Great Eastern Effects launches Design-A-Drive overdrive pedal
July 8, 2022 · 2 sources
Great Eastern Effects released the Design-A-Drive, its second overdrive pedal, on July 8, 2022, MusicRadar reported1. The Cambridge-based builder launched in 2021 with the Small Speaker Overdrive, a pedal MusicRadar described as Fender Champ-aping12.
The Design-A-Drive is an overdrive pedal made in the UK2. It has Gain, Edge and Level controls plus a six-position Width switch2. MusicRadar reported that the pre-gain and output levels work in a fairly traditional way, offering everything from transparent boosting to harmonic overdrive1. The pedal uses a proprietary tone circuit that, according to MusicRadar, aims to remove the hit-and-miss tonal compatibility between an overdrive pedal and an amp1.
Edge handles the top end through a dual-filter circuit that gently cuts treble while filtering high presence frequencies, which MusicRadar said interacts with how the pedal clips the signal1. Width deals in midrange, with each of the six positions moving from thin to progressively fatter responses1. Guitar.com described the pedal as a "flexible gain shaper" and reported that the Edge knob simultaneously adjusts two different filters and subtly affects the character of the clipping2. The pedal has true bypass and top-mounted jacks, runs on a 9-volt mains supply only, and measures 125 x 66 x 55mm2.
The Design-A-Drive is available now for $2651. Guitar.com's review, published July 12, 2022, gave the pedal a rating of 9 and called it "a stunning little pedal, even better than Great Eastern's debut"2.
"We wanted to create a pedal that would let you tweak the parts of the circuit that really make a difference so you can make these decisions for yourself."
More information is available on the Overdrive Pedals section.