Free The Tone String Slinger SS-1V

The Free The Tone String Slinger SS-1V is an overdrive pedal built around one specific idea: the American blues drive sound of the Black Face era of Fender-style amps. Free The Tone describes it as reproducing "the ideal American blues sound symbolized by the Black Face era," and pairs it in the lineup with the Fire Mist FM-1V, which the maker says represents the British rock sound of the gold Plexi panel¹. It is a simple pedal on the surface, with just LEVEL, TONE and DRIVE knobs, but the maker and reviewers point to the construction and the circuit around those controls as where the work went¹².

What it does to your sound

Free The Tone frames the SS-1V as one half of a pair. Where the ideal drive sound is concerned, the maker says two references come to mind: the American blues sound symbolized by the Black Face era, and the British rock sound represented by the gold Plexi panel. The String Slinger takes the first of those, and the Fire Mist takes the second¹. Pedal of the Day put the same split in plainer terms, writing that "Where the String Slinger focused on more Fender-type tone," the Fire Mist goes the other way⁴.

The three controls are described as having more range than their number suggests. Pedal of the Day's reviewers wrote that "There's a broad spectrum in the Volume, Tone and Drive controls, giving you extended dynamic range, brilliant overtones" and long sustain². Their verdict on the pedal as a whole: "they have managed to surpass our expectations once more, with a classic-sounding, modernized overdrive" despite only three knobs and no digital features².

The Integrated Series and the HTS Circuit

The SS-1V holds a specific place in Free The Tone's history: the maker's product page calls it the first release in the Integrated Series¹. That Pedal Show, covering the pedal in 2018, noted the series marked the company's 15th Anniversary, and explained that "they explain how the pedal casing and materials have been chosen with sound in mind," which accounts for the pedal's physical heft⁵.

The circuit around the drive itself is also part of the pitch. On That Pedal Show, Dan and Mick noted that the Integrated Series pedals "feature FTT's latest evolution of the HTS Circuit, which is a unique take on a buffer"⁵. For a player, that means the pedal includes Free The Tone's own buffering approach built into the design rather than as a separate box.

Controls, power and connections

The control layout is the classic three-knob drive arrangement¹:

The SS-1V runs on 9 volts and draws about 8mA, which is a light load for a pedalboard supply¹. Power options and connections:

• Battery: DC9V battery, 006P type¹
• Adapter: AC adapter, FA-W0905D-JA or FA-0905D-JA, sold separately, connected to the DC9V input jack¹³
• Input: 1/4-inch jack, input impedance 500k ohm or more¹
• Output: 1/4-inch jack, output load impedance 10k ohm or more¹

The brass knobs

The most distinctive hardware on the SS-1V is the knob set. Free The Tone developed custom knobs machined from brass, and says the design suppresses vibration of the potentiometer shaft and wiper to reduce harmonic components the company considers harmful to the sound. The maker adds that the knob diameter and weight were decided through repeated sound tests rather than by appearance alone¹.

Size and where it sits

The SS-1V is a standard-sized single pedal with a footswitch and jacks on its top edge¹. Pedal of the Day featured it on July 11, 2018². Within the maker's drive lineup it sits alongside the Fire Mist FM-1V as the American-flavored counterpart to the Fire Mist's British-flavored drive¹⁴. Players comparing it with other overdrive approaches can start at the site's Overdrive Pedals page.

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