Michael Klein Audio Design Painkiller Distortion

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The Painkiller was initially built for Sonny Reinhardt of Necrot. While in the studio recording Necrot's "Mortal", Sonny used a vintage pedal that he found favor with. As we talked about it, we discussed its issues, room for improvement, as well as wanting to increase its flexibility. And thus, Painkiller was born. Painkiller can be used both as a full-on distortion pedal or as a boost. Because of its voicing, it also works great doing both duties into a distorting amp.

Controls

Top row:

MASTER: this is the master volume for the pedal. As you turn it up, the volume increases.
Generally, I recommend running this control quite high (if not maxed), as that helps the pedal meld more with your amplifier.

VOICE: 3-way toggle switch that voices the pedal's natural low midrange and tightness in a manner independent of the tone controls. Center position is the pedal's "stock" position and is both the tightest percussively and has the midrange voiced highest. In the UP position, the midrange voice is shifted slightly lower, and the pedal's attack and tightness are also slightly dampened. In the DOWN position, the pedal's low-midrange voice is very emphasized, and pick attack and percussiveness are decreased.

Voice is extremely helpful in voicing the pedal to your particular guitar/pickups/tuning/amplifier.

DRIVE: controls the distortion in the pedal. As you turn it up, the pedal becomes more distorted.
Note that this control is very interactive with the MASTER!

Bottom row:

HIGH: controls the high frequency content of the pedal.

MID: controls the mid frequency content of the pedal.

LOW: controls the low frequency content of the pedal.