Orange reissues Sustain, Distortion and Phaser pedals

September 1, 2022 · 3 sources

Orange has reissued its 1970s Sustain, Distortion and Phaser pedals, Gearnews reported on September 16, 2022. Each is based on the original orange-colored, oversized stompboxes with modern additions¹. Guitar.com's review, published September 22, 2022, traces the project to a 2019 social media post of an original Sustain, which sent Orange head designer Adrian Emsley into the company's archives². Guitar World reports that Orange put out a request for owners of the original pedals and passed the information to Emsley, who came up with three same-size recreations³.

The Orange Sustain is a two-knob optical compressor with Level (volume) and Depth (compression); attack and release times are preset, and the blue LED flashes red during gain reduction². Orange describes the effect as "smooths and regulates guitar sounds, acting like an overdrive for clean tones with added chime and warmth"¹. The Distortion has Level (volume) and Depth (gain) controls, buffered bypass, and an internal treble trimmer, with bass and midrange preset²³. Its back-to-back diode design has been replaced with an amp-style JFET circuit². The Phaser is a one-knob, four-stage design with true-bypass switching and a JFET-biased op-amp circuit².

All three run on a 9V power supply only (DC 2.1mm center negative adaptor) and have no battery clips, though Guitar World reports a clip can be soldered in as an after-market addition²³. Guitar.com gives dimensions of 9.2 x 10.2 x 8.4cm; Guitar World lists 93 x 120 x 75mm²³. Guitar World gives the Distortion's US price as $249³.