If you’ve listened to any album in the past decade or so, if it sounds particularly heavy/awesome, Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou is probably behind it. Nails, High On Fire, Every Time I Die, Trap Them, Torche, Kvelertak and of course Converge are some of the band’s he’s engineered or produced albums for. And anyone that’s got a producer’s ear will be able to tell his sound. Now, if you’re halfway decent at soldering and have $40 to blow, you can build a distortion pedal – from his business card.

It’s a legitimate circuit board, and if you have basic soldering skills, as he says, you’ll be able to build the “Brutalist Jr.” It’s a simpler version of “Brtalist,” that will be released next year under the GCI name. In short, if you’re a guitarist that’s also a hobbyist, pick up the most awesome business card ever from Ballou and get to building! In the comments, Ballou says that he’s been blown away by the excitement over his cards, and is working on a way to be able to ship them out, which he initially claimed he wouldn’t do. 

 

Let’s build something together. If you see me at a show or on the street or whatever (I won’t ship these), ask for my business card PCB. It’s free. If you have decent soldering skills, $40-50 to spend on parts, and can follow directions, it can be used to build an awesome distortion pedal! This circuit, called “Brutalist Jr.” is a simplified, yet no less brutal version of “Brutalist,” a pedal based on the Providence Stampede I’ll be releasing in 2017 under the GCI moniker. Thank you to my friends at @dunwichamps and @snkpedals for helping develop this. Paint job on the prototype by @brutalsquid #gci #godcityinstruments #brutalist #brutalistjr #stampede #runitsastampede #diy #buildsomething #businesscard #pcb #businesscardpcb #solder #distortionpedal #diyordie

A photo posted by Kurt Ballou (@godcitymusic) on Nov 26, 2016 at 6:07am PST

[via Metal Injection]

Bram Teitelman

See Full Bio