MAESTRO

TOTAL GUITAR JUNE 2022
94
O
ne of fi ve new pedals
recently released as part
of Gibson’s Maestro
range, the Invader
Distortion can operate
with or without an internal noise
gate engaged and follows the
classic distortion pedal format
of Gain, Level and Tone knobs.
With Gain set to its minimum
there’s actually very nice
just-beyond-clean overdrive with
unity gain at around midday on
the Level knob, leaving plenty
left if you want to bring a boost
on with it. Advancing the Gain
knob minimally you’ll fi nd more
low-level raunchy drive but it
doesn’t take long until you are
getting into the fully-cranked
stack sounds and then on into
high gain distortion, full of
sustain and easily squeezed
out harmonics.
The pedal’s overall voicing is
very natural, with no obviously
hyped or subdued frequencies,
and the Tone knob is practical
– nothing extreme, it just keeps
the pedal’s core tone and sets
the degree of brightness where
you need it – we couldn’t dial
in a bad sound anywhere on
its arc of travel.
All that hi-gain stuff doesn’t
come without a degree of hiss of
course, but that can be eliminated
when you are not playing by
switching in the Noise Gate which
has an internal trim pot to set the
threshold at which it kicks in.
Straight out of the box that is
set to a median position, but is
easily altered by lowering the
baseplate and getting stuck
in with a small crosshead
screwdriver to lower or raise it,
its ideal position depending on
where you set the Gain knob
and your playing style. A tweak
to a higher threshold suited us
perfectly but it may take some
experimentation to get it
exactly where you need it.
It’s the icing on the cake
to what is a great source of
amp-style distortion.
Trevor Curwen
ORIGIN: China
TYPE: Drive pedal
FEATURES: True bypass
CONT ROLS: Gain, Level,
Tone, Hi/Lo switch,
Bypass footswitch
CONNECTIONS: Standard
input, standard output
POWER: 9V battery or
9-12V DC adaptor
DIMENSIONS: 84 (w) x
126 (d) x 60 mm (h)
CONTACT: Maestro,
www.maestroelectronics.
com
AT A GLANCE
THE VOICING IS NATURAL WITH
NO SUBDUED FREQUENCIES
TH
E G
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OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
USABILITY
MAESTRO INVADER
DISTORTION
Naturally-voiced distortion – with or without gain
£139
TGR358.gear_quick.indd 94TGR358.gear_quick.indd 94 20/04/2022 14:4320/04/2022 14:43