Deputy Distortion: Iconic British distortion that live and breathes

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DEPUTY DISTORTION brings to your DAW the authentic sound of an iconic '80s British distortion unit, neurally-modeled to perfection and with several bonus features not found on the original hardware. Like a full amp-stack-in-a-box, it's capable of crunchy edge-of-breakup tones all the way to the head-ripping "British roar" - wonderful on guitars but equally usable for synths, drums, vocal FX, etc.



THE CORE

In the '80s, Marshall took the sound of a cranked JCM800 amp stack and shrunk it into pedal form - the Guv'nor - beloved by many for its rich compression, growl, harmonic saturation, and remarkable tone-shaping capability with a 3-band passive EQ tonestack.

Deputy Distortion begins with a 1:1 neural model of this entire circuit. Its Low, Mid, and High controls are all part of a tonal network, dynamically interacting with each other and shaping the underlying saturation profile as you twist them. Far from a simple EQ scoop or boost, each knob plays off the other, pushing and pulling in a truly warm, organic, and (truly) analog fashion.

The Deep knob sculpts low-end resonance and structural girth, and the whole voicing is bookended by Gain and Volume controls. These pots are also not simply digital volume adjustments. They too have been modeled 1:1 with the original hardware. In other words, you get meaningful tonal differences between cranking Gain by 6dB vs. sending a 6dB hotter signal!

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BUILDING ON GREATNESS

To make this distortion unit more usable for a far wider array of instruments and inputs, we built on the original circuit with our own additions.

Sizzle is a custom, post-clipping exciter. Rather than simply boosting brightness, it generates entirely new harmonic content from 2kHz and above. Perfect for adding premium edge, air, and bite!

Dynamics adds an envelope follower (sidechaining Wet to Dry) with Slow, Medium, or Fast responsiveness. This lets you dial back in the range and transients of the original signal without losing any of the distorted tone, and greatly expands what this unit can do.

For convenience, we've added clean Input and Output trims independent of the distortion circuit, as well as a handy Mix knob (great for adding just a *touch* of edge and bite.)



OTHER KEY FEATURES

* Stereo Mode - when enabled (by default), each channel is processed totally independently, as opposed to being summed first
* Volume Link - links the Output trim to changes in the Volume knob so you can explore subtly different tone colors without adjusting gain constantly
* Minimal latency - less than 100 samples - making it perfectly suitable for live use
* A/B preset comparison
* Hassle-free, one-time serial authorization: no iLok, no phoning home on every load, no constant internet connection required. Offline activation is also possible

https://soundcloud.com/isworks/sets/dep ... ugin-demos

PRICING & AVAILABILITY

Deputy Distortion is available NOW from ImpactDSP for the introductory price of $44 (MSRP: $59) through the end of June and comes in VST, AU, AAX, and CLAP flavors.

A free trial version is available on the product page that introduces some mild noise every 30 seconds. We also offer a 14-day money back guarantee on your purchase, as with our other plugins.

** ImpactDSP is the new audio plugin brand from Impact Soundworks, focusing on inspiring and authentic emulations of rare, vintage, and boutique hardware.

Although it's a different name, ImpactDSP shares the same account system with Impact Soundworks, so if you're already a customer be sure to check your Offers portal to see if you have a personalized discount on Deputy Distortion!
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Will give this a try, been a bit disappointed with some of the recent distortions being offered at relatively high prices lately.

ISW lends some credibility here for sure. :tu:

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Hi pekbro,

What would you consider a fair price for a well-designed distortion plugin? I'm trying to price one myself, and wonder if I'm aiming too high.

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WiredSaint wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2026 2:36 am Hi pekbro,

What would you consider a fair price for a well-designed distortion plugin? I'm trying to price one myself, and wonder if I'm aiming too high.
I saw yours as well, you don't offer a demo that's the biggest issue I see with yours. Beyond that, it's not so much the price, it's just that if you're going to charge over impulse buy-pricing, say $20-30-ish, you would be wise to make sure you're plugin has has enough to offer over similar products. Competition is very high these days, if your plugin is not overflowing with cool and/or generally expected features, you are going to have a tough time. In particular, developers who are new to the market and therefore unknown.

Things like an attractive and efficient UI, ab comparison, bypass, a nice preset browser with search and fav, possibly other meta data, UI and workflow customization just to name a few things, and that's before even getting into the sound of the thing.

These guys, ISW are familiar to many around here with a substantial number of previous customers. They have some leeway others do not. Though, just from looking at it, this one doesn't seem too feature heavy either, though I haven't really checked it out yet. I will, because of ISW.

That said, it's possible for your plugin to be so good that folks will overlook those things, but honestly, that is pretty rare.

Sorry OT.

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I really appreciate the thoughtful response! Didn't realize how important a demo/trial would be, but I do see it's popular here, including for this Deputy Distortion.

Going back on topic, I appreciate all the demos and sound samples for this Deputy plugin. Everything combined, including the clean UI, seems really professional. Nice work.

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