12 of the Best Sunn Model T Style Drive Pedals

The highly coincidental similarity in look to the Black Hole notwithstanding, this seems to be very much its own circuit - and while currently out of stock as such - it still sounds a decent proposition courtesy of Daniel's instagram which has a brief video taster per the above. This would seem to be slightly lower cost Thant the Coda Effects Black Hole equivalent, and you might prefer the bright orange enclosure to the black. For me personally it does not really make sense to own both this and the longer established Coda Effects Black Hole which I already have.

I first came across Benoit Meijer's Coda Effects courtesy of his tap-tempo Tremolo pedal the Montagne. As I already had a full quotient of tap-tempo tremolos - I was switched onto the other two pedals he was offering, and soon acquired both his Dolmen Green Russian Style Muff and Black Hole Sunn Model T circuit replica. All three of his pedals are really great sounding - and especially beautifully documented on his site. The only improvement I can recommend for the Black Hole is that the LPB toggle switch be rather upgraded to a second footswitch - like on the Ground State Devices Model T - otherwise I'm very happy with my one current representative of the genre!

I covered Delcam in my fairly recent Spanish Pedal Builders article - obviously an amp builder first and foremost - but with 3 cool medium-enclosure pedals in its line too - including the 7-knob California Doom. This introduces a separate Boost level control in addition to the usual 6 controls for this genre - and of course deploys a corresponding second footswitch. I usually much prefer vertical medium enclosures, but really don't mind the California Doom in this format. Of the extended feature ones I'm probably still more likely to side with Zander Circuitry's forthcoming Terra Firma.

This is evidently a clone of the EQD Acapulco Gold - possibly using the same LM1458 OpAmp as that one too. I have the Orion Russian Muff with Mods pedal from this same builder - whose quality is really decent. This is obviously significantly lower cost that the original Acapulco - but it has a smaller dial - which is surely half the fun!

It's rather amusing that we're getting similar pairs appearing in this listing together - first the Orion and Black Hole, and now the Sunny and it's original inspiration - the Acapulco Gold. This pedal has been the EarthQuaker Devices pedal on my wishlist for the longest time - as mentioned in the intro - its fortunes vacillate back and forth for me. This is a simplified 'inspired' by Model T using the LM1458 Dual OpAmp as already mentioned - you just get the one big dial, and you use your guitar's Volume and Tone controls to further fine-tune the output! By it's nature it's rather raucous and not particularly controllable as such - which is why I'm currently leaning probably more towards the Sizzorfite variation on this - which adds those few controls needed to properly tame this beast. That said this is a perennial EQD favourite - and it really sounds great if you like that sort of full-on demeanour!

So this is the same builder I acquired the cool Dude Incredible Harmonic Percolator + IVP pedal from - and is generally best known for its Longsword and Dagger Distortion pedals. This is a fairly typical 6-knob transistor circuit replica which seems to be pretty well received. For this slightly larger form factor I would have thought we could have had a second 'boost' style footswitch at least. For my purposes I get more functionality out of the smaller format Black Hole - so that would typically be my preference here.

UPDATE! - It seems I was a little short on some of the more salient details here. The Model feT is actually pretty unique in being the only Model T style pedal that wholly emulates the complete amplifier topology - including the phase inverter and output stage, The additional circuitry required for all that is why this pedal is of its slightly larger dimensions. Other similar and more compact editions typically only create the preamplifier gain stages. For the Model feT - the simulated power amp helps higher gain settings sound richer and fuller - and also provides more interaction between the tone stack and overall gain level and structure like what you would get with a real tube amp.

This is another classic 6-knob JFET variant of the Model T with the classic accepted control topology but no further clipping or boost options. It's generally very well received and is widely considered one of the best of its type. Of the vertical medium formats though I would probably more likely side with the Kenny B or Zander Circuitry variations as they give you a little more versatility.

So this is the second time in quick succession I feature this less-well-known British builder - who once had some of these for sale but seemingly not that recently. He references the Coda Effects Black Hole video - so one might surmise he is using one of Benoit's boards? He's done the clever thing though of enabling the LPB switch as a second footswitch - which is what I feel Benoit should also do default on his own assembled Black Hole. So this looks like a slightly more idealised form factor of the Black Hole - if you can get your hands on one that is! Note that Brite and Normal Channels are labelled here as simply One and Two.

This is the one I've most recently seen reviewed - courtesy of Pedal of the Day - seemingly a standard sort of Black Hole style configuration in vertical enclosure by Canadian builder Kenny B. According to his Reverb.com shop the last one of these sold approximately 6 months ago and there is nothing currently listed on the Kenny B store. On closer inspection - the toggle switch seems to be a Channel selector rather than boost - presumable to select Normal or Brite or both together. So something of a different configuration for this type of pedal - and all the better for it - increased versatility is always good in my book.

This Australian builder may or may not still be active - there seem to be a few Giant Sound pedals in distribution - but they vary enormously in price. I found one listed in Excellent condition on Reverb.com for about £185 equivalent which seems about reasonable. This looks like another JFET style replica in classic 6-knob configuration. You have plenty of options at this form factor - so I guess pricing and availability plays a significant part too. Here the Brite and Normal Channels are simply labelled Gain I and Gain II.

The Acapulco Gold has always been a great pedal - but it's somewhat raw and wild - and could probably do with a couple of controls or to just tame it a little or fine-tune is as it were. And this is exactly what Sizzorfite Studio has done here - in splitting out the original One knob to Pre Gain | Volume | Tone - and providing a 3-way tone selector which boosts different frequencies. There are many ways to tame the Acapulco Gold - via secondary EQ or Compressor or simply utilising your guitar's controls. But this obviously gives you finer control on the pedal itself - which can't be a bad thing. This pedal was recently discounted so I thought I may as well snap it up!

Alex Millar's forthcoming take on the Model T should be very imminent now - V2 circuitboards are in, final colourway has been selected (muted gold) and I guess now we're just waiting for the white ink screen-printed enclosures to start assembly. This is actually a fairly unusual take on this format - and utilises Alex's typical 6-way clipper within the overall circuit. Instead of the usual 3-band EQ, Brite, Normal and Volume we have quite different controls - Body | Shift | Tone | Level | Gain 1 | Gain 2 - with a second Gain 2 footswitch too. I did catch up with Alex at the Birmingham Guitar show, but didn't get around to asking how he'd gone about deconstructing the circuit for his take on the genre - I'm sure we will find out soon enough. There is a brief soundclip on the Zander Facebook page - and I will post up the first proper demo when when it comes through - this is certainly one to watch - as Alex is particularly good with these slightly more rawer sounding circuits.