Mr Wu's latest Sinvertek N5 MGAT-1 Marshall-focused Hyper Preamp is the most Majestic Distortion Pedal made to date!

I’m not normally this effusive, but I’ve been been really blown away by the latest Sinvertek pedal. It’s essentially the 5th in the series - and I have them all! It’s been fantastic witnessing how this format - which already started really strong some 7 years ago - has managed to hone and improve its concept time after time. And you can only describe this latest incarnation as Majestic, Epic and Magnificent.

At one level it gives you incredibly authentic flavours of all those key and legendary Marshall Amps - but it delivers even more beyond that. And it’s a genuine heavyweight High Gain Distortion candidate. I’m well into the process of my ’32 Best Compact Heavy Metal Pedals’ project - and while there are some really impressive contenders within that listing - none really get close to the range and dynamics of the MGAT-1. I will surely run out of superlatives to describe it!

Many of those exposed to this format for the first time have noted the complexity of control topology - and at first hand it can be a little intimidating - but it’s actually relatively easy to configure and adjust - just start with all those toggles in the middle position - except for TOP END - which should be on VINTAGE [DOWN], and MID RANGE - which should be on MID [DOWN].

With everything largely in the middle it already sounds fantastic and then you can simply ramp up or down from there. Note that the pedal doesn’t remember which was the last Channel you were on - and it always defaults to the GREEN CRUNCH CHANEL - which is the simplest and most linear - the GAIN STRUCTURE and SATURATION switches don’t apply the CRUNCH - it’s just a single easy linear gain scale.

Note that the ’S.DESTITY’ switch which I refer to as ’CHARACTER’ is there basically to adapt the pedal to your Amp - depending on whether it’s darker, brighter or within normal range. You can try each of those settings - it always sounds best for me in the [MIDDLE] ’POWERAMP’ setting so there it stays!

The knobs are all pretty straight forward - Volume, Gain, Presence, Treble, Mid and Bass - i.e. 4-Band EQ, while some explanation is required for the 8 x 3-way toggle-switches :

TOP END - MODERN [UP] is sharper and more aggressive - great for Dual Rectifier, 5150 and Soldano style tones, VINTAGE [DOWN] is that classic Marshall feel, and OFF [MIDDLE] kind of rolls off those brighter sparkly frequencies. I tend to use it in both [UP] and [DOWN] positions for different applications.

LOW END - Essentially How Much Bass goes into the circuit - TIGHT [MIDDLE] is the least amount, then MEDIUM [DOWN], and FULL [UP]. As I currently mostly use this for higher gain applications - I have it fairly liberally parked in the Middle / Tight position. If you’re on the CRUNCH Channel mostly though - you may want to ramp it up a little.

S.DESTITY - This is what I call ’CHARACTER’ where you’re essentially adapting the pedal to your Amp - depending on whether it’s Darker, Brighter or somewhat Neutral. I always try all settings initially, and for me - it sounds best in the [MIDDLE] POWERAMP setting. DARK CLEAN is [UP], and BRIGHT CLEAN is [DOWN].

GAIN STRUCTURE - Interestingly this does not apply to the CRUNCH Channel, but only OD1 and OD2 Channels - where you can set the degree of gain in terms of LOW [UP] | MEDIUM [MIDDLE] | HIGH [DOWN] - where it’s easiest to start with this in the middle - and you can then ramp up or down as is required.

MID RANGE - A sort of semi-parametric element for the ’MID’ band control - where you can select if you’re targeting HIGH | LOW | MID - frequencies - where for Marshall styles you get the most mileage with it set to ’MID’ [DOWN]. 

GAIN STAGE - This toggles the Channels in either direction - Previous/Next - CRUNCH [GREEN], OD1 [ORANGE], OD2 [RED].

GAIN SATURATION UPPER - Sets the degree of Saturation for OD1 Channel - [Middle ’0’] is LEAST, [RIGHT ’*’] is MORE, and [LEFT ’+’] is MOST!

GAIN SATURATION Lower - Sets the degree of Saturation for OD2 Channel - [Middle ’0’] is LEAST, [RIGHT ’*’] is MORE, and [LEFT ’+’] is MOST!

Each one of these dials has significant range - and there are incredible amounts of Gain, Volume and EQ onboard.

In terms of fully tweakable High-Gain Pedals that you can work your way up through the Gears - the MGAT-1 really has no equivalents.

And while the CRUNCH Channel is 1 linear scale - OD1 and OD2 have 3 GAIN STRUCTURE / GAIN LEVELS, and then 3 Levels of SATRUATION - so each has 9 gears as such - which when combined across all 3 Channels means you have 1 + 9 + 9 Gears - or 19 Levels of Gain!

This pedal is so articulate and amp-like that it almost makes mockery of anyone else claiming similar. It can go from elegant cleans - to the most Brutal Crushing Distortion - and it does it all with a smile! Pretty much wherever you turn those dials you get superior designs - there aren’t many demos out yet - but the one or two that are most definitely attest to this pedal’s greatness. If you’re into Marshall Tones or High Gain - you simply can’t buy better than this today in my opinion!

That all this happens inside of a compact 1590B style enclosure is something of a technological miracle - ’Look Upon Ye Might and Despair’!

We haven’t seen the ’all sold out’ notice yet, so presumably some are still available - note that mine is very proudly #2 of 250 - these retail for $350 via the Sinvertek Site - you need to contact them via email - officialsales@sinvertek.com with all your pertinent details - and they will send you a PayPal invoice. You really don’t want to miss out on this one!