Jackson Audio Broken Arrow

The Jackson Audio Broken Arrow is a programmable soft-clipping overdrive pedal with an independent MOSFET boost circuit built in. Its overdrive circuit is, in Jackson Audio's own words, "a soft clipping overdrive circuit designed in the same vein as the venerable" Tube Screamer, but with four switchable clipping presets, four boost presets, a Gain Cycle feature and an active three-band EQ¹. In a Guitar.com interview with Joey Landreth, the pedal was described as "Brad's version of a Tube Screamer-style circuit," referring to Jackson Audio's Brad².

The current version is the Broken Arrow V2, which adds MIDI control to the original 2019 design. The V2 was billed by the maker as "MIDI, NEW FOR 2020!"¹³. At launch in 2019 the pedal was listed at $279⁴; by March 2020 the V2 with MIDI was listed at $220⁵.

What it is and how it sounds

The Broken Arrow is a Tube Screamer-style soft clipper at heart, but it departs from the TS808 in one important way: there is no fixed mid-hump. The maker states that "there is no set 'mid-hump' in the BROKEN ARROW and the tone is relatively flat when all controls are set at 12:00"¹. The V2 product page describes it as "a familiar soft-clipping foundation without a permanently imposed mid hump," with a relatively flat response when the EQ controls are centered⁶.

That is a deliberate contrast with the Ibanez TS808 it is modeled on. Technical analyses of the Tube Screamer note that its "frequency response is tailored to emphasize the mid frequencies, creating a hump that helps to keep the guitar sound over the general mix of the band"⁷, and that the TS808 "creates this mid hump by removing bass, removing treble and amplifying the remaining midrange"⁸. The Broken Arrow keeps the soft-clipping drive character but hands the tone shaping to the player through its active EQ.

The EQ section is a three-band active design. Delicious Audio's review noted it is "identical to the one found in the company's compressor/boost Bloom"³.

The controls and footswitches

The pedal has two footswitches, Drive and Boost, and makes what Delicious Audio called "clever use" of them³. The knobs and their functions on the V2⁶:

The footswitches do more than bypass the two circuits:

• Drive footswitch: Turns the overdrive on and off. Holding it opens clipping program mode, where you select one of the four clipping presets³.
• Boost footswitch: Activates and deactivates the boost circuit; press and hold for more than 1 second to enter or exit boost program mode¹.
• Both footswitches together: Triggers Gain Cycle⁴.

Clipping presets

The Broken Arrow offers four clipping diode presets, each with a different diode arrangement and its own LED color. Each preset is level matched on the V2, which the maker says helps you "hear the actual difference in response and character instead of a" simple volume jump⁶.

Guitar Pedal X mapped the presets to familiar references at launch: "Green = 2 Symmetrical Silicon Diodes ≈ TS808" and "Magenta = 3 Asymmetric Silicon Diodes ≈ DS-1"⁴. The selected clipping preset is written to the internal EEPROM on the microprocessor when you exit program mode, so it persists after power cycling³.

Boost presets and using the boost alone

The boost is a MOSFET-based circuit with its own Boost knob, which Delicious Audio described as a way "to slam the front of the overdrive"³. It also works on its own: the boost circuit is in its own true bypass loop, "which means it can be used independently of the DRIVE circuit"³.

What makes the boost unusual is that it has four presets, each EQ'd slightly differently³:

Gain Cycle

Gain Cycle is the Broken Arrow's signature gain feature. You set the Gain knob as your maximum, then press both footswitches simultaneously to cycle through four percentages of that setting⁶:

1. 25%: Edge of breakup
2. 50%: Defined overdrive
3. 75%: Heavy overdrive
4. 100%: Maximum saturation of the Gain knob setting⁶

Guitar Pedal X described it at launch as ramping "up the gain in 25% step increments out of the maximum" set on the dial⁴. Delicious Audio's reviewer called it "definitely a great way to add dynamics to a performance by using just a compact pedal," while noting that "it remains to be" seen how practical hitting both footswitches mid-performance is³.

Power

Input impedance is 1M and output impedance is 100k¹.

MIDI and the V2 update

The V2 update, new for 2020, added MIDI control¹. Guitar Pedal X noted in a 2020 buying guide that the pedal was "improved even further in the most recent update which makes full use of Midi connectivity"⁵.

The V2 receives MIDI through the ring connection of a TRS connector, so a MIDI DIN-5 to TRS conversion cable is required¹⁶. The pedal ships on MIDI Channel 1; to change channels, hold the Drive footswitch while applying power, then tap Boost to increment the channel⁶. The MIDI implementation covers five control change messages⁶:

Where it sits in the Jackson Audio range

The Broken Arrow sits among Jackson Audio's drive pedals as a dynamic overdrive, a type that reads your picking strength and adjusts the drive in response³. Its two footswitches, Drive and Boost, are arranged so the boost circuit lives in its own true bypass loop and can be used independently of the drive circuit³. Reviewers found this layout versatile: Guitar Interactive called it "incredibly versatile" and noted it "makes clever use of its two footswitches"³.

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