The Womanizer and Demonizer have nearly identical features—the main difference being that the former is optimized for blues and classic rock sounds, whereas the latter boasts über-gain for those with a jones for heavier tones. The pedals look extremely cool, with illuminated Tube Stasis Chambers that shift from green to orange to red to indicate operating status, and a Magic Eye meter that changes brightness and swirls like a ’60s lava lamp in response to playing dynamics.

Both pedals have Level and Drive controls, along with a single Compression knob, and two sets of duo-concentric knobs that control the Bionic EQ (so called because its two sections are positioned before and after the gain stages). The Womanizer’s pre-preamp EQ boosts/cuts selected midrange frequencies, and its post-preamp EQ consists of Bass and Treble boost/cut knobs. The Demonizer’s pre-preamp EQ only boosts selected midrange frequencies, and its post-preamp EQ features a variable midrange Scoop and a fixed Treble boost/cut control. A Nuclear switch kicks in additional gain.

I used both pedals on sessions with a variety of guitars, plugged directly into a combo input on a MOTU 828mkII interface, and achieved good results all around. Having a midrange EQ before the preamp made it possible to goose particular frequencies in much the same way that you might with a stationary wah, and dialing in the wonderful-sounding compressor added everything from a subtle shimmer to full-scale sonic squash (and increased gain). The manuals contain examples of settings for basic sounds, which you can use as is, or as starting points for crafting your own tones. The clean settings produce significantly lower output levels than the distorted ones, however, so you should be careful when laying on the gain.

And gain is what these pedals are really all about. While they can produce some nice clean tones, both pedals excel at overdrive and distortion. The Womanizer dishes up fat rhythm tones ranging from glassy blues textures to AC/DC crunch to chunky power chords, and beautifully nuanced solo sounds from Gibbons-like squawk to, well, Claptonesque woman tones. The equally versatile Demonizer’s slightly higher EQ range and Scoop feature make it easy to elicit ’80s-style metal and ’90s-style post-punk voicings, though it delivers a tad less low-end oomph than the Womanizer.

Because there are no presets, and the various controls are both unusually wide-ranging and highly interactive, you’ll have to spend some quality time with these pedals if you want to unlock their full potential. But if you dig flexibility—particularly while pursuing your own killer tones—these Class-A hotrods won’t disappoint.