StewMac Two Kings Boost Dual Overdrive Pedal

Sounds great!

This overdrive pedal works very good. I have no idea if it sounds like the original but it's very good

Mike Sr.

November 10, 2025

All the Tone without the 5 year wait.

I’m a tightwad when it comes to gear. It’s

my hobby not my living.

I’m on the 5 year list. The price is why I bought the 2Kings. It was just an incredible deal with my points. The StewMac pedal is really good. Awesome quality, sounds great, no buzzes.

I have a NUX Horseman and a Behringer TO800 over drive. Without adjusting the internal switches on the 2Kings I can dial the sounds of the 2 Kings in with those.

I have the 2Kings second on my board behind my Smiley. It does great things running into my Grunge and into Magus PRO. It stacks great my other overdrives currently on my board too, a Double Barrell, Horseman, NotaKlon, and Screamer.

I am very satisfied. StewMac known for quality, and great warranty.

If I had waited 5 years for these sounds it would have been a big disappointment.

I would get the 2Kings now and avoid the wait.

Great versatile pedal

I've known of StewMac for years as a supplier of high quality luthier tools and guitar parts. I wasn't aware that they made pedals as well. Most of their pedals are available as kits that you can build yourself if have the time and skills but I opted for one that was already assembled. This is a very flexible pedal that not only includes six knobs on the front of the pedal but also has four DIP switches and two trim pots on the inside. At first I wasn't sure how to adjust the internal controls so I contacted StewMac and they sent me the information I requested the very next day. That's great customer service. I believe the information sheet they emailed me comes with the kits but is not included with the pedals. At any rate it was just what I needed.

This pedal is like two pedals in one with separate controls for each channel on the front and separate controls for each side internally as well. You can use either channel of the pedal alone or click both on to feed one side into the other adding to the functionality. The DIP switches allow you to adjust for a clean boost, overdrive or distortion for each channel. The trim pots allow you to adjust the high frequency response. It can get very bright and reminds me of a JCM 800.

This pedal is a clone of a particular pedal that goes for much more money so the value is excellent. The outside of the pedal has the usual controls we're all familiar with but I think it could take some time to find your sound with all the options available including the DIP switches and trim pots.

There were only two issues that I had but maybe they are just specific to me or how I had the pedal set up. The first one involves the two indicator lights for the foot switches. One is red which is great but the other is white and I found it to be overly bright, especially when getting close enough to adjust the knobs. The other thing I noticed is that the volume controls seemed more logarithmic than linear with most of the volume increase within the first part of the turn. Again maybe it had to do with the way I had the pedal setup. At any rate I know I'm going to get a lot of use out of this pedal and it makes my small 15 watt tube amp a real screamer.

Red and White, for the Blues!

This pedal really does it all for boost and distortion. There are two types of clipping. One is the old Soft style clipping used in early fuzz boxes. It uses germanium diodes that are very rare these days. The other clipping is the Hard style using silicon diodes. This style is much more prevalent in hard and metal rock these days. This pedal give you the option for both. It is incredible!

This is two pedals in one. They are connected in series. The left side has a White LED, and right side has a Red LED, Now when you open up the pedal and turn it over, the Red and the White naturally on the opposite sides.

Given that, there are extra controls inside. Each has DIP switches and an internal potentiometer. I kept getting confused on the Red and White sides, so I diagrammed an attached photo.

Here's the description from Stewmac on the internals.

Internal Trim Pot

Adjusts brightness of the signal.

Counterclockwise → Brighter tone

Clockwise → Darker tone

DIP Switches (one set per side)

All switches down → Clean Mode

Switches 1 & 3 up → Overdrive Mode (soft clipping)

Switches 2 & 4 up → Distortion Mode (hard clipping)

Note: More clipping = lower output volume

Before you touch anything on the inside, be sure to take a picture so you can return things back should you ever need to.

These internal brightness pots are like what old tube amps uusedto call "Presence". This adds clarity to the high end. In the pedal I got both sides were turned all the way CCW. There is plenty of room to darken this down iif it suits you. Use a small screwdriver and don't overtighten it.

Switches 1 and 2 were up on mine. That is both Soft and Hard clipping turn on - on the Red LED side. Hard clipping on the Red followed by Soft clipping on the Red. Soft clipping after hard clipping actually does sound different than expected. It plays/feels different also. It something that has to be tried to hear and feel it. Your own style will know it. The touch of how you play can really come through in this mode. You're always going to get some clipping but the soft clipping comes after the hard clipping. Try it, and try different settings, as it is up to how you play to get the feel of this.

Switches 3 and 4 were off on mine. That is the White side, and in this mode only "Boost" is on. Boost will give some tone/distortion as well. I think this is actually a great way to set the White channel. Get the boost to sound good, then use the Red side for clipping.

With just the knobs on top, there is a massive range of tone this pedal can deliver. You can really get a custom tone and feel by adjusting the internal pots and DIP switches.

Both sides can be set to clipping resulting in a massive effect. As they mention, when you raise the clipping you'll need to "lower the output volume" to compensate. This also gives massive compression. Notes can hang on forever. It is unreal.

Stewmac gives a lifetime warranty on this pedal, and you can really tell by how well it is constructed.

Given the high functionality and the dual nature of this pedal it really is a significant value.

Highly recommended!

Loose solder

This is a high quality overdrive/boost pedal that is highly versatile. It has very high sound quality, and doesn't introduce any noise, at least with a good power supply. This pedal is unique from my other drive pedals because it has a distinct crisp treble which adds a lot of clarity that cuts through the mix. There are dip switches inside which change the drive level from clean boost to overdrive to distortion, and also rotary controls for the treble trim, so definitely play with those to tailor the pedal to your needs.

I'm taking a star off because there was a loose drop of solder rattling around inside the case when I got it (photo attached). This piece of metal could easily short something out and lead to a malfunction at best, or a fire hazard at worst. I've attached a photo of the inside so you can judge the build quality for yourself. Overall it's fine, but there were a few capacitors which were not seated flush to the PCB and were bent. There was nothing wrong with the functionality of the pedal. StewMac does offer this pedal as a DIY kit for less money if you're into that, but having the convenience of a prebuilt pedal is nice.

Awesome pedal

This thing showed up over the weekend. This thing delivered. It works as a boost, or you can use it to give yourself some good overdrive to the point of almost giving you some fuzz. It is so intuitive and easy to use. I wish I had found one of these sooner in my musical career. It works as well as any overdrive pedal I have and better than most because it has two different circuits that it can pass through. I love that it has a tone knob so you can adjust the tone on either of the circuits. The sound quality is great. It is in a metal housing so it feels like it should last forever. The cost is good for a quality pedal like this. I have only played around with it a little bit but I'm finding that it'll work almost as an EQ and a boost or as a drive pedal. You can also use it to remove some of the signal as I did in the video which allows you to crank up the drive on the other circuit and get some nice wet tones without being overly loud. The overdrive on it is really good. I can't find anything to complain about with it. It's a great pedal.

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Plug, Play & Tweak All Day

I love that StewMac now offers prebuilt versions of their pedal kits. They have amazing clones of classic pedals at an affordable price. They sounds amazing and the pre-built quality is way better than I could hand solder. The 2Kings pedal is my new go-to dirt pedal (other than my Russian BMP). My favorite part is the tweakability of the component settings. The trim pots affect the high end, while the DIP switches control the "harshness" - clean boost/distortion/overdrive. You can see the diodes that are used for clipping on either side of the DIP switches. Each channel can be independently controlled. I personally prefer the "Analongman" default settings, with one channel set to Overdrive and the other Clean Boost. The only thing that could make this pedal even better would be to add the toggle switches to the outside of the pedal enclosure, so you don't need to open it up to tweak the settings. I may end up doing this mod myself. If you've eyed these DIY StewMac pedals in the past, but weren't confident enough on your built skills to make one, this prebuilt version is for you! I can't wait to try and review other StewMac pedals in the future. Hats off to StewMac for this brilliant pre-built idea.

Amazing Analogman clone

This pedal is a clone of the legendary Analogman King of Tone pedal. If you are like me (patiently waiting on the multi year wait list for that pedal) this is an amazing option to hold you over. I’ve played my friend’s official King of Tone pedal and this one is a legit clone. I’d say it’s like 95%+ of the way there. However it is less than half the cost (if you can even get the real one) and it’s like 1/4 the cost of the resale market of the real one. So for the quality and price this thing is anfantastic option. It sounds amazing on its own, however, it really shines when adding it to a couple other overdrives (when I pair it with my wampler tumnus and Catalinbread dirty little secret I have myself a tone that makes me want to cry tears of joy). I have a few fender guitars and some gibsons too. A sweet spot in my set up is hitting this with my 335 through my fender Blues Deluxe. The build quality of this thing is top notch - metal casing and very solid. Since it’s a double pedal it does have a larger footprint than many other pedals, but that’s to be expected since it’s a double. Hitting on either the left side clean boost or the right side dirty gain this thing will make your guitar sing. This is going to be an always on pedal for me and if my name is ever called off the Analogman waiting list I’ll have to re-evaluate if it’s worth getting the real deal or just keep using this one.

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