KMA Audio Machines Logan Transcend Drive

The KMA Audio Machines Logan Transcend Drive is an overdrive pedal from the German boutique builder, built in an indestructible powdercoated die-cast enclosure¹. Its M-Freq knob selects the mid frequency from 100Hz fully left to 2.4kHz fully right, letting a player shape where the drive sits¹. It was an upcoming release at the time of its announcement, with players able to try it at the upcoming LA Stompbox Exhibit¹.

What sets the Logan apart from most overdrives is its EQ section. It carries a three-band active EQ with an adjustable mid frequency and a dedicated mids footswitch², plus an expression input that lets you sweep the mid frequency with your foot for wah-like results¹. KMA spent over a year designing the pedal and honing its flexibility for players, while retaining the character of your guitar³.

What the Logan Transcend Drive does

The Logan is a drive pedal built around a gain structure that Pedal of the Day described as carefully balanced for an open and super touch-responsive drive tone⁴. Delicious Audio characterized its sound as smooth and harmonically rich, with more hair, grit and sizzling depth as you pile on the gain, fitting anything from clean boost and amp-like breakup to indie clang and a full-on rock machine¹.

In Guitar World's review, Trevor Curwen found it can deliver in a range from clean boost right through to throaty cranked amp tones that work well in a classic rock context, and noted a naturally dynamic feel playing through the Logan⁵.

The pedal also has an impressively high-headroom design of up to 25 dB, which enables it to be used as a very versatile preamp¹. That headroom is what allows the Logan to sit at the front of a rig shaping tone rather than just adding grit, and it is the basis for the preamp role guitar.com described⁶.

The controls: three-band EQ, sweepable mids and clean blend

The front panel centers on a three-band active EQ. The Mid Cut/Boost knob offers cut or boost of up to 12 dB around a selected midrange frequency, with the Mid Freq knob selecting that frequency anywhere from the low-end thump of 100 Hz through to the chimey "presence" of 2.5 kHz⁵. Delicious Audio's product page gives the sweep as 100 Hz fully left to 2.4 kHz fully right on the M-Freq knob¹. Smaller Lows and Highs knobs adjust those bands by up to 15 dB⁵.

The clean blend is an internal trim pot rather than an external knob, blending clean signal with the overdriven tone for increased tonal options⁵. Keeping low end and clarity under gain is what a clean blend style control is for, and here it is set once inside the enclosure rather than dialed on the fly.

Footswitches, expression input and pre/post-gain switching

The Logan carries two footswitches: an Engage footswitch for the effect itself, and a dedicated Mids footswitch that activates or deactivates the Mid-EQ⁵⁴. Delicious Audio notes the mids footswitch is useful for taking dynamics to the next level during a solo or a crowded chorus, since you can kick the mid boost in and out on the fly¹.

A Post/Pre switch gives you a choice of where the midrange sits in the pedal's signal path, before or after the main gain stage⁵. MusicRadar describes this as a pre or post gain switch³. Placing the mid EQ before the gain stage lets boosting a frequency push the clipping harder, while placing it after shapes the already-driven tone, which is the practical difference between the two positions.

The expression pedal input is where the Logan gets its cocked-wah trick. An expression pedal can set the mid EQ frequency on the fly⁵, and Delicious Audio describes the result as wah-like, effectively turning the pedal into a sweeping filter when you rock the pedal¹.

History and the Desert White edition

KMA spent over a year designing the Logan and honing its flexibility for players, while retaining the character of your guitar³. The pedal was built in an indestructible powdercoated die-cast enclosure for maximum durability¹, and it was an upcoming release that players could try at the LA Stompbox Exhibit¹.

KMA later issued the Logan Desert Transcend Drive, an ultra-limited edition in a Desert White colorway with matching anodized red knobs². Only 100 handmade units were made⁵.

Every pedal is designed, assembled, silkscreened, tested and numbered by hand in KMA's small workshop, using externally manufactured PCBs¹.

What reviewers said

Guitar World's Trevor Curwen reviewed the Logan and summed it up as:

His plus points included a wide range of drive tones, footswitchable mids, and attention to midrange detail⁵. His one listed drawback was the internal adjusters, though he conceded that "these would clutter things up if they were on the outside"⁵. MusicRadar called the Logan Desert a versatile tool for your pedalboard³.

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