Vertex Effects Steel String MKII Clean Drive
Players like SRV, Eric Johnson, and John Mayer have been singing the praises of a rare 100-watt 6L6 Dumble Amp, the Steel String Singer, that achieved legendary status in the mid-1980s. And whether you're looking for a taste of Texas sweet tea or a return to Gravity, the Vertex Steel String Clean Drive MkII — now 33% slimmer and with an added trick up its sleeve — faithfully captures that "SSS" magic using an actual Dumble Steel String Singer #001
The Steel String MkII is dead-simple in its operation yet matchless in its rootsy mojo. With gain settings below 1:00, the Steel String Clean Drive MkII makes an incredibly versatile clean boost, with a Filter control to dial in how much of that D-style midrange shaping your instrument demands. Above 1:00, the Steel String Clean Drive MkII begins to sweeten your signal with vine-ripened drive characteristics matured in the California sun. Wide open, this pedal virtually breathes fire, with enough juicy gain to take you from Flavor Town well into Brown County. Optional 18-volt operation (adapter not included) nets you buckets of increased headroom — perfect for studio tracking or pairing this pedal with a vintage amp. All the while, true bypass operation preserves your dry signal whenever you don't have the Steel String MkII engaged, which, if you're anything like Sweetwater's testers, is pretty much a nonissue, since you'll never want to turn this thing off. The Vertex Steel String MkII is assembled in California and comes in a rugged brushed metal housing with an authentic D-style Level knob.
WHAT's NEW IN THE MK II?
- Slimmer, lighter profile — Analog enthusiasts rejoice! The Vertex Steel String MkII manages to pack all the vibey analog tone of the original into a slimmer, sleeker stomp — a reduction in size of roughly 33%. That means you can fit even more D-style goodness onto your overloaded pedalboard systems.
- Voicing toggle — One added feature the MkII brings to the table is the Jazz/Rock toggle. This helps thicken up cleans and tighten up overdrive tones to supply an even wider range of SSS voicings.