Empress Heavy Menace Distortion Guitar Effect Pedal Empress Effects

The Empress Effects Heavy Menace distortion pedal is the latest piece of high-gain weaponry from the Canadian noise mongers at Empress Effects. With absolutely massive amounts of gain to tap into and advanced sound shaping tools, this versatile little dirt box can be dialed in from classic heavy rock tones to crushing high-gain metal distortion.

The Heavy Menace is an evolution of the Empress’ previous Heavy pedal with some upgrades in tonal tweakability and a smaller pedalboard footprint. “Heavy” and “Heavier” distortion modes are carried over from its predecessor with a new “Lite(ish)” to dial back the gain, if you’re so inclined. The typical tone adjustments are present and expanded with mid-frequency sweep, gate threshold, and a “Weight” control for additional low end manipulation. 

The beloved adaptive gate also gets its own dedicated stomp switch and the ability to accept a key input to trigger the gate with an external signal. This allows you to pipe in your pre-Heavy Menace guitar tone for exceptional consistency, or trigger creative gating effects by running drum machines, synths, or other audio sources through it.

The Empress Effects Heavy Menace distortion delivers maximum gain with maximum versatility for anytime you need to get heavy.

• Lite(ish), Heavy, and Heavier Distortion Modes
• Footswitchable Noise Gate
• Gate Key Input (1/8” TS or TRS)
• True or Buffered Bypass
• Advanced Programmable Options