The Cedar Drive is an overdrive pedal from Cedar Custom Effects, a builder that is no longer in business. It is an original design aimed at low to mid gain, and Pedal of the Day's reviewer described it as a pedal that "maintains the original character of your guitar's tone, while pushing your sound with a warm and thick overdrive sound"1. If you are browsing overdrive pedals and come across a used Cedar Drive, it is a simple two- or three-knob style circuit rather than a feature-heavy unit.
Cedar Custom Effects is defunct and the Cedar Drive is no longer produced. Information about the pedal is scarce, so a used unit is the only way to acquire one1.
What it does
The Cedar Drive sits in the low-mid gain territory, the part of the overdrive range used for pushing an amp or adding warmth rather than heavy distortion. Pedal of the Day's Mike B characterized it as a "low-mid gain original design overdrive pedal," meaning the circuit was Cedar's own rather than a clone of a better-known design1.
At its core is an OPA2134 chip, which the review notes is "known for having loads of clarity at high gain"1. That choice of op-amp shapes how the pedal behaves as you push it: the review's description of the sound, warm and thick while keeping the guitar's original character, is consistent with a circuit that adds gain without stripping away the fundamentals of your tone.
Controls
The pedal's controls are simple, and the Tone knob works differently from most overdrives1:
- Tone: acts more like a treble booster. At lower settings it keeps the mids and low-end in the mix; only when cranked does the high end take over1.
That treble-booster-style Tone is the pedal's most distinctive feature. On many overdrives the tone control rolls off highs as you turn it down, which can thin the sound out. Here, the mids and lows stay put until you push the control toward its top, at which point the brightness comes forward1.
Usability and what reviewers said
Pedal of the Day's verdict was favorable on practicality: "Simple, easy to use and dial in and small enough to cram into any partially empty space on your pedalboard"1. For a player, that means the Cedar Drive is the kind of pedal you can set by ear in a few minutes and slot into a crowded board without rearranging everything.
"Simple, easy to use and dial in and small enough to cram into any partially empty space on your pedalboard"
Questions
Is the Cedar Custom Effects Cedar Drive still available?
No. Cedar Custom Effects is no longer in business, and the Cedar Drive is no longer produced. When Pedal of the Day featured the pedal in February 2016, the reviewer noted it came from a now-defunct company with very little information available about it. Players who want one today would need to look for a used unit.
What kind of overdrive is the Cedar Drive?
It is an original design overdrive pedal aimed at low to mid gain. According to Pedal of the Day's review, it maintains the original character of your guitar's tone while pushing your sound with a warm and thick overdrive, rather than reshaping it the way some higher-gain circuits do.
Sources (1)
- Cedar Custom Effects Cedar Drive, Pedal of the Day, 2016-02-08