Gladio mk3 brings Cornerstone's double preamp back with a Ratio knob
Cornerstone's retired double preamp is back as the Gladio mk3, with a clean-blend Ratio on its harder channel and the old internal bass trim now on the face.
Owners asked for two things, and Cornerstone Music Gear says the Gladio mk3 is built around exactly those. The double preamp the company retired at the end of 2022 is back, with the Bass trimpot that used to live inside the box moved to the outside, where the pedal labels it Deep, and a new Ratio control on Channel 2.
The core stays put: two independent D-style preamps, each with its own Gain, Volume and Tone. Channel 1 is the transparent one, built to go from clean to dirty on pick attack alone. Channel 2 is more midrange-forward and clips harder. Both get their own Compression toggle, which Cornerstone frames as a choice between tight and controlled or open and touch-reactive.
Ratio is the headline change. It takes the clean signal at the input and blends it in parallel with Channel 2's overdrive. All the way down, you get the full drive voice. Bring it up and, according to Cornerstone, attack, string definition and dynamic range come back without touching the gain. On the original, Channel 2 was the more polarising voice, so this is the side that got the work.
Under the hood, a charge pump runs the circuit at 30 V from a standard 9 V supply for more headroom. Four jacks let the mk3 work as one dual-channel pedal or as two fully separate pedals in different spots on the board, and a Remote mini-jack takes a latching stereo footswitch for hands-free channel switching.
The enclosure measures 120 x 94 x 42.4 mm and weighs 0.5 kg. More details are on our Gladio mk3 product page. Cornerstone's own listing shows the pedal out of stock, and the maker has put up a waiting list for it.
Video: Cornerstone Music Gear, “Introducing the Gladio MK3: The Return”.
