Summer School Electronics & Supercool Pedals Team Up For Nirvana-In-A-Box Guitar Pedal

A classic combo of small clone-style chorus and DS-1-style distortion living under one shared roof.

Meet The Smoking In The Boys Room Pedal

Despite the name suggesting this is some sort of ’80s glam rock pedal, it is actually quite far from it. Smoking In The Boys Room combines a modified EHX small clone chorus circuit made by Supercool Pedals with a modified Boss DS-1 distortion circuit made by Summer School Electronics. The pedal’s first batch is sold out but pre-orders are selling now and are supposed to be shipping very soon, so go head over to Supercool or Summer School to grab one! This is of course paying homage to the classic Kurt Cobain pedal combination, heard on many great Nirvana tracks.

The updates to the Boss DS-1 side of things may be the most appealing to most folks, as that circuit has long had love-hate relationship with many a guitarist. Mark from Summer School added a modified output buffer, making it true bypass, and adjusted the tone stack. Essentially, the tone knob is now dialed in to that sweet spot we all spent so much time looking for on our own DS-1 pedals.

Supercool Pedals was not about to be outdone of course, and so the chorus side is also touched up a bit. The depth knob has been replaced with a control that instead shapes how much warble and pitch variation is included, like an expanded depth knob. Basically this gives you a much wider range of wash-y chorus, almost reverb-y at times. The whole thing is capped off with a toggle that lets you change the order of the circuits. You can run drive into chorus, or vice versa.

Demo Time

My Thoughts: This Is A Really Good Pedal

My love of Summer School Electronics is well known, but Supercool Pedals is a new brand for me (though I’ve been a long time admirer from afar). The marriage between the two brands showcased here is incredible, as both come together to make a lot of ’90s kids who grew up to be pedalheads very happy. Smoking In The Boys Room also isn’t a gimmick, these are two highly usable and musical circuits. They have modified and improved the original, simple pedals and this dual box can do a lot more than just “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. The chorus side is lush, warm, and more warbly than your typical small clone. You could throw this on just about any pedalboard and would likely find it both convenient and highly functional for most rock-based or guitar-based genres.

In particular, Summer School did some beautiful work with the DS-1 side of things. As you all probably know, the DS-1 is a fickle distortion pedal. The way that the Smoking In The Boys Room pedal smoothes out of the EQ helps create a beautiful and usable DS-1 sound. The $299.99 price may seem a bit steep at first glance, but you are getting two boutique pedals from great builders in one package. And paying $150 for a boutique gain or chorus pedal alone probably wouldn’t seem so wild. As I said earlier, these will be back in stock in February according to the builders, so go get ahead and pre-order if you’re interested!