Front-of-amp gain stacks · input → Badger front

Five Drive Stacks

Five complete front-end recipes — exact knob positions, in chain order, into the front of the Badger. Each one is a different lead character; the amp and wet settings stay roughly as your bedroom-lead reset, so you only re-dial the dirt.

Fixed chain order: Guitar → SP Comp → Venus → SD9 → Butter → AC+ → Badger front. Each stack just changes which boxes are on and how they're set. Clock positions = a knob face (7:00 = min, 12:00 = noon, 5:00 = max).

What you can change & why

Gain amount

More gain ≠ better lead. Past noon on most of these you lose note definition and pick dynamics. If it feels lifeless, add sustain (SP) or amp Drive, not pedal gain.

Stacking order

Lower-gain pedal first sets the base, higher-gain second adds the lead lift. Reverse two pedals and the second one re-clips the first — try it, it's a free extra tone.

Tone / treble

At bedroom volume roll pedal Tone back (you can't feel the lows, so the highs read as harsh). The amp Treble carries the cut instead.

The lift pedal

AC+ on = always-on smooth lead boost. AC+ off + use the Badger MOSFET footswitch = harder rhythm-to-solo jump. Don't run both flat-out or it gets brittle.

Guitar volume

Every stack here is set with the guitar on full. Roll to 7 and they all clean up — that's your rhythm/lead control without touching a pedal.

Compression

More SP Sustain = more bedroom "hang" but less attack. Back the Blend toward dry to get the pick definition back. It's the sustain/attack trade-off dial.