ZINKY TRUE GRIT
Bruce Zinky is a mysterious figure in the
music gear industry, mostly because
tracking down his info can be difficult,
and not because he lives in a cave, far
away from the Internet. Before starting his
own company, Zinky was an amp builder
at Fender’s Custom Shop before starting
his own company in 1996. The man has
released two pedals in that time, the Master
Blaster and the True Grit. The Master Blaster,
while a great pedal in its own right, is a
boost, whereas the True Grit is an overdrive
and boost in one. When plugging into the
True Grit, players will notice that there is
a knob for Gain as well as Grit. The Gain
knob functions like one would expect, and
the Grit knob adjusts the amount of uppermidrange harmonics. It’s a pretty unique
control that isn’t found on many other
pedals. The “boost” is more like a channel
switcher in that the footswitch toggles
between high and low gain modes—the
Boost side certainly doesn’t sound like a
boosted version of the main tone, that’s for
sure. Without the Boost engaged, the True
Grit does what it sounds like; it’s a nice,
balanced overdrive that won’t muck up your
amp, and the tuning ability of the upper
midrange harmonics is a nice touch—the
unit is clearly made for users that typically
don’t shop for effects pedals in pawn shops.
However, because of the virtual obscurity of
the name, that’s where they show up—quite
the paradox. At any rate, hunters shouldn’t
pay over $60 for a piece of the Rooster
Cogburn signature overdrive.
12
TONE TALK //
SOMEHOW THESE
WEIRD PIECES
GRAVITATE TO
PAWN SHOPS,
FROM GREY
CARPET-COVERED
CRATE AMPS
TO OFF-BRAND
DRUM KITS AND
EVERYTHING IN
BETWEEN.”
“
5 Pawn Shop Scores: Overdrives