Free The Tone brings back Red Jasper overdrive as RJ-2V

April 4, 2022 · 4 sources

Free The Tone has reissued its Red Jasper overdrive as the RED JASPER RJ-2V, the maker announced. The original Red Jasper RJ-1V was discontinued in 2018 because some of its component parts became difficult to obtain, and the maker says the pedal has returned after three years¹².

The RJ-2V is an overdrive with three top-mounted controls: DRIVE, HI-CUT and LEVEL¹. The maker describes the sound as resembling a vintage tube amp, with "smooth highs, punchy mids, full but tight lows, and natural compression feel"¹³. The new addition is an internal mode switch that selects from four low-frequency characteristics (cut-off frequencies), so the low end can be adjusted to suit a guitar and amplifier; the maker says the low end is gradually cut from setting A to setting D, and setting C (SW1 off, SW2 on) is the factory default¹².

The HI-CUT circuit is a passive design intended to minimize phase error in the guitar signal, and the maker says it behaves like a guitar's tone control, cutting highs gently as the knob turns counterclockwise¹². The pedal also carries the maker's HTS (Holistic Tonal Solution) circuit, which Free The Tone says prevents degradation of guitar and bass timbre even when the effect is off, and the output signal is in the same phase as the input¹³.

The maker lists a price of 34,100 yen including tax for the RJ-2V¹; the original RJ-1V was listed at 27,500 yen including tax⁴. No US price or US availability date was given in the published material.