Gearnews picks three pedals to chase Mk.gee's guitar tone

Gearnews published a guide on 23 October 2026 to Mk.gee's guitar tone, naming three pedals that, combined, aim at the lo-fi sound heard on “Two Star & The Dream Police”: the JHS 424 Gain Stage, the Boss CE-2W and the DigiTech Drop.

According to Gearnews, the foundation is his fingerpicking and a Fender Jaguar strung with six flatwound D'Addario Chromes taken from a seven-string set. The guitar also carries a Roland GK-2A pickup feeding a Roland VG-8 guitar synth, and photos of his pedalboard have shown, among others, a Chase Bliss Mood, a Rainger FX Reverb-X, an Empress ParaEq and a Boss DD-20. The preamp of a Tascam 424 multitrack recorder sits at the end of the chain.

The JHS 424 Gain Stage recreates that preamp's distortion and is listed at $244, £219 or 259 euros. The Boss CE-2W, which Mk.gee uses in its CE-1 vibrato mode, supplies worn-cassette wobble at $211, £193 or 225 euros. The DigiTech Drop, a polyphonic pitch-shifter, stands in for a baritone guitar when set five semitones down; it costs $129, £119 or 139 euros.

The order Gearnews suggests: guitar on the neck pickup, then the Drop, the CE-2W and finally the 424, with any reverb pedal placed before it.

Mk.gee is an American singer-songwriter and producer, born in 1996 in Linwood.