Anasounds Blues Believer

The Anasounds Blues Believer is an overdrive pedal that also works as a distortion and a clean boost. Anasounds describes it as delivering "high-gain overdrive or full-on distortion," built around a transparent British overdrive circuit that first appeared in 1991¹². That original circuit is the Marshall Bluesbreaker, which RockBoard's PedalPedia lists simply as an "OVERDRIVE BOOSTER"³, and Anasounds says the pedal behind it was engineered in the 90s to sound like the tube amp Eric Clapton used with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers in the sixties¹.

The Blues Believer is part of Anasounds' FX Teacher range, which means it is sold both fully assembled and as a DIY kit¹². It launched on Black Friday, 29 November 2024, priced at €149 (around $160, £124) assembled and €129 as a kit⁴, with the DIY kit announced at around $135 in January 2025⁵.

What it does to your sound

Anasounds positions the Blues Believer as an extended-range take on the Bluesbreaker circuit. The original is loved, in Anasounds' words, for its "transparency and beautiful, thick, and warm low-gain tones"⁶. The Blues Believer keeps that character but adds a third gain stage, so it reaches into distortion territory the original never touched. Delicious Audio described the result as a classic two-stage circuit with an optional third saturation stage added by the Disto switch⁵.

The company is candid about its benchmark: the goal was to "engineer an Anasounds style overdrive pedal that sounds at least as good as the [Browne Amplification] Carbon"¹. Anasounds also says a more Plexi-style sound is available within the pedal's range¹.

The controls

The surface holds an Out knob that adjusts the output level, plus two lever switches: Voice, which goes back and forth between two voicings, and Disto, which switches between Overdrive and Distortion mode. Underneath, three internal adjustments are available: the OD trimpot, which can limit the gain of the Overdrive mode, the Disto trimpot, which adjusts the maximum gain value of the distortion, and the Si/LED switch, which chooses between Silicon and LED clipping diodes¹.

Inside the pedal:

• Si/LED switch: a two-position switch choosing between Silicon and LED clipping diodes. Silicon gives what Anasounds calls a classic vintage sound; LED mode "delivers a more organic, amp-like response with richer harmonics," including even harmonics¹.
• OD trimpot: limits the gain of Overdrive mode, adjustable with a small Philips screwdriver¹.
• Disto trimpot: caps the maximum gain of Distortion mode; it is audible only with the Disto switch down¹.

The pedal ships with the Si/LED switch set to Silicon and both trimpots set to about a third of their range¹.

Inside the circuit

The Blues Believer (version 1.1.9) is a classic two-stage overdrive with an optional third stage⁶⁵:

1. First gain stage: a pre-gain stage where R1 discharges line capacitance to prevent a pop when powering on, and F2 eliminates any DC signal⁶.
2. Second gain stage: an inverting operational amplifier configuration with two soft clipping blocks, where the Si/LED diode choice lives⁶.
3. Third gain stage: created specifically for the Blues Believer and sharing design ideas with the Ego Driver gain stage. It is switched in by the Disto lever¹⁶.

Anasounds also redesigned the output stage with an integrated buffer, "ensuring perfect signal integrity regardless of the pedal chain"⁶. The company explains why: the original circuit has a relatively high output impedance, which can cause a slight loss of high frequencies in certain setups without a buffer before or after it⁶. The buffered output addresses that on the Blues Believer itself.

History: from the Bluesbreaker to the FX Teacher

The circuit the Blues Believer builds on appeared in 1991, when, as Anasounds tells it, "guitarists were delighted" to have a pedal delivering vintage British amp tone in a stompbox². Anasounds traces the lineage further back still: the company describes the inspiration as a famous black and blue overdrive pedal engineered in the 90s to sound like the tube amp Eric Clapton used with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers in the sixties¹. The Blues Believer itself is part of Anasounds' FX Teacher project, and the company says its goal was "quite simple: engineer an Anasounds style overdrive pedal that sounds at least as good as the" Browne Amplification Carbon¹.

The Blues Believer launched as an FX Teacher project on Black Friday 2024, with orders open on the Anasounds Webstore, the first batch delivered before Christmas and a second batch early in the new year⁴. The DIY kit followed in January 2025⁵.

The name, Anasounds says, came from the John Mayer song Belief, "in which you can hear a wonderful solo with a very beautiful" tone¹.

Kit, assembly and support

As an FX Teacher project, the Blues Believer is available fully assembled or as a kit²⁴. Anasounds publishes a step-by-step assembly guide with the complete schematic for kit builders⁷. Support for DIY builders is handled only through comment requests on the blog post: "no emails, no chat, no calls about DIY"⁶.

What the press said

Guitar Pedal X covered the launch and found the modifications worthwhile:

Stefan Karlsson, Guitar Pedal X⁴

The same review called the pedal worthy of consideration at its Black Friday price, given its overall value and feature set⁴. Delicious Audio covered the kit release, noting the Voice and Disto toggles and internal gain trimpots as the additions over the stock Bluesbreaker circuit⁵.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

News

Questions