The Moreland 202 distortion machine is based on the nigh-inimitable Interfax Harmonic Percolator, with a few Moreland tweaks. For this run from Dec 2021, they’ve used old stock OC72/2n281 and Fairchild 2n3565 transistors, along with increasingly hard-to-find 1n695 diodes, which are the correct original part for a strong octave effect.

Each of these machines have the potential to sound different than each other, and interact drastically differently with guitar, pickup selection, pedal stack, and amp. At once you’ll notice a fierce, unforgiving upper midrange bite, with a lower octave undertone supporting your notes as you move up the fretboard, almost like a reverse-octavia. Dialing back the knobs transitions unruly, mangled chaos into a surprisingly usable overdrive tone. Use it like a Fuzz Face and roll your guitar’s volume back for slinky, jangly overdrive with the roar a mere touch away. There are many sweet spots here, The knob on the left controls the overall volume output.

The 202 ships with a 9V battery and will last a veritable geological eon in such a low-current circuit. Otherwise, regular center-negative 9v power supply is fine.