If you like the Bondi Sick As Overdrive but you wish it had more gain and more face-melting saturation, the Sick As High Shredroom is the answer. Bondi developed it in collaboration with Earthling Designs as a purpose-built high-gain variant, pushing the gain circuit almost past sensibility (their words, and they’re not wrong). The same DNA is there: internal 18V boost for headroom and clarity, the active Bass and Treble tonestack, the two-way mode toggle. But the gain floor starts higher, the midrange is reshaped to open up the top and bottom end, and the whole thing hits harder from the first turn of the Gain knob.
Controls
The panel runs left to right: Gain, Bass, Treble, Level. That order matters because Bass and Treble are active controls with up to 15 dB of boost or cut each, so dialing in a distortion voice here is more like shaping an amp than trimming a tone stack. You can scoop the mids by boosting both, or push presence by rolling Treble up while keeping Bass moderate. The Mode toggle (a small two-way switch on the left side of the enclosure) shifts between a more open voice and a tighter, more compressed one.
In the demo above I’ve set up sweeps for the Gain (both toggle positions separately), Bass, Treble, and the Mode toggle, so you can hear what each control actually does across its range.
How It Sounds
The three static presets show the spread well. Crunchy Chime keeps the Gain at 2 with the Treble cranked to 8 and the Mode switch in the open position: there’s still crunch and grind here, not clean tones. This is as subtle as the High Shredroom gets. Meaty Growl pushes Gain to 7 with Bass and Treble both at 7 and 8 in the compressed mode, which is where the low-end expansion really shows up: thick, grinding, and still articulate. Fat & Saturated takes Gain to 8 in the open mode with moderate Bass and Treble shaping, and that’s where the pedal leans into all-day distortion territory.
Pick attack matters here. The 18V internal boost keeps the headroom honest, so the dynamics don’t collapse into mush at higher Gain settings. The notes stay separate even when it’s saturated, which is what lets the active EQ stay useful rather than just smearing frequencies.
Sick As High Shredroom vs Sick As MkIII
The Sick As MkIII is the sibling and the natural comparison. The MkIII is a Klon-topology overdrive: transparent at lower gains, punchy and responsive, with enough headroom to sit under a clean amp and push it. Its gain floor starts near clean and the feel is overdrive throughout the range.
The High Shredroom is a different animal. The gain floor is elevated by design, the minimum setting is already crunchy, and the tonestack is tuned to support saturation rather than transparency. Bondi widened the top and bottom end specifically because distortion needs different EQ shaping than overdrive does. If you use the MkIII as your always-on drive and need a second pedal that goes way further into distortion territory without switching brands or voicings, the High Shredroom makes sense as a natural extension. If you need a pedal that cleans up when you roll back the guitar volume, look at the MkIII instead.
Who It’s For
This is a pedal for players who want high-gain distortion that still responds to how you play. The active tonestack makes it adaptable across single-coils and humbuckers, and the Mode toggle gives you two distinct characters without tap-dancing. It works for rock, metal, and anything that needs grinding saturation with controlled low end. If your ideal distortion is smooth and scooped, the tonestack here can get you there, but the voicing leans toward articulate and aggressive rather than wall-of-fuzz. Players who want their drive pedal to also cover clean tones should stay with the MkIII.
Specs
Circuit: high-gain variant of the Sick As overdrive, developed with Earthling Designs
Internal boost to 18V for maximum headroom and clarity
Controls: Gain, Bass (active, up to 15 dB boost or cut), Treble (active, up to 15 dB boost or cut), Level
Mode toggle: two-way switch for open or compressed character
Soft touch true bypass
Current draw: approximately 65 mA
Gain sweep never reaches fully clean; minimum is a crunchy starting point
Signal Chain
Fidelity Guitars Stellarosa Lite II with Lollar Firebird pickups (neck pickup)
