HeadRush Anxiety OD V2

The Anxiety OD V2 is an overdrive stompbox from HeadRush, a maker best known for guitar processors and effects. As an overdrive, it sits in the family of pedals that push an amp or model into a warmer, more saturated break-up, a category covered in more depth on the Overdrive Pedals page.¹

What it does and where the circuit comes from

HeadRush describes the Anxiety OD V2 as based on a modded Fulltone OCD, the overdrive circuit originally designed around a classic hard-clipping approach that has been widely copied and modified¹. The "V2" in the name marks it as a second version of the company's Anxiety OD: the first Anxiety OD was based on a Fulltone OCD as well, so the V2 carries the same circuit lineage with the modded twist HeadRush applies².

For a player, that means the pedal belongs to the OCD school of overdrive rather than the mid-humped Tube Screamer school; if you want to hear how those two approaches differ, the Boss SD-1 vs Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer comparison covers the contrast in overdrive voicings. It also sits apart from the heavier end of the gain range covered by Distortion Pedals and Fuzz Pedals.

Videos

Click to load