I started Berserker Electronics in downtown Seattle during the early days of the pandemic. It was part therapy, part creative outlet, and part “I bet I can make this circuit better”. My background is in electrical engineering, but I’ve always been more interested in how a circuit feels when you’re playing than what a textbook says it does.
It all started with a simple idea: I wanted a Sunn Beta preamp in a box. Something I could use at home without blowing out windows. I designed the PCB, got everything laid out, and when it came to order…I found out I couldn’t just get one. Minimum order was five. So I built five pedals, kept one, and tossed the other four up for sale.
They sold out in a day.
I built five more.
Then ten.
Then it snowballed.
Several years later, Berserker continues to be a one man workshop where I follow ideas until they match what I’m hearing in my head. Some pedals start with existing circuits, some start from scratch, but either way the goal’s the same: build something that sounds great, feels inspiring to play, and earns its spot on a board.
I’m not big on complexity for its own sake. I try to make every control count – enough flexibility to be useful, but not so much that you’re lost in manuals or chasing sweet spots. If everything’s set to noon and it doesn’t already sound great, it goes back to the drawing board.
Sometimes that means testing out a dozen different potentiometer values. Sometimes it means gutting a tone stack until it finally opens up. Either way, if a circuit ends up in a Berserker box, it’s because I couldn’t stop messing with it until it felt right.
-- James Millican
Builder, Berserker Electronics
Builder, Berserker Electronics