The Balrog

📦 Ships instantly from our US warehouse in Ohio.

🔥 One-Off Alert!

Jason at QuirkFX only makes one of each pedal — ever. This is the ONLY Balrog in existence, and once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.

You! Cannot! PASS! (...up this chance for a great pedal)
Dual Overdrive and Distortion, covers everything from light breakup, blues, rock, heavy grind, and more. Either pedal on it's own has a versatile range, but when stacked the earth shakes and bridges fall.

The right (or "Gandalf") side tweaked version of the ubiquitous green overdrive, with classic mid-heavy tones that you’d expect but with more gain, volume, and tones available than you ever thought possible.

On the left side ("The Balrog") is a high gain "Mashall-in-a-box" drive/distortion, if you're chasing the "Brown Sound".

Brought together, they are an epic battle between light and shadow!

Right Channel: “Gandalf” (drive)
Tone - As expected, brighter to the right (like when Gandalf drives off the Nazgul with the light of his upraised hand) and darker to the left (as when he uses the Black Speech to make his point to the Council of Elrond)
Drive - More as you turn it right.
Volume - Lots on tap. Will depend on Gain Mode as well as where you set the drive.
Blend - Pulls in your clean signal to mix with the overdriven.
Toggle - Changes the clipping, just giving you a choice.

Left Channel: “Balrog” (distortion)
Volume - As with Gandalf, you can boost way beyond unity.
Drive - More to the right gets you more. (like a flaming sword and a “many-thonged whip”).
Bass, Mid, Treble - Full tone stack. Dial in anything you wish. (More shadow, less flame?)

Middle Footswitch - Order switcher for when both circuits are engaged. Do you want Drive into Distortion or vice versa? No wrong answers here. Plenty of debate online about which is best, but that’s all theoretical. Trust your ears.

Made In Chicago, USA

From The Builder: 
A middle school teacher with a workshop in my basement, spraying things in the garage when weather allows. My daughter taught me to solder in 2019 (after being in robotics club in high school....NERD!), and I've been building pedals ever since. The circuits are based on existing pedals (I'm always up front about which), but it's the finishing that's quirky, with unique (occasionally odd) designs. Minor imperfections are par for the course and part of the charm.

Each design is one-of-a-kind, which means NO ONE ELSE will ever have this pedal but you. Hope you enjoy!