Cornerstone Antique Classic Drive

The Cornerstone Antique Classic Drive is an overdrive pedal from Italian builder Cornerstone Music Gear, built around the Tube Screamer circuit family but voiced with a specific player in mind. Delicious Audio describes it as "a Tube Screamer evolution engineered to replicate the tone of the Connecticut-born guitarist," with a tone "specifically tweaked to achieve the bluesy sounds of John Mayer"¹. In its current V3 form it is a dual-channel overdrive: a main channel plus a footswitchable Hot Mode with its own volume and gain.

The original Antique Classic Drive was listed at $196.00, and the V3 at $249.00, both as of 29 July 2024².

What it does: a Screamer-family overdrive, not a clone

The Antique sits squarely in Screamer territory but is its own circuit. Delicious Audio is explicit: "Don't worry, the Antique is not a clone, but while it definitely belongs to the Screamer-like family of overdrives"¹. Guitar Pedal X's reviewer Stefan Karlsson places it more precisely, writing that "the Antique is ever adjacent to the Tube Screamer format, and kind of straddles TS808, TS9 and TS10 flavours"³.

What separates it from a stock Screamer in practice is the voicing and the feel. In his 2021 demo video, Pete Thorn found it "a little bit more open than I'm used to with screamers, like just less compression and a little bit" more attack, noting that it cleans up when playing lighter or rolling down the guitar's volume⁴. The design goal, as the pedal's designer put it in that video, was "to kind of try and capture the John Mayer Trio sort of guitar tones, like that era of John's tones"⁴.

The controls

The V3 carries the same core control set as earlier versions, with a COMP toggle replacing the V2's Mids toggle¹.

The two tone controls are the practical difference from a three-knob Screamer. Pete Thorn described the split: the Tone control covers "low mids through mid-range," while Presence reaches "upper mids through the super highs"⁴. On the original version, a Mid switch let you cut mids for a flatter mid response, and a Compression switch shaped the compression, giving more sustain and grind at the expense of volume when engaged⁴.

Hot Mode: a second channel

The headline feature of the V3 is Hot Mode, which Gearnews calls "the standout feature, which transforms the pedal into a dual-channel overdrive"². It consists of two smaller volume and gain knobs triggered by a dedicated footswitch¹. Karlsson frames it as "a second channel in effect, the 'Hot Mode', which allows you to set an alternative volume, and additive" gain³.

The placement of the volume boost matters for how you use it: "The Hot Mode's volume boost comes after the overdrive stage, allowing you to control the overall output independently" of the gain². So Hot Volume works as a clean-ish level boost for lead passages, while Hot Gain pushes the overdrive itself harder for solos².

Karlsson published his preferred settings in his review: Tone at 2 o'clock, Presence at 1 o'clock, Volume at noon, Gain at 10 o'clock, Hot Volume at 12:30, and Hot Gain at 2 o'clock³.

History and versions: 2016 Antique to V3

The line began with the Antique in 2016, followed by a V2 in 2021, and the V3 in 2024³. The main difference in V2 was the Mids toggle in place of the Hot Mode knobs: UP gave the classic mid-rich Tube Screamer tone, DOWN gave milder mids for a more natural overdriven tone¹. The V3 swaps that toggle for the Hot Mode channel and the COMP toggle, and adds a redesign inspired by the classic Vespa scooter, with a Greek key pattern engraved on the faceplates¹².

Gearnews's Jef was less taken with the customization side of the V3:

Gearnews, 29 July 2024²

His view was that customization sells pedals rather than reflecting what they sound like².

What reviewers said

Pete Thorn reviewed the original Antique Classic Drive in June 2021 and called it "a terrific take on the classic screamer circuit but with way more versatility with the mid switch and the comp switch as" well as the two tone controls⁴. In the video he demos it with a Telecaster and a TC Ditto looper, and summarizes it as "a great, more versatile take on the classic Screamer style circuit"⁴.

In the video, Thorn walks through the controls, the mid and compression switches, and the two tone knobs, and plays demo tracks showing the pedal's range from low-gain openness to hotter settings⁴.

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On the V3, Guitar Pedal X's verdict in its 2024 best-of roundup was enthusiastic about both sound and looks:

Guitar Pedal X, 16 December 2024⁵

The same roundup lists the V3's full control set as Tone, Presence, Volume, Gain, a Less/More Comp switch, and Hot Mode with replacement volume and additional gain⁵.

Who uses it

The pedal's tonal reference point is John Mayer, whom Delicious Audio notes is "known for using both a Klon-style pedal and a TS together"¹. Pete Thorn is the player shown using it, in his 2021 demo track and video⁴. The pedal was designed by the owner of Cornerstone to capture the John Mayer Trio era of tones⁴.

Related Cornerstone pedals

Cornerstone's range includes several overdrives that share circuits or ideas with the Antique. The Cornerstone Colosseum pairs Klon and Blues Breaker style circuits, the Cornerstone Gladio Double Preamp and Cornerstone Gladio SC cover the Dumble-style side, and the Cornerstone Imperivm Daje Drive combines the Antique Screamer circuit with the Gladio Dumble circuit in one dual overdrive.

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