The NAU Engineering Spoonful Overdrive is an overdrive and a clean boost in one box, each with its own footswitch. It came out of a practical need: the pedal's story, as told in a Pedal of the Day review, is that a player heading out on a long tour wanted a good overdrive that also had an independent clean boost, and the Spoonful was built to answer exactly that1. It sits in the territory covered by Overdrive Pedals and Boost Pedals, but combines the two rather than asking you to choose.
Two circuits, two footswitches
The pedal carries two footswitches, one for the overdrive and one for the clean boost, and the two sides can be used independently or in conjunction with one another1. In practice that gives a player three ways to use it: overdrive alone, boost alone, or both stacked. The review called that arrangement very useful1.
The clean boost side is described as remarkably clean and clear, but still with just enough hair on it to make it lively1. The overdriven sound was judged fantastic and versatile, with any amount of gain in the blues and classic rock vein said to be at your disposal1.
"It's quite a bit less compressed compared to a Tube screamer, but isn't completely transparent, either."
That places the Spoonful's overdrive between the squeezed mid-hump character of a Tube Screamer-style drive and a fully transparent boost: less compression than the former, more color than the latter1.
Controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Overdrive volume | Sets the overdrive side's output level1 |
| Gain | Sets the amount of overdrive1 |
| Tone | Shapes the overdrive's tone1 |
| Boost volume | Serves as the volume of the clean boost1 |
The enclosure is plain and black, with its only decorative enhancements being a couple of pieces of labeling tape indicating what each knob and button does1. Players who care about looks more than function may find it bare; the labeling does make the layout easy to read at a glance.
Power
The Spoonful cannot operate on battery power, and it runs on an unconventional power supply rather than the voltage most pedals use. Make sure your power supply can meet the pedal's requirement before adding it to a board, and do not plug it into a standard pedal outlet.
That power requirement is the main practical thing to know about the pedal. Many daisy-chain supplies and one-spot style adapters are built around a single standard output, so the Spoonful may need its own dedicated outlet on a multi-output supply1.
Questions
Can the NAU Spoonful run on a battery?
No. The Spoonful cannot operate on battery power, so it needs an external supply. It also uses an unconventional 12-volt power supply rather than the 9 volts most pedalboards are wired for, so players should make sure their supply can feed it before adding it to a board.
Can you use the overdrive and boost at the same time?
Yes. The Spoonful has separate footswitches for its overdrive and clean boost sides, and the two can be used independently or together. That means you can run the boost alone for a volume lift, the overdrive alone for gain, or stack the two when you want both.
How does the Spoonful compare to a Tube Screamer?
Rob Compa, reviewing the pedal for Pedal of the Day, found the overdrive side quite a bit less compressed than a Tube Screamer, though he noted it is not completely transparent either. Players who find a Tube Screamer too squeezed may prefer the Spoonful's looser feel.
What does the fourth knob on the Spoonful do?
The Spoonful has four knobs. Three of them control the overdrive side: volume, gain, and tone. The fourth knob serves as the volume of the clean boost, letting you set how much level the boost adds independently of the overdrive's own volume.
Sources (1)
- Nau Engineering Spoonful Overdrive, Pedal of the Day, 2015-12-01