The Mint Drive is an overdrive pedal from Red House Electronics, a maker of drive pedals, built for low to medium gain. It is a compact stompbox format pedal with three knobs and a single soft-touch footswitch, and it switches with true bypass so it leaves your signal untouched when off1. Pedal of the Day ran it as a guest review in September 2016, with Sean G. of The Noise Reel behind the write-up1.
What it does
The Mint Drive sits in the low to medium gain part of the overdrive range, the territory where a pedal pushes an amp or adds grit without losing note definition. Sean G. described its character this way1:
"This is a drive built to cut through and that's exactly how I've been using it."
He also heard clean tones in it that he likened to a Bluesbreaker, the Marshall-derived circuit many players associate with transparent, dynamic low gain drives1. If you are weighing it against other drives in that space, the Overdrive Pedals page lays out the wider field, and the Boss SD-1 vs Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer comparison covers two of the most common alternatives.
Controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Volume | Sets overall output level1 |
| Gain | Sets the amount of drive, from low to medium gain territory1 |
| Shape | Tone shaping: rolled back it thickens a bright bridge pickup on a Strat; rolled up it adds sparkle and shapes tone1 |
The Shape control is the pedal's distinguishing knob. On a Stratocaster, Sean G. found he could switch to the bridge pickup and roll the Shape control back to help thicken up a bright pickup, while rolling it up gave the drive a sparkle that thickened bright single coils1. Players with darker guitars or amps would use it the other way, adding top end rather than trimming it.
How reviewers used it
Sean G. named his use case plainly: "I use the Mint Drive when I need to cut through," pointing to chord clarity in a band mix as the job he asked it to do1. That is the role most low gain overdrives play: pushing solos and rhythm parts forward without smearing the notes.
Videos
Curtis Kent
Sean Gibson
Lance Seymour
Questions
What kind of pedal is the Red House Electronics Mint Drive?
The Mint Drive is a low to medium gain overdrive pedal. Reviewer Sean G. of The Noise Reel, writing for Pedal of the Day, described it as a drive built to cut through, with beautiful clean tones reminiscent of a Bluesbreaker. It has three controls: volume, gain and shape, a soft-touch footswitch and true bypass.
What does the Shape control do on the Mint Drive?
According to the Pedal of the Day review, rolling the Shape control back helps thicken up a bright bridge pickup on a Stratocaster. Rolled up, it gives a low to medium gain drive with sparkle that thickens bright pickups and shapes tone. It works as a tone-shaping control alongside the volume and gain knobs.
Sources (2)
- Guest Reviewer Fridays: Red House Electronics Mint Drive, Pedal of the Day, 2016-09-16
- Red House Electronics Mint Drive, Pedal of the Day, 2016-08-12