Vancouver-based Aleks K Production Unleashes Two Stellar Sounding Distinct and Sizzling Lead Distortions for 2022 - one Re-tooled and Improved and one Brand New!

Controls - Low, High, Drive 1, Volume, Auxiliary High (Sizzle), Drive 2.

This is very much a Pro-pedal, favoured by luminaries such as Devin Townsend and requires some due-diligence and patience on dialling-in. There are a huge variety of tones onboard and the knobs are somewhat interactive in nature - particularly in how they deliver harmonics and compression - which means you typically need to adjust a few controls in tandem.

At the core of the circuit are 2 Drives :

Drive 1 - a Smooth, Hard, Dense and relatively Thick Overdrive / Distortion - particularly at high gain settings

Drive 2 - a slightly more textured Light to Medium Gain Melodic Overdrive

This pedal smartly delivers that fairly hard to come by 80's inspired Liquid Style Distortion - with cool sizzle on the edges - but otherwise relatively smooth - and still incredibly saturated and infinitely sustaining. The tune-in requires micro-movements of the dials to hit the perfect sweet spots - where for me the optimal voicing is achieved with Low at Minimum, High at circa 1 o'c, Drive 1 at circa 10 o'c, Volume at Max, Auxiliary High (Sizzle) at 2 o'c, and Drive 2 at circa 11 o'c. You have to tweak by ear and by touch - and it should be fairly evident when you hit that perfect Liquid Distortion tones - which so readily remind me of some of the best guitar sounds from the 80's. By dialling down the Tone volume on your guitar you also get the most amazing violin and cello-like tones. This really is a very special and distinct distortion.

I used to run my original Maple Leaf at 12V, and supplement it with downstream boost - courtesy of an open setting on the Strymon Sunset Treble Boost voicing (i.e. with minimal low-end reduction). The new edition doesn't need that quite so much - but I've gotten so used to using the two pedals in tandem - that it's proving to be a hard habit to kick. The new version sounds even more searing and sizzling than before - but still very much retains that essential character. I've opted to go with 9V power supply this time as I just love the textures it generates  and it still gives me that little bit more volume control that I so like.

There are numerous different voices to be found here by combining those dials in interesting ways - and Aleks K has an extensive set of recommended presets - as below.

The Maple Leaf is a really distinct distortion compared to all else that is out there; Alexander Pedals navigate sort of similar ground with their Hot Pink Drive - but those two are only really ballparks of each other and the Hot Pink Drive only really hints at what the Maple Leaf delivers so readily. The Maple Leaf is absolutely essential for me - it was and still remains the favourite of my Aleks K Distortions - and Aleks K's above demo is still my favourite reference for how great it can sound!

• All pedals are hand-built, numbered, personally signed and tested by Aleks K
• Super versatile Drive pedal with widest possible range of sound courtesy of 2 complementary Drive Gain Stages
• 6 easy to use controls
• Flexible 2-way Equalizer plus Auxiliary High / Sizzle control
• All components are RoHS certified
• Custom, heavy-duty, durable steel enclosures manufactured in Canada
• Incredibly Low Noise Floor
• Top quality components from the world's finest manufacturers
• Attractive Pearlized Violet metallic paint
• Canada-made PCB's with gold / nickel tracks
• Lead-free silver solder for better conductivity
• Heavy duty milled aluminium knobs
• True Bypass switching
• Durable Alpha footswitch
• High quality Alpha potentiometers with Dustcovers
• High quality IC Chips from Texas Instruments (USA)
• High quality diodes from Fairchild Semiconductors (USA)
• High quality capacitors from Vishay (USA) and Wima (Germany)
• High quality 1% tolerance Vishay/Dale military grade resistors (USA)
• High quality tinned oxygen-free copper wired (Canada)
• High quality in/out jacks from Switchcraft (USA)
• High quality power jacks from Kobiconn (Japan)
• Works from standard 9 or 12V DC [-] 2.1mm power supply
• Works from a 9V alkaline battery
• 2 years warranty
• RRP : $279 - available for order right now on the Aleks K Production Webstore

Controls - Low, Mid, High, Volume, Drive 1, Drive 2.

The 2 Drives are :

Drive 1 - a Light to Medium Gain Melodic Overdrive

Drive 2 - a Smooth and Thick Melodic Overdrive

This is a slightly more textured / grittier distortion than the Maple Leaf in the main - which very much has its own voice, with quite a different break-up character and frequency profile overall. All these controls are fairly interactive - like for the Maple Leaf - and also require dialling in a number of knobs in tandem.

My perfect tone here is significantly down the gain scale compared to the Maple Leaf - where the Mad Maple has an incredible timbre and texture with Drive 1 down as low as 8 o'c, and Drive 2 at around 10 o'c, I then have Low at circa 10 o'c, Mid at circa 2:30 o'c, High at c12 o'c, and Volume at Max.

Both the Maple Leaf and Mad Maple have very significant low-end content - which I mostly dial out with the Low control. Adding more Drive - also beefs up the low-end and adds more compression - which you compensate for with the EQ. 

I find generally that the different flavours are easier to dial in on the Mad Maple - where the addition of 3-Band EQ and Mid control in particular really helps balance the tone and texture.

It's somewhat a generalisation - but generally for the Maple Leaf my favourite settings are fairly high up the gain scale, while for the Mad Maple my favourite settings seem to be with both Drives set relatively low.

Both are described as Modern Lead Distortions - while I feel the former is very much 80's inspired too in that core tonality and cool sizzle. The really clever stuff here is the numerous combinations of the two Drive Gain Stages - which deliver almost infinite sonic possibilities. For me the Mad Maple is easier to dial in while the Maple Leaf is still my reigning favourite overall.

I am delighted to own both as they are not really like anything else out there - these are very distinctive sounding Drives / Distortion and do some really interesting things with compression and breakup artefacts in particular - courtesy of the various combination of the two Drive Gain Stages. Their price-tags reflect their overall superior quality approach - you really can't buy better made pedals than these!

They are at their best for searing, sustaining / singing individual lead notes and melodies versus more rhythmic riffage. While the Mad Maple still works pretty well for rhythm duties and chords - not so much the Maple Leaf!

I know there are a large number of Aleks K fans out there - and I would of course be most interested in hearing your own insights on how best you deploy these pedals!