SanJune Gladiator Distortion Guitar Professional Effects Pedal

I’ve been on the hunt for a great Distortion/Overdrive and believe I have a winner here. The build quality was good. The controls are simple and the pots all turn smoothly and don’t feel cheap or likely to break any time soon. Plugging in, the input and output both clicked into place solidly. It only took a few seconds to get a good lead tone. The drive and sustain was perfect for my style (classic and alt rock). So no complaints there. After noodling around and playing with the controls for 20-30 minutes it seemed that the gain, even at its lowest setting was still a little heavier than I prefer for my base guitar tone. I was a little disappointed…until my wife asked me to turn it down. When I did, using the guitar volume, the tone cleaned up beautifully. This is exactly what I was looking for. No need to stomp a switch. I could go from a satisfying rhythm tone to a satisfying lead tone (with the perfect amount of volume increase) with a simple turn of my guitar’s volume control. My Super Reverb and Princeton Reverb can also do this, but at volumes that can be “inconvenient,” to say the least. Now I can get that same effect at any amp volume. Cost-wise, the price was fair @89. More than your typical Chinese product, but the quality is also better than average. It’s too early to say this will be a classic, but it’s off to a great start.

I played this for 5 minutes and was impressed. I really like the voicing of the gain. It can go from a subtle breakup to full out heavy metal territory. From what I hear it’s reminiscent of a Plexi type amp. Through my modded Agile Single cutaway dual Humbucker guitar, I got early Clapton “Cream” tones. I also boosted it with an MXR ZW44 and it worked great. I also tried a Modified OD, but it was a bit too heavy in the higher midrange. The build quality is excellent for the price. I have a Diezel VH-4 2 pedal, Blackstar Metal LT pedal, and a Joyo Dark Flame that I use as my main distortion pedals. They all do a certain sound well, but none really clean up for blues riffs. It is somewhat fuzz like, but more on the other end of the spectrum leaning more on crunchy overdrive. This Gladiator Distortion hangs with more expensive drives and adds some versatility. I’m surprised there isn’t more reviews. If you read all of this review, don’t think about it anymore, just buy it!

Unique, versatile, and a great sounding pedal. The gain knob is subtle until you turn it to about 3 o'clock making this pedal work great as both an overdrive and a stand alone distortion pedal. The tone controls have noticeable but not drastic variances. Once you turn the gain up to 3 o'clock the distortion becomes something resembling a Marshal with heavy gain and a Klon overdrive. Very pleasing sound that works well with Classic, 80's rock and modern heavy metal. Turn down the gain and you will get a smooth sounding blues lead sound that has a nice unique tone. This pedal instantly found a permanent home on one of my pedal boards. For reference I used this on a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, a Bugera Infinium V22, and a Boss Katana MKII 50W

I do not own an original AD Gladiator, but I do have a few Klons including a 1:1 clone, and several Plexi pedals like the Friedman. This thing is SICK! The mid knob reacts well, and this thing is a beast when stuck in front of a fuzz pedal. The all-metal construction makes me very happy, I was scared the faceplate was going to be plastic. Good job, Leeky and SanJune!

absolutely great sounding pedal. It can do everything from light plexi sounding drive to really thick drive sounds. When boosted with an overdrive (tube screamer mini) it tightens up great and can even do some chugging tones. The build quality is where it really got me. The knobs have this feel when turning them. Sooooo smooth. Hope to get more pedals from this company.

Very easy to use and great warm sound.

I took a chance on the Gladiator distortion pedal. Glad I did. Was looking for a heavier distortion for ZZTop like tones. I am very pleased with this one. Replaced the MXR Badass on my board. Pedal looks great , and sounds better than I hoped.