The Fuse Electronics Smooth Drive is an overdrive pedal made by Fuse Electronics, a company Pedal of the Day described as "an upstart company based out of Chile"1. It keeps to the three-knob overdrive format, "in theme with most other 3-knob overdrive pedals"1.
Controls and what they do
The pedal follows the standard three-knob overdrive arrangement. Pedal of the Day's reviewer ran through the knobs in his review1:
- Level (Volume): adjusts the overall output of the pedal
- The remaining two controls follow the usual overdrive arrangement of gain and tone, keeping the pedal "in theme with most other 3-knob overdrive pedals"1
On the Level control in particular, Mike B found "plenty of volume to be had using the Level knob, and great for pushing a tube amp to near break-up crunch"1. That makes the pedal usable in the way many players use a low- to medium-gain overdrive: as a clean-volume boost into an amp that is already close to breaking up, or as a mild drive on its own.
"Plenty of volume to be had using the Level knob, and great for pushing a tube amp to near break-up crunch"
Where it sits among similar pedals
The Smooth Drive shares its name, though not its maker, with two other drives covered on this site: the LunaStone Smooth Drive 1, which its maker LunaStone describes as "Foot-On Overdrive"2, and the Burnt Audio Effects Smooth Driver, a light-medium overdrive that Delicious Audio noted "loves to be fed into other drives to create an even thicker and distinct drive"3. The Fuse Electronics original is a conventional three-knob design in the same general territory: a drive pedal for pushing an amp or adding mild grit, rather than a high-gain distortion or fuzz unit.
Videos
Fuse Electronics
Fuse Electronics
FuzzboxChile
Sources (3)
- Fuse Electronics Smooth Drive Overdrive, Pedal of the Day, 2015-07-15
- Smooth Drive 1, LunaStone
- Burnt Audio Effects Smooth Driver, Delicious Audio, 2018-06-04
