Great Eastern FX Enters Pedal Market With the Small Speaker Overdrive

December 18, 2021 · 6 sources

New UK-based effects company Great Eastern FX announced its first stompbox, the Small Speaker Overdrive, an overdrive pedal built by hand in the UK¹. The company described the pedal as a low to medium gain tone, and press coverage characterized it as an amp-in-a-box style overdrive aimed at the sound of a small, cranked combo²³.

The inspiration for the effect is specifically the Fender Champ, or more precisely the sound of a microphone placed in front of its eight-inch speaker¹⁴. Premier Guitar noted that the mic'd small-speaker technique has been used on countless recordings, by the likes of Duane Allman, Eric Clapton, Joe Walsh, Billy Gibbons and Mike Campbell⁴. The stated aim of the pedal is to capture the sound and feel of plugging into a small, Class-A combo in the studio, imparting the same flattering frequency response and expressive, dynamic overdrive to whatever amp you are plugged into, big or small⁴.

The pedal features an all-original discrete transistor circuit, and is designed to sit at the start of the signal chain, promising a response to picking dynamics and volume knob adjustment more akin to a vintage fuzz pedal than a conventional overdrive⁴. Guitar World reported it is said to serve up everything from an almost-clean boost to a "honky" saturated drive⁵.

Controls and construction as announced:

• Standard Gain and Level knobs⁴
• A High control offering both boost and cut for top-end sparkle⁴³
• A Low control offering boost only¹
• Low-noise metal film resistors, PET film capacitors, Alpha pots and Neutrik jack sockets³

The Small Speaker Overdrive listed for £219 and was available to order directly from the maker's site at launch¹⁴². Premier Guitar published a demo video of the pedal, presented by Ben Smith⁴. A later Guitar.com review, published January 2022, described the pedal as a "boost, preamp and tone-shaper" and found it had "superbly natural responsiveness to changes in pick attack and guitar volume"⁶.