The Harley Benton American TrueTone is an overdrive pedal from Harley Benton, the house brand of the German retailer Thomann. It is a budget pedal: gearnews listed it at £27 in a September 2020 buying guide of cheap pedals worth trying, where writer Jef Stone described it as "the Harley Benton American TrueTone overdrive pedal" in a roundup of affordable gear1. It sits in the same family of low-cost Harley Benton drives as the Harley Benton Ultimate Drive and the Harley Benton Custom Line OD-5, and it belongs to the broader world of overdrive pedals.
Controls and features
The pedal carries a straightforward control set for shaping an overdrive sound, plus an EQ section that goes beyond what many simple drives offer1:
- Level, Voice and Drive controls for the core overdrive sound1
- A three-band EQ section for cutting and boosting lows, mids and highs1
- A built-in cab sim, which Stone says "allows you to go straight into a DAW and attain fantastic recorded guitar tones" without an amp1
The cab sim is the feature that sets the pedal apart from a plain overdrive: it allows you to go straight into a DAW for recorded guitar tones. Players comparing it with other drives may also want to look at the Boss SD-1 vs Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer comparison for how classic overdrive circuits differ1.
Power
The American TrueTone can run from either a 9 volt battery or an external power supply1, so it works both on a powered pedalboard and as a battery-powered pedal for casual use.
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Questions
Can the American TrueTone be recorded directly into a DAW?
Yes. The pedal has a built-in cab sim, which Jef Stone at gearnews says allows you to go straight into a DAW and get recorded guitar tones without an amp. That makes it usable as a simple direct-recording front end as well as a standard overdrive on a pedalboard.
How is the American TrueTone powered?
It can run from either a 9 volt battery or an external power supply, so it works on a pedalboard with a standard supply or as a grab-and-go pedal with a battery inside.
Sources (1)
- 8 more cheap pedals every guitarist needs to try, www.gearnews.com, 2020-09-12
