The Lumberjack Logarithmic Overdrive is an overdrive pedal from Electro-Harmonix, the New York maker long known for the Big Muff. Rather than following the familiar soft-clipping overdrive formulas, it takes a different approach: its response is based on a logarithmic curve instead of a linear one, so the change between two values is perceived as a ratio of those values. Delicious Audio's review described it as taking "a new approach to the design of the overdrive pedal"1.
What it does
The logarithmic response is what sets the Lumberjack apart from conventional overdrives. According to Delicious Audio's review, it "keeps the overdrive nice and responsive to input dynamics and offers a huge range of fuzzy boosts to mess around with"1. In practice, that means the pedal tracks how hard you pick, and pushing the Boost knob drives it into fuzzier territory while the Volume knob sets the overall output level.
Controls
How it compares
Electro-Harmonix's overdrive range covers a lot of ground, from the Soul Food and East River Drive to the CRAYON 76 Full Range Overdrive and the Hot Tubes Nano. The Lumberjack sits apart from those by design: where most overdrives shape gain in a linear way, the Lumberjack's logarithmic curve is the whole point of the circuit1.
What reviewers said
Delicious Audio's reviewer framed the release in broad terms: "If there's ever been a reason to get excited about a pedal release, a completely new distortion pedal from the same manufacturer as the Big Muff is it"1.
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Sources (1)
- Electro-Harmonix Lumberjack Logarithmic Overdrive, Delicious Audio, 2014-01-14
