Westminster Effects' 2716 Seth Morrison Signature Distortion Pedal is a really capable reproduction of his mainstay Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Revision F Amp

I’ve been meaning to post this one for a while as it’s been out for quite a few weeks already. Readers should know that I’m a fan of heavier sounds too and I love my high gain pedals. To be perfectly honest I wasn’t aware of Seth Morrison before this - lead guitarist for band Skillet - where it turns out I actually quite like a lot of their output - and in particular ’Feel Invincible’, ’The Resistance’ and ’Sick of It’ - a really talented and unique band in their makeup - with the killer Jen Ledger on drums - who also doubles up on vocals with lead vocalist and bassist John Cooper - whose wife Korey Cooper is the band’s keyboard specialist, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist.

I thought I had covered Westminster Effects a couple of times - but it’s only the once so far - their 1689 Clean Blend Overdrive which sits in that selection. They’re probably most famous for their always on preamps - the Vox-style Geneva and Fender style Augsburg - which have no Footswitch or Bypass as such - hence only good for those who permanently use those sounds or else deploy a midi / looper-switcher.

Seth Morrison obviously favours PRS guitars - in particular Mark Tremonti signature guitars - but a few more besides. While his mainstay Amp has been the Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Revision F - which the 2716 is largely an emulation of.

The ’2716’ I believe is connected to numerology and ’Angel Numbers’ where the addition of those numbers eventually leads to a lucky number ’7’ - which is supposedly symbolic of ’Creating your Future’ or in effect being ’Future-Ready’.

There aren’t actually that many solid Mesa Dual Rectifier pedals out there - while several adjacent varieties can cover those tones. I mostly use my AMT R2, REVV G4 and Wampler Triple Wreck for those kinds of tones - but there are other suitable candidates - the Amptweaker Tight Metal varieties, Blackhawk Sauron, Custom Audio Art Ultrasonic, DOD FX101 Grind, Klirrton Oh My Goat, Lichtlaerm Gehenna, Mesa Engineering Throttle Box, Mooer Micro Preamps 008 Cali MK3 and 011 Cali-Dual, Mooer Preamp Model X X2, Tone Ink Raven, and Toneczar Openhaus EQ - to name but a few.

I always like to see 3-band EQ on my metal pedals - to be able to squeeze the most textured output out of them - and it’s always nice to have Resonance and Presence too to beef things up and give you more bite.

Controls - Gain, Presence, Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble.

So a decent control topology here - with universally good reviews. Mileage can vary of course based on your own particular setup and amp - but I’m pretty impressed with what I’ve heard so far. I’m always on the look our for beefy high gain varieties and this looks and sounds like a really decent contender.

It’s really well-priced to at $149.99 - and available of course right now from the Westminster Effects Webstore. Will most likely be my first Westminster Effects pedal!

It would be great to hear from you heavy metal fans as to which is your favourite Dual Rectifier Style Pedal - the more insights the better!