Awestruck Amplification Awestruck Metro Organic Overdrive

The Awestruck Amplification Metro Organic Overdrive is a mid-gain, op-amp based overdrive pedal designed with the intention of being the ultimate always-on overdrive: a pedal that stays on all the time and brings out the richness and depth of your amp with little to no coloration, in the maker's intent as reported by Pedal of the Day¹. Guitar Pedal X reported its release in October 2026, priced at $189 (or £143 in the UK), alongside a sibling pedal, the Highland Discrete Overdrive².

An always-on overdrive with Timmy roots

The Metro belongs to a well-known family of pedals. Pedal of the Day describes it as inspired by the "transparent" overdrive movement of Paul Cochrane, whose Timmy is the pedal that movement grew from¹. Guitar Pedal X puts the lineage more directly: "While the Metro largely takes its inspiration from the Timmy - albeit with a very different topology!" The same report notes that the current Timmy typically runs on a JRC 4559 op-amp².

Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson also placed the Metro among a wider group of Timmy-derived designs, writing that it "could very well be another future classic in the line of Timmy-inspired pedals including the Greer Lightspeed and Vemuram Jan Ray"².

Controls

The Metro keeps a simple three-knob front panel and puts its voicing options on two toggle switches².

The two toggles are what set the Metro apart from a straightforward transparent overdrive. Pedal of the Day describes the clipping toggle as adding "flavor and additional character," and says that with the clipping toggle and mid-EQ contour together, "the Metro can also take on a personality of its own and give your amp" new options¹. The Diode Clipping switch selects between hard clipping and no diode clipping, while the Mids switch chooses between a boosted midrange and a flat, transparent mid response².

Where it sits on a board

As an always-on, low-to-mid gain design, the Metro is aimed at players who set one overdrive and leave it on, rather than using it as a heavy gain stage. It sits in the same territory as other overdrive pedals built around touch-sensitive, amp-forward gain, and players comparing it with harder-clipping drives such as those covered in Boss SD-1 vs Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer will find the Metro's switches offer a way to lean either way: hard clipping for more edge, or off and flat for maximum transparency¹².

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