Electro-Harmonix Spruce Goose

The Electro-Harmonix Spruce Goose is an analog overdrive pedal released in 2023, built around a circuit inspired by the Marshall Blues Breaker. Electro-Harmonix describes it as "an elevated take on a Bluesbreaker®-style OD with a smooth, rich breakup that retains clarity and dynamics"¹. What sets it apart from a straight Bluesbreaker copy is a three-position Lift switch that adds up to 21dB of input gain, an active bass control, and a footswitch that can be held for momentary blasts of overdrive.

It arrived in October 2023 at a U.S. street price of $129.00², and it remains in the lineup at a list price of $129.00¹. It sits in EHX's Nano-sized chassis, the small format the company uses for its compact pedals².

A Bluesbreaker-style overdrive in a Nano enclosure

The Bluesbreaker circuit, originally built into a Marshall combo amp, has been the basis for a whole family of low-to-medium gain overdrive pedals. Premier Guitar notes that the Spruce Goose "uses the Bluesbreaker as a point of departure"³, and the announcement coverage framed it as "designed to offer Bluesbreaker-style tones with expanded tonal controls"².

The expansion over the basic circuit is where the Spruce Goose earns its keep. EHX lists "a LIFT switch accessing 3 input gain settings, additional output, and expanded EQ" as the headline features¹. Guitar World's reviewer, Trevor Curwen, concluded that "the Spruce Goose's particular slant on that offers real flexibility at a manageable price point"⁴.

The pedal is housed in EHX's Nano-sized chassis², which Vintage Guitar's reviewer called "the perfect size for a crowded pedalboard"⁵.

The controls

The Spruce Goose keeps the control count low: four knobs and one switch. Here is what each one does, per the maker's product page¹:

The active bass knob is worth noting for players who have found Bluesbreaker-style pedals thin with single-coils or on darker amps: it is a genuine tone-shaping control, not a simple trim⁶.

The Lift switch: three input gain settings

Lift is the Spruce Goose's main trick. Per EHX, "LIFT gooses the input signal before it hits the overdrive circuit"¹:

• Low: no additional gain; the pedal behaves as a standard Bluesbreaker-style overdrive, and reviewers found it works as a clean boost with Gain low and Volume high⁴⁵
• Mid: 9dB of gain, which EHX says helps get more drive from low output pickups¹
• High: 21dB of gain, adding even more saturation and distortion¹

Vintage Guitar's reviewer described the same three positions from the bench: "the bottom yields a low-gain/natural-sounding clean boost," the "middle pushes input signal to 9 db of gain," and "the top increases input to 21 db with added saturation and compression"⁵. Gearnews summarized the effect as "goosing the front end of the drive circuit hitting harder and producing a more compressed, saturated tone"⁷.

In practice, the three positions give one pedal three personalities: a clean-ish low-gain drive, a medium overdrive, and a saturated, compressed higher-gain voice, all from a single switch⁵.

Latching and momentary footswitch

The soft footswitch engages or bypasses the effect, with a status LED that lights when the effect is on and goes dark in bypass¹. The clever part is the momentary action. Per the maker, "The footswitch includes a momentary action when you press and hold the switch for more than half a second. The momentary footswitch action may also be disabled"¹.

So a quick tap toggles the pedal on and off as normal, while pressing and holding gives temporary bursts of boost and overdrive for as long as you hold the switch². Vintage Guitar called this "an excellent tool for busy pedalboard users" and noted the pedal "was perfect for sculpting boosted lead tones on the fly and shined while stacked with fuzz and time-based modulation effects"⁵. Guitar World's reviewer called it "a nice touch in the pedal's footswitch allowing momentary engagement of the effect as well as standard latching" operation⁴.

Power

The Spruce Goose runs on the included 9V battery, or on an optional 9.6VDC-200mA power adapter (not included)¹. The power jack accepts a 9VDC center-negative supply, and current draw is 20mA¹, low enough that it shares easily with other pedals on a typical isolated supply. Vintage Guitar simply notes it uses a 9-volt power supply⁵.

What reviewers said

Published reviews were positive across the board:

• Vintage Guitar (January 2024): "The Spruce Goose provides rich clarity, indispensable ZZ Top, and earthy clean boost." The reviewer also found "single-coils received correct girth, humbuckers unleashed smooth, organic sustain"⁵.
• Guitar World: real flexibility at a manageable price point, with the Lift switch's medium and high positions adding 9dB and 21dB respectively⁴.
• Premier Guitar's review treated it as a Bluesbreaker derivative with its own additions³.

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