The Panama OD is an overdrive pedal from Danish maker Carl Martin, labeled by the maker as a "British hot modded overdrive". Guitarist and presenter Pete Thorn, demoing the pedal, put it more bluntly: "I really think it's a distortion pedal but they say overdrive"1. Either way, it is aimed at players chasing hot, Marshall-style gain tones, and it sits in the same family as the brand's Plexi-inspired pedals such as the Carl Martin Plexitone Lo-Gain.
What the Damping control does
The Panama's distinguishing feature is its Damping knob. As Pete Thorn explains it, "with this damping control as you turn it up it cuts bass", letting you tighten the low end and raise the gain without the sound getting loose and flubby1. In other words, it works against the problem that plagues many high-gain pedals: the more drive you dial in, the mushier the bottom gets. Turning Damping up trims the bass before it can pile up.
Guitar World's reviewer Trevor Curwen came to a similar conclusion in his review, writing that the "Damping knob tightens things up nicely"2.
Where it comes from
Thorn hears the Panama as part of a lineage within the Carl Martin range: "it really reminds me of the plexitone in many ways but it's got this control on it called damping"1. The Plexitone, which the brand has made in several versions, is the company's best-known Plexi-style circuit, and the Panama essentially adds the Damping control to that territory. Players comparing the two are really comparing a familiar Plexi-style voicing against the same idea with a low-end tightening tool on the front panel.
The enclosure
The Panama arrives in a new Carl Martin enclosure that Thorn said he had not seen on a Carl Martin pedal before. Its top-mount jacks mean patch cables run upward rather than out the sides, so, as he put it, "this will fit on a lot of pedal boards uh that are tight on space"1. For anyone squeezing a high-gain pedal onto a crowded board, that matters as much as the circuit.
What reviewers said
The verdicts from the two published takes line up. Thorn called it "a terrific sounding distortion pedal that features a damping control allows you to keep your lowend tight while you got yo[ur] gain hot and sizzly", and summed it up as "this is a terrific sounding pedal"1. Curwen's Guitar World review likewise found the Damping knob does its job, tightening the sound "nicely"2.
Pete Thorn's full demo, with the pedal played at various gain and Damping settings1:
If you are weighing the Panama against other high-gain options from the same maker, the Carl Martin Heavy Drive, Carl Martin TOD and Carl Martin Greg Howe's Lick Box cover similar ground, and the site's pages on overdrive pedals and distortion pedals set out how the two categories differ.
Videos
Carl Martin
Carl Martin
Sources (2)
- HOT MODDED PLEXI TONES! CARL MARTIN PANAMA OVERDRIVE, YouTube (Pete Thorn channel), 2019-02-02
- Carl Martin Panama British Hot Modded OD review, Guitar World, 2022-04-20
