Aclam Cinnamon Drive

The Aclam Cinnamon Drive is a dual-stage analog overdrive pedal made in Spain by Aclam, the company best known for its Smart Track pedalboards. It was Aclam's first effect pedal, and its circuit stacks two clipping stages: a soft-clipping first stage voiced from clean to mid-gain overdrive, and a hard-clipping second stage engaged by a Boost footswitch¹. Aclam describes the range as running "from a clean preamp tones to a highly saturated distortion, just like turning the amp to eleven"².

The pedal was designed around the tone, dynamics and pick response of sixties and seventies tube amps, and the press release launching it cited Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck as the reference tones³. Aclam later returned to the design with the Cinnamon Drive Dreamer Edition, released over six years after the original with the same circuit in a refreshed enclosure⁴.

Two gain stages: soft clipping plus a hard-clipping boost

The Cinnamon Drive's circuit is built around two saturation stages that process the guitar signal in sequence. The first stage uses Aclam's own custom soft clipping circuit, voiced to cover clean to mid-gain overdrive. The second stage stacks a hard clipping circuit on top of the first, adding more gain¹. Gearnews described the second stage as "a much harder clipping circuit in the second stage, which adds more gain and tightens up your tone"¹¹.

The controls map onto those stages:

One point the Dreamer Edition manual makes explicitly: the Cinnamon Drive is not a dual, independent channel overdrive. The Boost section is a second gain stage stacked with the main overdrive circuit, and the Gain knob always affects the Boost setting⁴. That is also why the Vol knob stops working when the boost is on: it controls the output level of the first stage only, and with the boost engaged the signal continues through the second stage instead¹².

The circuit is analog and op amp based. Designer Marc Sospedra wrote that he replaced the original diode approach with "Op Amps and a design alternating soft and hard clipping"⁶. In an op amp comparison during development, he called the OPA2134 "the unanimous winner" among the op amps tested⁶. The early breadboard design also used Burr Brown op amps, Wima capacitors and carbon comp resistors¹³.

Power and connections

The pedal runs on 9V DC, center negative, with a minimum 100mA supply, or on a 9V battery². Current draw is about 35mA². The power input is the standard Boss-type 2.1mm connector with a negative tip¹. Connections are simple: an audio input, a power connector and an audio output⁷.

The bypass is relay true bypass, and the relay system does more than switch the effect in and out. It monitors the power source, and if the pedal loses power or the battery runs out, the signal is never interrupted: when the battery is nearly depleted the LEDs blink, giving about 2 to 3 hours of margin before the pedal switches automatically to true bypass⁷.

History: from stripboard prototype to the Dreamer Edition

The Cinnamon Drive began as a breadboard experiment aimed at recreating the tone, dynamics and pick response of sixties and seventies tube amps¹³. In early October 2017, Aclam had its first prototype on stripboard, built into a standard enclosure. A second prototype followed with the first custom enclosure, and the final version arrived in the Smart Track enclosure¹³.

The name came from Aclam's community manager and circuit co-creator Marcel, who, while trying the pedal, started playing Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl" riff¹³. The launch press release described the goal as making the ultimate riff machine, with a tone-forward design and an enclosure built to take the most advantage of the Smart Track pedalboard while remaining easy to place on all other boards³.

The pedal's official launch came one year before Summer NAMM 2019⁸. Gearnews reported a European launch price of EUR 249 RRP¹¹.

In 2025, over six years after the initial release, the pedal returned as the Dreamer Edition with a fresh look, keeping the same two-stage circuit and its versatility and dynamic range⁴. The Dreamer Edition manual describes it as "an original overdrive pedal that combines soft and hard clipping circuits," inspired by the tube amplifiers of the 60s and 70s and capturing the open dynamics of that era⁴.

Enclosure and Smart Track fitting

All Aclam effect pedals use a custom light aluminum enclosure specially designed to fit Smart Track pedalboards⁴. A proprietary locking system built into the enclosure, with side thumb screws, lets you fasten the pedal without hook and loop, which increases how many pedals fit on the board¹. The enclosure still works on ordinary boards: the box includes both an anti-sliding rubber pad and a Velcro pad¹⁰.

What reviewers said

Pedal of the Day reviewed the Cinnamon Drive in May 2021, describing it as an original dual-stage overdrive combining soft and hard clipping. The reviewer's verdict¹⁵⁷:

The pedal carries a two-year warranty from the date of purchase under Spanish legislation, non-transferable, requiring proof of purchase and the serial number⁷.

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