Henretta Engineering Guitar Effects
I’ve been obsessing over guitar equipment since my early teens, and now you get to benefit from the decades of tweaking. Back in 2008, I started to look for a good, versatile distortion pedal that complimented the nice sound I was getting from my vintage amp and didn’t break the bank. I had been down this road many times before. I always found that I had to compromise dynamics in order to get the singing sustain I was after. The result was typically a lead sound that was too smooth for my taste and a rhythm sound that was either too dark and smooth or too bright and fizzy. So I pulled out the soldering iron and used my many years of experience in custom manufacturing and electronics to develop a distortion stompbox that gave me everything I needed.
The result of my endeavor is the Choad Blaster. The circuit has a unique dual-voiced gain structure to allow a wide palette of mild overdrive to heavy distortion sounds by tweaking two knobs - one for deep low-midrange distortion and the other for high-mid crunch. The pedal walks the line between distortion and fuzz and has been regarded as one of the more open and musical dirt boxes available. In the past three years, I have developed more stompbox designs and mods, including a line of very small no-knobber pedals. Check the various sections of the site for more information, and remember that all of the fun and excitement is in the journey.
Rock On!
Kevin Henretta
Hand Built Guitar Effect Pedals
Artist Endorsements
I’m Charlie Singleton, lead guitarist of the group CAMEO. It used to be “The Bigger The Better” but Henretta Engineering has proven that it’s not always the size of the dog in the fight, but rather the fight in the dog. With their new line of effects cubes, space is no longer a problem on your pedal board because they fit just about anywhere. I’m not one for doing stretches before a gig just to reach some of my effects pedals, which is why the Orange Whip Compressor and the Crimson Tremolo fits perfectly into my setup and the quality is unsurpassed. Check out the full line of Henretta Engineering effects pedals and you’ll see why these little babies are the next big thing.
Other Artists Using Henretta Engineering Pedals
BRIAN WOOTEN, guitar player for country artist, Trace Adkins, uses an Orange Whip compressor.
PAUL CHAPMAN, bass player for country artist, Colt Ford, uses a Choad Blaster.
Introducing The Emerald Prince Preamp
The newest no-knobber, The Emerald Prince Preamp, is now available for direct purchase and will soon be available through dealers. The Emerald Prince (EP) packs the legendary preamp circuit from the old Echoplex EP3 units into a tiny 2x2 stompbox. Check out the products page for more info. Here’s what a recent customer has to say about it.
“I love the Emerald Prince! I had an old EP3 at one point, and have tried the Xotic EP Booster and the Clinch FX EP-Pre. Yours seems closest to the actual unit, and I like it better...So far I’ve tried it with a Les Paul and a Telecaster into a BF Princeton Reverb – it sounds awesome. Smooth and full.”
