There’s something immediately satisfying about the Trainer TS-15 MkII. It nails that raw, spiky Canadian solid-state amp tone with an energy that most preamp pedals can’t touch. Drunk Beaver captured the exact circuit of the original Traynor TS-15 combo and runs it at ±15V internally for around 30V of headroom, giving you all the punch of the real thing. This isn’t trying to be smooth or refined. It’s deliberately rough around the edges in the best possible way.
The panel runs left to right across the top: Bass, Treble, Gain. Below those sit Master on the far left, then the EQ toggle and Input toggle toward the right. That toggle pair is where the MkII earns its keep. The EQ switch flips between ISS4 (the original’s weightier low-end response) and ISS6 (tighter, brighter, with a different mid-scoop), essentially giving you two different amp revisions in one box. The Input toggle offers Normal and Low settings, perfect for accommodating hot pickups or backing off when you’re stacking it with other dirt.
In the demo above I’ve set up sweeps for Bass, Treble, Gain, EQ, and Input so you can hear what each control does in isolation. The five fixed presets cover a good spread: Juicy Amp Drive, Rhythm Crunch, Meaty Preamp, Fuzzy Drive, and Spongy Fuzz.
The Gain knob has serious range. The Rhythm Crunch preset (Gain at 6, Bass at 2, Treble at 3) shows how tight and focused the low end stays even when you push the drive. Crank Gain to 10 and shift to the ISS6 voicing on the EQ toggle and you get the Fuzzy Drive territory: fatter lows, brighter attack, and a sag that creeps toward fuzz without ever becoming one. Meaty Preamp sits at a middle Gain of 5 with the Input toggle on Low, which opens up the sound and lets the Master do more work.
What really sells this pedal is how alive it feels under your fingers. The higher voltage headroom means your picking attack translates directly into the output. Dig in and it barks, ease off and it cleans up without losing that characteristic edge. It’s killer running into a clean power amp or effects loop return as a full preamp, but I also love slamming it into the front of a tube amp for that solid-state-meets-tube grind.
The JHS Pedals Colour Box V2 is the other preamp pedal that often comes up when people are shopping for something with genuine amp character. They’re different beasts. The Colour Box is a Neve 1073 console circuit: smooth, wide-frequency, studio-smooth saturation that polishes whatever you run through it. The Trainer TS-15 MkII is a guitar amp circuit that grinds. The Colour Box has a parametric EQ and sounds like a very expensive recording chain. The Trainer sounds like a real solid-state amp being pushed hard.
If you want something that adds warmth and sheen and works beautifully on bass, vocals, or keys too, the Colour Box is the call. If you want something with garage rock teeth that specifically captures a particular amp’s voice at full tilt, the Trainer wins that fight.
Punk, grunge, and garage rock are the obvious homes for this pedal, but it works for anyone who wants their tone less polished and more dangerous. The ISS6 voicing adds enough midrange bite to cut in a band context, and the ISS4 voicing has a thickness that fills out a smaller rig. Running it into a power amp or cab-sim for direct recording is a genuine option thanks to the internal ±15V headroom.
If your ideal is smooth, compressed, and articulate, this isn’t your pedal. It has teeth, attitude, and that unmistakable solid-state bite that defined so many classic punk and indie records. The lifetime warranty backs every unit Drunk Beaver ships.
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Get detailed specs on Drunk Beaver's website
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