Fender expands its pedal range with the Dual Pugilist Distortion and Dual Marine Layer Reverb

Fender has unveiled deluxe editions of two of its most-popular effects pedals, with the Dual Pugilist Distortion and Dual Marine Layer Reverb housing a very respectable feature set that expands on the originals.

The Pugilist and Marine Layer were part of a six-pedal launch back 2018 when Fender's vice president of product development, Stan Cotey, led Fender's pedalboard offensive. As they return, what's new?

Well, once more, both pedals feature all-original Fender circuit. While these dual editions are a little bigger than the original models, they still look fairly compact, and arrive in the now-familiar anodized aluminium enclosure with LED-backlit knobs.

It's funny that the Dual Pugilist Distortion now has the "Dual" assignation because the Pugilist was always a dual distortion pedal, with two gain engines and a blend knob to combine them. Here, however, we have three modes of operation to expand upon this theme – Mute, Series and Parallel – and a newly designed 2-band master shelving EQ. 

These additional modes allow for some options on how to construct your gain. You can stack them as you would two separate pedals, you can run one as your main tone and layer the other on top for, say, a big chorus riff, or you can blend the two distortions with each other or your clean sound until you find the right texture of breakup, from subtle heat and crunch to something a little more hostile to an easy listening audience.

The Dual Marine Layer Reverb, meanwhile, boasts three reverb types, which you can assign to two channels on the pedal, each with their own  damping, time, pre-delay and level controls, and access via two independent footswitchable settings. 

Fender has introduced a Sustain footswitch to the party for creating a wash of atmospheric bedded reverb trails you can play over. Whether you use it for top-quality hall and room verbs to switch between, or go off-grid with some modulated 'verb, it's sure to cover a lot of ground.

The Dual Pugilist is priced £179/$229/€199 while the Dual Marine Layer will cost you £194/$229/€219. Both ship in October.