The Ethos TWE-1 Overdrive is an overdrive preamp pedal built by manufacturer Custom Tone. The TWE in the name stands for "Train Wreck Express," and the pedal is a compact version of a family of preamps that got progressively smaller as the line developed1. It sits in the wider family of overdrive pedals, but it is built as much as a preamp as a drive box.
What it does
Custom Tone's own pitch for the pedal is "Clean-to-Scream with just the turn of your guitar's volume control"1, meaning the pedal is designed to be left on and ridden from the guitar rather than switched on and off. On That Pedal Show, Dan and Mick described how it responds in practice: "it breeds a response dynamically to you're picking attack and your guitars volume setting"2. In other words, picking harder drives it into gain, and rolling the guitar volume back cleans it up.
The pedal also shapes the low end. The Cab switch "beefs up the low-end significantly in the 4x12 position," according to the technical write-up of the circuit3. Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson, covering the pedal in a 2020 selection of compact overdrives, described its control set as including "a Hi Cut dial, and then 3-way Cab toggle for low-frequency response"4.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Cab toggle (3-way) | Sets the low-frequency response; the 4x12 position adds significant low-end34 |
| Hi Cut dial | Rolls off high frequencies4 |
Where it came from
The TWE-1 is the compact endpoint of a line of Custom Tone preamps that "got progressively smaller"1, condensed into a standard stompbox format. Delicious Audio's Christopher Scapelliti covered the pedal at launch in June 20181.
Demo video
Delicious Audio pointed readers to a demo by guitarist Shawn Tubbs1, and That Pedal Show also ran the pedal on the bench, pairing it with discussion of how it tracks picking dynamics and guitar volume2.
For DIY builders
The circuit has also drawn attention from the DIY community. On the Guitar FX Layouts thread, commenters worked through substitutions for the pedal's zener clipping diodes: three 1N4148 diodes in series "forward around 0,6 V each," reaching about 1.8 V of forward voltage, or a green diffused LED as an alternative31. Another commenter suggested that "Replacing each zener with a diffused yellow LED and 1n4148 wired in series would give about 2.4v drop in each direction," close to the 2.5 V of the original back-to-back 1.8 V zeners3. For players who build rather than buy, that makes the TWE-1 a documented, traceable circuit.
Videos
Pete Thorn
Mike Hermans
Mike Hermans
Sources (4)
- Ethos TWE-1 Overdrive, Delicious Audio, 2018-06-14
- TPS Pick'N'Mix: Walrus Fathom, Ethos TWE-1, Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl HiFi, ProAnalog Ascension, That Pedal Show (YouTube), 2018-04-10
- Guitar FX Layouts: Ethos TWE-1, Guitar FX Layouts (tagboardeffects.blogspot.com), 2018-07-11
- Guitar Pedal X, Guitar Pedal X, 2020-03-29
