JCA MACHINE HEAD PEDAL

VIDEOS

Customers say

"Plugged in the pedal and got started. Wow, Ritchie Blackmore's sound from the albums Machine Head, Fireball, and Made in Japan is really achievable with this thing. Always important to me: great mids, pleasant highs. The distortion (with 25% more gain than the Limited Purple Edition) is awesome. Even when the gain knob is turned all the way up, there's no muddiness. No loss of treble when turning down the volume on the guitar. I've had to give back many OD pedals because of loss of treble and contour. The pedal was tested on a “Career by Felleretta” 5W combo, ENGL Fireball 25, and Boss Katana Head Gen3 via a 1x12" Thiele box Celestion Redback. Man, Stefan, this is really a top-notch pedal. I had a musician friend visiting me who, of course, also played the three pedals. He wanted to buy them from me. But he has to order them himyself! :-) Since you've put so much heart and soul into the pedals, I'm sure your Twenty II will be just as good. When the time comes, I'll order one from you! Thanks again for the quick delivery! Best regards, Michael"

"Hi Stefan, I'm 73 years old and I've played guitar since I was 10. This is the best OD (Machine Head Limited Purple Edition), pedal I ever had! Great job! " Giancarlo, Italy

"Hi Stefan, I picked up the pedal and have already put it through a test. Apart from the fact that the potentiometers are very smooth and tight—but not too tight—and the design is very appealing, I'm simply thrilled with the available sounds. This pedal is a great help in approximating Ritchie Blackmore's playing style and getting closer to his ideal sound, especially with a Strat from the early seventies. So far, I've only been able to play through a Blackface Deluxe, and I'm really looking forward to the first run-through with my old JTM 45 half-stack. I'm also curious to see how the pedal will react to an upstream Xotic RC V2 booster. Thanks for your great work and the awesome Machine Head Limited Purple Edition! Best regards, Alex"

"This is one of the best overdrive pedals I have ever owned. Can you sound like Blackmore ? Yes, through a valve amp with the suggested settings (see inside box) and a little tweaking of the drive control. I also got a great Rory Gallagher tone from this pedal , just adjust your guitar vol/tone and it’s all there. Really inspiring to play through!" Paul M. from Liverpool

"Hi Stefan, got it yesterday. Shipping was fast and painfree.
I could tell straight away that you are right in that it captures the vibe of Blackie's sound of that era! Made in japan tone right away!!! YES!!
It’s a great pedal. You got the midrange just right, and like a good treble booster it cuts the boomy bass to.
Very well done Sir!🤩"
Conny Bloom (Electric Boys, Hanoi Rocks)

"Dear Stefan,
Thank you very much for the Machine Head pedal. It's really great, the tone is direct and assertive, yet singing and musical (in combination with the 2104 combo). I'll try the AC30 next...
Best regards, Helmut"

"Possibly the best overdrive I ever had...
M. B." (Guitar teacher and musician in Tokyo)

"Hi Stefan,
got the pedals (Texas Flood and Machine Head) and I love them! The Flood is awesome. Really amazing. I've been using a "Love Pedal Super Six”, which is also a really good pedal—but it doesn’t nail that “thing” the way yours does! Im going to order the 3rd pedal (JCA 45).
I have great respect for boutique builders like you! But again—great pedals these two!!!!

A few weeks later:
"Love the “Blackmore" sound and the Texas Flood is untouchable!!!!!"

Mark Mancina (Four-time Grammy Award Winning American film composer and Tony Nominated music producer))

"Hi Stefan, just a few words to let you know how much I am happy with my new pedal ! I met, just like you, the Blackmore incredible sound in 1972 when I bought my Deep Purple Fireball album. I was 14 years old. I learned by myself “Strange kind of woman” on a cheap acoustic guitar, note by note, the chords and the guitar solos. The sound was not there of course, but with the imagination, the fun was there. Today, after so many years without any success, I had the luck to get your Machine Head pedal. It is over all my expectations! And the delivery ran perfectly. As we say in Canada in French : du bonheur, du bonheur, seulement que du bonheur!"

"That's your awesome Machine Head pedal in action from our gig yesterday (sent me a video). I got so many compliments about my tone yesterday, thanks to your pedal. That's going into a 100% clean Peavey Classic Mini head. I'm soooo happy with my setup now. That MACHINE HEAD is incredible. It feels like a tube amp and behaves like a tube amp."

"This pedal sounds amazing. Possibly my favourite overdrive!"

Now I’ve had the MACHINE HEAD for about 6 months, and I’ve tested it with my different amps (Fender 68 Custom Deluxe Reverb and Vibrolux Reverb, Li’l Dawg «Top Dawg»handwired Bassman). I was looking for a pedal that would give me that early 70s Blackmore sound, I’ve looked and searched for years, now my tonequest is finally over. The MACHINE HEAD together with my 1977 Strat and Li’l Dawg amp (and also the Fender amps) totally nails Blackmores Machine Head and his Live from New York sound, but is also very close to Burn and Stormbringer. This is the absolute best pedal I’ve ever had for that particular sound, and I’ve tried them all:) It’s even better sounding than my Vox AC30/6TB with BSM HS-C Treble Booster, and that is almost the setup Blackmore used during the early 70s. In the future I may order another one.

"I have been Blackmore fan since I was 14 years old. He changed my musical DNA. I cannot understand how you made that pedal sound so good. So much like a tube amp!
Mate, I tell you that machine head pedal is a miracle. It replaces a tube amp! Great work!

"Hi Stefan
Hope you're well. I had my 2nd rehearsal using your machine Head pedal yesterday. What is that pedal doing??!!! It's magic mate!! The tone I have now into my cleanish BlackStar amp is amazing. It sounds so much like a tube amp. And feels like a tube amp as well! I have a tone to die for. I'm so happy with my rig now - thanks to your pedal!"

"I received your Machine Head pedal today. Wow! I have to congratulate you! It is amazing brilliant. The tone is pure Blackmore. Can be sweet, can be aggressive and it's so dynamic! It responds so well to the guitar's volume control. It is so amplike! A masterpiece! Well done. You deserve to sell loads of these and recognition too. Thanks for creating it! "

"Plugged into my Vox AC30 and turned down the volume to give a clean sound. Connected the MACHINE HEAD with a little delay, and it sounds very similar to Mistreated, one of my favorite Deep Purple songs. I'm very happy with the pedal because it creates a fantastic Ritchie Blackmore sound. I also tried the MACHINE HEAD on my ENGL Ritchie Blackmore and although I never achieved Ritchie's tone with that amp, it sounds great with the MACHINE HEAD now. I'm very impressed with the pedal and very happy."

“Hi Stefan,
I'm extremely happy with the pedal. We recently had a gig. Afterwards, a pro guitarist in the audience came up and said I had a mega sound. I wish you every success with the pedal. Is there a picture of Ritchie in my pedal? I had not opened it yet :-) Best regards...”

"Hi Stefan. The pedal arrived and I tested it immediately. First of all: Absolutely great !!! In direct comparison to the BOD DELUXE, the MACHINE HEAD sounds even more present in my opinion. Another advantage of the MACHINE HEAD is that I can activate the pedal with one touch of the button. With the BOD Deluxe, it's a bit of a tap dance with the two switches. All in all, I'm thrilled with both pedals!
Best regards"

"Hi Stefan, you really nailed Richtie Blackmore's tone with the pedal. I had some doubts beforehand, but the very first note convinced me. It sounds absolutely authentic in front of my Fender Deluxe Reverb. The pedal is also convincing in front of my Blues Deluxe. In short: Great sounding peal! Best regards