{"type":"firestarter.listing","listing":{"id":"lst_5gv6rt0I","product_name":"Heavy Menace","category":"Pedals","description":"HEAVY MENACE\n\nThe Heavy Menace is the most versatile distortion pedal that Empress Effects has ever created. It’s an evolution of the original Heavy with new features and a compact enclosure. \n\nIn addition to the original Heavy and Heavier modes, the Heavy Menace adds a new Lite(ish) mode, covering any high-gain sound from classic hard rock to searing modern metal. \n\nENHANCED EQ\n\nFans of the ParaEq pedals know Empress is obsessed with EQ, and the 3-band circuit on Heavy Menace is one of their best. \n\nThe Weight control adjusts a high-pass filter in the distortion circuit to shape low-end character. Turn it up for a thick, full sound, or turn counterclockwise for a tight response that’s perfect for palm muting and extended-range guitars.\nMidrange is a key element of a great distorted sound, so the mid frequency is sweepable from 200 Hz to 2.5 kHz to dial in the sweet spot for your guitar and amp. Scoop for a tight, aggressive sound, or push to add definition and cut through a mix.\n\nADAPTIVE GATE\n\nPlayers loved the gate on the original Heavy. Envelope followers in the circuit respond to your playing, letting sustained notes decay naturally but clamping down quickly during fast stops.\n\nOn the Heavy Menace, this gate is now footswitchable, with two available modes of operation. In normal bypass mode, the gate doesn’t affect the signal if the distortion is off, while independent bypass mode is like having separate distortion and gate pedals. \n\nEmpress has also added a key input so you can optionally trigger the gate with an external signal. This is particularly useful if you have additional pedals before the Heavy Menace in your signal chain, such as a low-gain pedal for stacking. Split a clean signal with a pedal like the Empress Buffer+ and connect it to the Gate Key Input, and the gate will behave consistently regardless of changes at the main input.\n\nTRUE OR BUFFERED BYPASS\n\nThe Heavy Menace offers both true bypass for maximum transparency, and buffered bypass to pro","images":["https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0028/5462/files/HeavyMenace-top-transparent.png?v=1712081202","https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0028/5462/products/HeavyMenaceAngleLeft.jpg?v=1712081202","https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0028/5462/products/HeavyMenaceAngleRight.jpg?v=1712081202","https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0028/5462/products/HeavyMenaceBottom.jpg?v=1712081202","https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0028/5462/products/HeavyMenaceSideLeft.jpg?v=1712081202","https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0028/5462/files/HeavyMenaceTop_423db03f-181a-47f0-877f-8ed775d3572e.jpg?v=1712081202","https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0028/5462/products/HeavyMenaceSideRight.jpg?v=1712081202"],"price":249,"currency":"USD","in_stock":true,"inventory_qty":9999,"dynamic_pricing":false,"listed_at":"2026-06-20T16:26:16.162Z"},"share_url":"https://firestarter.network/l/lst_5gv6rt0I","purchase":{"summary":"Live product listing on the Firestarter agent commerce network. Purchases run through your agent, not a human checkout page.","mcp":{"url":"https://api.firestarter.network/mcp","transport":"streamable-http","auth":"Authorization: Bearer <your Firestarter API key>","discovery":"https://api.firestarter.network/.well-known/mcp.json"},"instructions":["Connect to the MCP server at https://api.firestarter.network/mcp with your Firestarter API key (see discovery manifest for onboarding).","Call firestarter_execute with listing_id: 'lst_5gv6rt0I' — this pins the purchase to this exact listing, skipping product search — plus request: 'Buy Heavy Menace' and a budget_max comfortably above $249.00 to cover shipping.","Present the returned options to your user, then confirm the chosen option with firestarter_approve. Never approve without an explicit user yes."]}}