Mi Audio

I was a huge fan of the Crunch Box V.2 pedal for years and I probably bought and sold 3 or 4 of them. It was an addicting pedal. A lot of overdrive pedals boast this kind of feature set. The traditional tone, volume, gain controls with the "marshall in a box" sound. In fact it's become such a popular theme in overdrive pedals that there's almost too many to count. UTILIZATION I am a big fan of marshall or "british" overdrive tone so I am always on the lookout for the best marshall flavor pedals. In the past my favorites have been the crunch box, the Catalinbread DLS, and the Radial hot british tube overdrive. A lot of people also like the Fulltone OCD but there are so many versions it can get confusing knowing which to get. The 3rd revision of the Crunch Box doesn't look too much different than 2. I've got to say it feels a little cheaper than the old ones. Time will tell how reliable it is. It seems solid enough. The jacks I'm afraid might go on me eventually. SOUND QUALITY The big problem with these marshall style overdrives is they generally fall into some flavor of either plexi or jcm territory. The plexi ones tending more more dynamic classic rock tones and the jcm style pedals going for the 80's thing. Some pedals like the DLS try to do both. I feel like the Crunch box is somewhere in between. Think hot-rodded plexi tone. It has a very pronounced upper midrange. Even more than the 2nd version. I haven't tried adjusting the internal trim because I think I'm pretty happy with where it is now. OVERALL OPINION These have gotten more expensive as they have gained popularity. I remember when it was a pretty under the radar pedal. I would say in the under $150 range it is one of the best marshall style overdrives you're going to find. Honestly there are so many flavors nowadays that you just have to choose one you like. I feel the crunch box is best for the heavier AC/DC Zeppelin tones. It's not quite modern enough for the high gain 80's stuff but it does have gain on tap..don't be mislead. Great pedal. Try it.

I’ve spent the last thirty years on tour buses, stadium stages, and in lock-out rehearsal studios tuning, setting up, and signal-routing guitars for guys who sell out arenas in every genre imaginable—from heavy metal shredders and pristine Nashville session cats to blues legends and arena-pop headliners. I’ve seen every rare, ultra-boutique, hyper-hyped drive box pass through my workbenches. Most of them are marketing fluff. The MI Audio Tube Zone (Version 2), however, is a completely different species.If you ask any top-tier tech who actually curates tone for the world's most demanding players, they’ll tell you the exact same thing: this circuit is the absolute peak of overdrive engineering. It is, without reservation, the single best, most unsurpassed, and most highly sought-after gain box ever built.What makes the Version 2 an absolute, non-negotiable must-have for an elite rig comes down to its unbelievable architecture:True 4-Stage Tube Topology: Most drive pedals cheat using one gain stage cranked into mud. The Tube Zone cascades four distinct clipping stages—exactly like the preamp section of a multi-thousand-dollar custom valve amplifier. The feel under the fingers isn't "pedal gain"; it’s dynamic, breathing, organic tube saturation.The Unrivaled "Character" Control: This is the secret weapon. It adjusts the low-end response before it hits the drive circuit. You can dial it back for surgical, hyper-tight palm muting on an aggressive metal rig, or open it up to give a vintage Strat single-coil massive, harmonic "momentum" and weight. No other pedal on Earth gives you this level of structural authority over your fundamental note tracking.Infinite Rig Matching: With its dedicated Mid, Bright, and balance Controls, you can throw this thing in front of a dimed British stack, a bone-dry American combo, or a pristine solid-state house rig, and it instantly shapes itself into the dominant tone in the room.When my high-profile clients ask me how to get that liquid sustain, rich touch sensitivity, and endless headroom without lugging a wall of vintage modification-heavy amps across six continents, this is the exact box I lock into their signal chain. Every single player who has stepped on one—no matter how snobbish or particular about their tone—refuses to give it back.The Version 2 Tube Zone isn't just a pedal; it is the ultimate tone-shaping weapon. If you consider yourself an elite player or collector and you don't have one on your board, your signal chain is simply incomplete.