Palladium: First impression

This is worth waiting for. It's my kind of distortion approach; a pre-amp section that is more amp sounding than a typical distortion unit (majority of which tried too hard to sound amp-like & falling short) with a boost function that adds to drive AND saturation. Please stop asking if it's a worthy metal-type distortion; it wasn't conceived as such. It's a pre-amp unit with lots of gain application potential, it's a matter of what you can use it for, what you will use it with. The resonance & presence controls are the amp-sounding features here, the rest are what you'd expect from a pedal performance. The 2-band midrange EQ are typical features to have if you want to sound good with very high gain on tap so it shows that Seymour Duncan knows what they are doing. (EDIT: The Palladium does not feature a 2-Band EQ, instead, the midrange controls let you manipulate the frequency as well as the level). That single boost control there is what I deem as a smart inclusion; only a single option so it won't get in the way of your primary objective. I leave the details to a more formal appraisal. In the mean time, Keith Merrow has some stuff going with the Palladium:

Seymour Duncan 2016: The gain focus

Unlike the conventional sales pitch, Seymour Duncan does not put this forth as a drive unit. It's carefully mentioned as a gain stage unit, meaning, it's something you employ to manifest gain increments which does not necessarily relate to drive or distortion. However, we know too well that a gain push will ultimately result in a driven or distorted output, the degree of which depends on what the manufacturer wants to achieve. I'm really glad that Seymour Duncan had taken time to give us such a pedal because it's as useful as a stand alone unit as it is in a stacked arrangement. I reserve further  comments till I hear this in action & we all know that pretty much of the Seymour Duncan stuff (less some custom shop units) gets here in good time.