PHILEBRITY

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Somewhere In A Secret Lair In Philly, A Totally Sweet Stompbox Factory Is Being Born

The names alone are a study in the semiotics of the stompbox: 
MEGALITH · MAGNETAR · FREQUENCY~LSD · HEAVY MACHINE · HUGE BOX II · DECOMPOSER · RUCKUS II · BEHEMOTH II
Simple, yet obviously coming from the cave-dwelling life of obsession that has, for decades, characterized the singular mission of the stompbox fanatic — to take the guitar places it has never gone before, places where no one ever thought it might go, to gleam the stoned immaculate cube of sound. 

Mountainking Electronics, based "in an underground laboratory located somewhere in Philadelphia, PA," states the mission in a more direct fashion: "SONIC CONQUEST OF THE PLANET EARTH." And? Well, so far, so good. Though the crew at Mountainking has been tinkering around for a good while now, one gets the sense that they're about to break through in this admittedly boutique yet strongly international scene. This week, the upstart began to roll out more info on its Frequency–LSD pedal with no less than Pew Fellow/guitar wizard Chris Forsyth doing a series of demo videos. Your standard Tube Screamer or Rat this is not. No, no: This is something else entirely. This is Planet Earth!