The Fender Hammerstone Overdrive is an overdrive pedal, the kind of overdrive stompbox players use to push an amp into a warmer, more saturated response without changing its basic character. Premier Guitar's buying guide described it as "a retro-looking stomp that offers some interesting features under the hood"1.
What it does
The pedal's distinguishing feature is where its mid control sits in the circuit. As Premier Guitar put it1:
"The original circuit allows you to control the mids before the gain stage"
That matters for players because mid shaping before the gain stage changes how the drive itself responds: mids pushed into the clipping stage can thicken and sharpen the drive, while mids cut before it can loosen it up, in a way a conventional tone stack after the gain stage cannot.
Where it sits in Fender's range
Fender builds a wider line of drive pedals around the Hammerstone, and the same maker's other overdrives take different approaches:
- Fender Santa Ana Overdrive and Fender Competition Drive, higher-gain drives in the range
- Fender Smolder Acoustic Overdrive, voiced for acoustic instruments
- Fender Hammertone Breakup Drive, covering low-gain amp-style breakup
For a look at how the classic mid-humped overdrive design compares, see Boss SD-1 vs Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer.
Sources (1)
- Best Distortion Pedals Under $100, Premier Guitar, 2022-05-16
