and most distinctive sounds in Stu’s rig: two JAM Boomster clean boosts pushing a tiny, cheap pawn-shop amplifier far beyond what it was ever designed to handle. Crunchy, boxy, buzzy and deliberately unruly, that small amp became part of the sound Stu had been developing across recent KGLW recordings. Rather than simply creating another distortion pedal, JAM Pedals tracked down the same type of amp and recreated the point where it begins to fall apart. TAD uses two independent gain stages, G1 and G2. G2 handles the lower-gain side while the hotter G1 pushes into more driven and distorted territory. Run them individually or stack them together for dense, heavily saturated sounds. Active Bass and Treble controls provide boost and cut, while the MAGIC switch shifts the response toward the character of the original small amp and the Notch control progressively introduces a more scooped, hollow and boxy voice. There’s also an independent treble booster based on the JAM Pedals Rooster, positioned before the gain stages so it can tighten the low end and change how G1 and G2 react. An internal DIP switch provides Full and Standard booster voicings, and the booster can also be used independently. For live use, TAD includes a G1 Global Bypass mode, allowing G2 and the treble booster to remain engaged internally while G1 becomes the master switch for the complete sound. Finished with artwork by Jason Galea, the visual artist behind much of King Gizzard’s unmistakable aesthetic, the Tiny Amp Destroyer was tested by Stu during KGLW’s Athens residency. After trying the prototype, his response was simply: “you nailed it.” He then used it for the remainder of the tour. • Official JAM Pedals × Stu Mackenzie / King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard collaboration • Inspired by Stu’s tiny Cash Converters amp pushed by two JAM Boomsters • Two independent gain stages: G1 and G2 • G2 covers lower-gain drive; G1 delivers hotter drive and distortion • Stack G1 + G2 for heavier saturated tones • Independent Rooster-based treble booster • Internal Full / Standard treble booster voicing switch • Active Bass and Treble controls with boost and cut • MAGIC switch for small-amp-style response • Notch control for progressively scooped, hollow and boxy voicing • G1 Global Bypass mode for live switching • True bypass • Jason Galea artwork • 9V DC centre-negative power • Maximum power consumption: 90mA • Input impedance: approx. 500kΩ with Treble Booster OFF / 50kΩ with Treble Booster ON • Output impedance: <5kΩ • Dimensions: 14.5 × 12.4 × 5.9cm • Weight: 511g