Back in January 2020, Korg captivated NAMM attendees with its Nu:Tekt OD-S – a neat overdrive pedal that you had to assemble entirely by yourself, but with no soldering required.
Naturally, the novelty behind the pedal, along with its impressive set of tube-like overdrive tones – we awarded it four stars when we gave it a go – made the OD-S a popular piece among pedal fans who sought to get both stompbox-assembling expertise and solid sonic performance.
Now, Korg has introduced two all-new Nu:Tekt build kits to join its flagship OD-S: the HD-S Harmonic Distortion and TR-S Power Tube Reactor.
Just like the original build-it-yourself kit from Korg, each pedal boasts a solderless design for easy assembly, and comes accompanied with all the tools required to take it from box to stompbox as quickly as possible.
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No time frame has been given for the assembly of both these pedals, but since the first Nu:Tekt offering promised a speedy 45-minute build time – something we confirmed when we built one ourselves – we imagine it’s a similar story this time ’round.
Another returning design element is Korg’s patent-pending Nutube technology – found in the TR-S Power Tube Reactor only – which promises to give guitarists the “feel of a tube amp even when recording or playing through a transistor amp.”
The basic design layout is also loosely the same – each pedal features four control knobs, a bypass footswitch and LED light – though this time out Korg has equipped each unit with a small screen and three additional internal parameters.
In terms of stompbox-specific specs, the HD-S compiles three different distortion circuits that supposedly deliver “never-before-heard harmonic distortion.” Whether that’s actually the case remains to be seen, but Korg says the HD-S can be used with guitars as well as other instruments, making it fairly flexible.
Notably, the harmonic distortion was created in collaboration with Fumio Mieda – the brains behind the Jimi Hendrix-favored Uni-Vibe – which labeled the HD-S as “a new kind of distortion based on harmonic synthesis that covers both traditional and all-new sounds.”
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Such tones are dialed in using external Volume, Tone, Gate and Gain controls, while a trio of internal trimmer pots help adjust the balance between each distortion circuit.
The TR-S, meanwhile, vows to serve up tube-like compression and amp-style tones by way of its Nutube, which is said to operate “exactly as a triode vacuum tube.” In practice, it promises rich overtones and the same dynamic response as conventional vacuum tubes.
Control-wise, the external knobs are for Volume, Power Sag, Tube Gain and Mix – which goes from Direct to Tube – while the internal trim pots take care of Tone, Sustain and Threshold.
There’s no official US price just yet – only a UK price point of £199 – but since the OD-S currently weighs in at $299, we imagine these new offerings won’t be far off that.
For more information, head over to Korg (opens in new tab).
