Great Eastern FX launches Design-A-Drive overdrive pedal
August 29, 2023 · 3 sources
Great Eastern FX released the Design-A-Drive, a low- to medium-gain overdrive, on August 29, 2023, according to the builder's notes carried by Delicious Audio1. The pedal is available direct from the company's website and from its network of dealers1.
The Design-A-Drive's main feature is a six-position rotary Width control that ranges from thin to fat and sets the contour and response of the midrange and low end1. The Edge knob controls two high-frequency filters and alters clipping characteristics1. Combined with level and gain, the two controls are meant to give players overdrive tones from transparent to fat and midrangey1. MusicRadar describes the pre-gain and output levels as functioning in a fairly traditional fashion, offering everything from transparent boosting to harmonic overdrive2.
RockBoard's PedalPedia lists the circuit as analog, running on 9V DC center negative at 10mA3. Its width, depth, height and weight fields show placeholder values of 000.00, so no enclosure dimensions are given there3.
The Design-A-Drive is priced at $265 in the US12.
"We wanted to create a pedal that let you be the designer, changing the frequency response on the fly to suit whatever guitar and amp you're using."
The sources differ on the launch date. MusicRadar published its report on July 8, 2022, and described the pedal as available now2, while the builder's notes dated August 29, 2023 say it is available from today1. MusicRadar also refers to the company as Great Eastern Effects, which it says launched in 2021 with the Small Speaker Overdrive2; the builder's notes call it Great Eastern FX1.