The Hermida Audio Tiki Drive is an overdrive and distortion pedal from Hermida Audio, designed by Alfonso Hermida with input from Elliot Easton of The Cars. Premier Guitar described it as "built to deliver extremely high-gain tones while retaining clarity, focus, and attack"1. The pedal first drew public attention at the 2010 NY Amp Show, where Premier Guitar's Shawn Hammond counted it among Hermida Audio's newest pedals and called it "Hermida's darkest-voiced overdrive pedal yet"2.
What it does
The Tiki Drive's core idea is two gain stages that feed each other. "The Gain controls are wired in series so they cascade into each other for more distortion potential," Premier Guitar's review explains, with Gain 1 and Gain 2 voiced independently so the pedal can move across a wide range of drive sounds1. The Voice and Tone knobs shape the character on top of that.
The reviewer's verdict was emphatic:
"For one pedal to cover so many different overdrive sounds is mindboggling, and the Tone and Voice knobs are brilliant."
How it sounds
Premier Guitar's reviewer described a range of sounds across the control settings1:
- All controls at noon: "a classic hard-rock distortion with just the right amount of bite and crunch"
- Gain 1 and Gain 2 combined: sounds "ranging from vintage Marshall to extreme metal distortion"
- Gain 1 pegged: "some of the characteristics of a well-rounded fuzztone with a little spit on top of" smooth distortion
That spread puts the Tiki Drive in territory between a conventional overdrive pedal and a distortion pedal, with the top of its range reaching toward fuzz characteristics as the reviewer heard them12.
Controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Volume | Overall output level2 |
| Gain 1 | First gain stage, wired in series with Gain 21 |
| Gain 2 | Second gain stage, voiced independently, cascading into Gain 11 |
| Tone | Treble shaping2 |
| Voice | Character shaping, described by the reviewer as "brilliant"1 |
Background
The Tiki Drive was a collaboration between Alfonso Hermida and Elliot Easton of The Cars2. Shawn Hammond of Premier Guitar saw and heard it in the Hermida Audio Technology room at the 2010 NY Amp Show, alongside the company's Blackface Drive, another of the brand's pedals at the time2. Hermida is better known for the Zendrive, and the Tiki Drive's higher-gain, darker voicing sets it apart within that range of drives.
Videos
Premier Guitar
Orly2u
Sebastian Falvo Music
Questions
Who designed the Hermida Audio Tiki Drive?
The Tiki Drive was a collaboration between Alfonso Hermida of Hermida Audio Technology and Elliot Easton of The Cars. Premier Guitar's Shawn Hammond, covering the 2010 NY Amp Show, described it as the result of that partnership and called it Hermida's darkest-voiced overdrive pedal yet.
What do the two gain controls do on the Tiki Drive?
Gain 1 and Gain 2 are wired in series, so they cascade into each other for more distortion potential, and each stage is voiced independently. Used separately they cover lighter and heavier drive sounds, while combining them opens up a range Premier Guitar's reviewer described as running from vintage Marshall to extreme metal distortion.
Sources (2)
- Hermida Audio Technology Tiki Drive Pedal Review, Premier Guitar, 2010-12-21
- NY Amp Show '10, Premier Guitar, 2010-06-30
