Joe Bonamassa, Way Huge Collaborate for the Penny Saver Royale

March 3, 2021 · 6 sources

Way Huge announced the Penny Saver Royale Modulation & Overdrive, a collaboration with Joe Bonamassa that united two of the blues guitarist's own Way Huge pedals in a single housing: the Overrated Special Overdrive and the Blue Hippo Chorus¹. The pedal was announced on March 2, 2021, with a street price of $299.99².

The new pedal combined the Overrated Special Overdrive and the Blue Hippo Chorus into one unit running from a single power source². One side carried the overdrive circuit, the other the chorus, and each effect could run independently or together, with the overdrive feeding into the modulation¹. Way Huge described the pairing in its own words:

GuitarPlayer reported that when both sides were used simultaneously, the result was textures that Way Huge called "thick and soupy"³.

The overdrive side offered what the maker described as all the punch, grit, and tweakability of the Overrated Special Overdrive, with GuitarPlayer noting it was controlled by drive, tone, volume, and frequency knobs³. The modulation side carried the lush tones of the Blue Hippo Chorus' primary mode, with a custom delay time specially suited to Joe Bonamassa's taste².

The pedal's key features as announced:

• Two effects in one housing: the Overrated Special Overdrive and the Blue Hippo Chorus
• Independent operation of each effect, or overdrive feeding into modulation
• Overdrive controls: drive, tone, volume, and frequency knobs
• A chorus side voiced with a custom delay time suited to Bonamassa's taste
• A single power source for both circuits¹²³

Gearnews reported that the Penny Saver Royale was the latest collaboration between Joe Bonamassa and Way Huge's Jeorge Tripps, who designed the pedal with Bonamassa⁴. Guitar.com likewise described it as the latest pedal collaboration between the two, combining an overdrive and a modulation effect⁵. Guitar World covered the announcement as Way Huge teaming up with Bonamassa to release the pedal⁶.

At launch, the Penny Saver Royale was available domestically and internationally from jbonamassa.com and at select local retailers in the UK, Australia, and Japan². Way Huge has since listed the pedal as a legacy product that is no longer in production¹.