Olinthus Pillbug

The Olinthus Pillbug is a compressor pedal in an unusually small enclosure: Pedal of the Day calls it the smallest compressor pedal ever built, and says it is just a little bigger than your favorite guitar pick¹. It is an analog design built on a classic OTA (Operational Transconductance Amplifier) compressor circuit, which Pedal of the Day describes as delivering "pure analog vintage-style compression"¹. It launched at $99 from the Olinthus webstore, a figure Guitar Pedal X reported at its December 2025 launch and Pedal of the Day confirmed in its January 2026 review²¹.

What it does to your sound

Pedal of the Day describes the Pillbug's compression as "warm, smooth, and musical compression that thickens clean tones, adds depth to leads, and keeps chords articulate"¹. The reviewer's overall verdict was that "this mini compressor will shock with with the power and sound it can produce"¹. As with any compressor, the idea is to even out the difference between quiet and loud notes; for a primer on the effect type, see Compressor Pedals.

The Ross and Boss CS-2 lineage

Olinthus positions the Pillbug as a descendant of two older designs. Pedal of the Day describes it as "Inspired by two iconic compressor pedals, the 1974 Ross Compressor and the 1981 Boss CS-2 Compressor/Sustainer"¹. The Boss CS-2 itself dates to 1981, when Boss released it according to Aion FX's history of the circuit³. On That Pedal Show, Dan and Mick noted that the "CS2 and CS3 are very closely related"⁴, so players familiar with the later CS-3 are hearing a near relative of the circuit Olinthus drew on.

Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson read the Pillbug's control set as the strongest clue to its parentage: "Its Level, Attack and Sustain controls match the CS-2", and on that basis concluded, "I think it's safe to say that the lineage here is mostly CS-2 inspired."²

Size and footprint

The Pillbug's whole point is its footprint. Guitar Pedal X framed it as the pedal to reach for when "they should deploy the pedal that has the tiniest degree of footprint - and the Pillbug seems to be perfect for that con"². Pedal of the Day put it more colorfully: "it will fit on literally ANY PEDALBOARD, as well as under your hat, in your pocket or in your shoe"¹.

The rest of the Olinthus line

The Pillbug "follows in the footsteps of the Cicada Overdrive and Earwig Fuzz, the first two super-small pedals from Olinthus", per Pedal of the Day¹. Olinthus is a California-based maker, as GuitarPlayer.com's Christopher Scapelliti reported⁵.

• Olinthus Cicada Overdrive: an analog overdrive, described by Guitar World as "roughly the size of its namesake insect, meaning it can fit snugly in the palm of your hand"⁶. See Overdrive Pedals for the effect type.
• Olinthus Earwig Fuzz: an analog fuzz using "silicon transistors and symmetrical clipping diodes", per Pedal of the Day⁷. See Fuzz Pedals for the effect type.

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