Silktone Expander takes the simple idea of a dirt box and blows it wide open. Three knobs and a voice switch unlock a massive palette of thick, textured drive - from subtle harmonic enhancement to rich, gritty overdrive that feels like your amp just sprang to life.
The design pulls inspiration from the aesthetic and vibe of our Micronaut line and the quirky magic of old Japanese dirt boxes that I’ve been obsessed with lately. The look, the feel, and even some of the tonal DNA tip their hat to that era while pushing it into new territory.
The first stage is a JFET-based 2nd harmonic generator that immediately adds body and depth. At its heart, a germanium transistor stage (inspired by the greats of the 60s) delivers that unmistakable chewy, colorful character. And at the output, another JFET is voiced to emulate the first tube in an amp so even when the volume is rolled down, you still get that saturated first-tube sweetness. Honestly, before adding the output stage I almost didn’t put a volume knob on this thing because it sounded too damn good cranked… so I built a whole stage to make sure it sounded just as good turned down.
The controls are minimal but deeply interactive.
• Gain takes you from low, asymmetric thickness to medium-gain grind that rounds into smoother odd-order harmonics as you push it.
• Choke sculpts the low end from huge and full to focused and aggressive.
• Volume balances it all without losing that amp-first-tube feel.
The three-way Voice switch fine-tunes the flavor:
• Left = dark and rolled off for higher gain settings.
• Right = bright, perfect for “always-on” sparkle.
• Center = the standard voice, colorful and balanced.
And here’s the kicker: while it can rip when you want it to, the Expander shines as an always-on pedal. With “choke” and “gain” set low and volume around noon, it just makes everything bigger, better, and more alive.
Call it a harmonic expander, distortion expander, or tone expander - whatever you call it, the result is the same: your sound, expanded.
—Charles Henry
The design pulls inspiration from the aesthetic and vibe of our Micronaut line and the quirky magic of old Japanese dirt boxes that I’ve been obsessed with lately. The look, the feel, and even some of the tonal DNA tip their hat to that era while pushing it into new territory.
The first stage is a JFET-based 2nd harmonic generator that immediately adds body and depth. At its heart, a germanium transistor stage (inspired by the greats of the 60s) delivers that unmistakable chewy, colorful character. And at the output, another JFET is voiced to emulate the first tube in an amp so even when the volume is rolled down, you still get that saturated first-tube sweetness. Honestly, before adding the output stage I almost didn’t put a volume knob on this thing because it sounded too damn good cranked… so I built a whole stage to make sure it sounded just as good turned down.
The controls are minimal but deeply interactive.
• Gain takes you from low, asymmetric thickness to medium-gain grind that rounds into smoother odd-order harmonics as you push it.
• Choke sculpts the low end from huge and full to focused and aggressive.
• Volume balances it all without losing that amp-first-tube feel.
The three-way Voice switch fine-tunes the flavor:
• Left = dark and rolled off for higher gain settings.
• Right = bright, perfect for “always-on” sparkle.
• Center = the standard voice, colorful and balanced.
And here’s the kicker: while it can rip when you want it to, the Expander shines as an always-on pedal. With “choke” and “gain” set low and volume around noon, it just makes everything bigger, better, and more alive.
Call it a harmonic expander, distortion expander, or tone expander - whatever you call it, the result is the same: your sound, expanded.
—Charles Henry
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More stuff...
Fuzz+
$269.00
Holiday sale - 20% off pedals!
The Silktone Fuzz has been updated with a lot more available gain and some cool new features:
Read the premier guitar fuzz review - it got a perfect score!
Scroll down for demo videos!
The Silktone Fuzz has been updated with a lot more available gain and some cool new features:
- tone controls - these are part of the cleanup circuit so they shape the tone before heading into the fuzz. The bass shape goes from a tight and forward sound when turned down to full and round when turned up. The treble shape subtly rolls off the high end for a softer fuzz tone. The shaping is much more apparent at cleaner settings too.
- second footswitch - engages RAW mode bypassing the cleanup knob and tone controls to bring you back to full raw fuzz. This makes it a sort of dual fuzz to get a huge variety of sounds.
- updated taper of the “Cleanup” control is much smoother compared to the old version and the “Fuzz” control is much more usable now too allowing you to set post gain and shape the sound a bit or to set max fuzz level when cleanup is bypassed in raw mode.
- higher output volume than the original fuzz so it can be used to hit your amp harder whether in full fuzz or when cleaned up as a colorful germanium boost.
- updated power supply so the Fuzz+ can accept any 9V DC power source (center negative) and can be daisy chained with other pedals. An isolated power supply is no longer required.
Read the premier guitar fuzz review - it got a perfect score!
Scroll down for demo videos!
overdrive+
$269.00
Holiday sale - 20% off pedals!
“What is there to say about an overdrive? They’re everywhere. Didn’t want to re-invent the wheel, just wanted to make a wheel that could sound beautiful... or rip faces off. I’ve always maintained that the best drive pedal is the one that drives you to the store to get p90s and a real amp. I wanted to make one that made me eat my words.”
-Charles Henry
Scroll down for demo videos!
“What is there to say about an overdrive? They’re everywhere. Didn’t want to re-invent the wheel, just wanted to make a wheel that could sound beautiful... or rip faces off. I’ve always maintained that the best drive pedal is the one that drives you to the store to get p90s and a real amp. I wanted to make one that made me eat my words.”
-Charles Henry
Scroll down for demo videos!
silktone amp
$2,999.00
Read the recent amp review from Guitar.com - perfect 10!
Harmonic retention and ultra-low noise are the stand-out design feats with this one - allowing all of the good nuanced stuff that is lost on other amps to really come through in focus. The overdrive is soo thick and textured and the cleans are sweet and full even at lower volumes.
A huge range of tones are available with the silktone amp - “Chiffon” mode offers a variety of refined tones from it's TMB tone stack with wide-range Mid control. Cut the mids way back and you get a nice spongy American scooped tone – push the mids and your tone fattens up to the stylings of a bold & dynamic JTM. Push the volume to break up and get a harmonically complex & musical overdrive. “Raw Silk” mode bypasses the tone stack for a huge gain boost – you'll get an incredibly sweet and transparent sound at lower volumes showing off the nuances of your guitar and pedals – push the volume and you can get anything from raw crunch to thick fuzz-like distortion. All of this with a tube driven spring reverb that is as rich as it is versatile. With the combination of the 'Dwell' and 'Mix' controls you can get anything from a smooth & gentle echo to a huge drippy surf effect.
Output: ~12 W/~0.5 W switchable @ 8 ohms
Controls: Vol, Treble, Mid, Bass, Reverb Dwell & Mix, Tone switch for Chiffon (EQ Mode) and Raw Silk (Bypass EQ, Boost)
Tubes: 1 x 12AX7, 2 x 12AT7, 1 x KT66 , 1 x 5AR4
Transformers: Soursound
Speaker: 12" Silktone Ceramic
Dimensions: 21.25” x 18.5” x 10.75” @ 41 lbs
Follow us on Instagram! @silktoneamps
We are sold out of amps!
To get on the build list click here to pre-order.
Harmonic retention and ultra-low noise are the stand-out design feats with this one - allowing all of the good nuanced stuff that is lost on other amps to really come through in focus. The overdrive is soo thick and textured and the cleans are sweet and full even at lower volumes.
A huge range of tones are available with the silktone amp - “Chiffon” mode offers a variety of refined tones from it's TMB tone stack with wide-range Mid control. Cut the mids way back and you get a nice spongy American scooped tone – push the mids and your tone fattens up to the stylings of a bold & dynamic JTM. Push the volume to break up and get a harmonically complex & musical overdrive. “Raw Silk” mode bypasses the tone stack for a huge gain boost – you'll get an incredibly sweet and transparent sound at lower volumes showing off the nuances of your guitar and pedals – push the volume and you can get anything from raw crunch to thick fuzz-like distortion. All of this with a tube driven spring reverb that is as rich as it is versatile. With the combination of the 'Dwell' and 'Mix' controls you can get anything from a smooth & gentle echo to a huge drippy surf effect.
Output: ~12 W/~0.5 W switchable @ 8 ohms
Controls: Vol, Treble, Mid, Bass, Reverb Dwell & Mix, Tone switch for Chiffon (EQ Mode) and Raw Silk (Bypass EQ, Boost)
Tubes: 1 x 12AX7, 2 x 12AT7, 1 x KT66 , 1 x 5AR4
Transformers: Soursound
Speaker: 12" Silktone Ceramic
Dimensions: 21.25” x 18.5” x 10.75” @ 41 lbs
Follow us on Instagram! @silktoneamps
We are sold out of amps!
To get on the build list click here to pre-order.
Echonaut
$2,199.00
Echonaut builds on the legacy of the Micronaut, featuring an expanded circuit with double the power, tube-driven spring reverb, and oversized transformers for greater headroom and deeper low-end response - all packaged into a nice portable 10" combo.
Pre-order available in several colors.