The Red Witch Seven Sisters Ivy is a high-gain distortion pedal, one of seven miniature effects in Red Witch Pedals' Seven Sisters range. It was seven years in conception and finally realized in 20111, and Red Witch positions it squarely at the heavy end of the distortion spectrum: the maker describes it as capable of recreating the saturated, amplifier distortion tones of artists such as Slayer and Metallica1.
What makes the Ivy unusual is its size and its power. It sits in a metal enclosure a little bigger than a matchbook and about an inch tall, with a high-gloss painted finish2, and instead of a 9V battery it carries an internal rechargeable Lithium Ion cell, like the one found in a cell phone or digital camera, with internal charging circuitry3. Premier Guitar's reviewers found the whole Seven Sisters concept striking, noting that each Sister has two knobs for adjusting tone parameters4.
Red Witch's product page lists the Ivy Distortion as Sold Out, and the same applies to the other Seven Sisters pedals, so the range is no longer available new from the maker3.
A high-gain distortion with two knobs
The Ivy is a distortion pedal in the classic sense: it pushes the signal into clipping to produce saturated, high-gain tones rather than the gentler breakup of an overdrive. Red Witch's own framing puts it in amplifier-distortion territory, the kind of saturated tone associated with thrash and heavy metal rhythm playing1.
Within the Seven Sisters range, the Ivy is the distortion voice. Its closest sibling is the Ruby Fuzz, which Red Witch describes as able to dance the line between silky soft fuzz and an all consuming tidal wave of sonic saturation, and notes that Ruby is closer to her sister Ivy than any of the other sisters5. Where the Ivy aims at saturated amp-style distortion, the Ruby covers fuzz, and the rest of the range spreads across boost, compression, delay, overdrive and tremolo.
The range as a whole earned a warm reception. Reviewing the Sisters for Premier Guitar, the reviewers wrote that the pedals offer professional level features at an entry level, a phrase MusicRadar also used when covering the line at Amps Expo 20146. The Sisters share the same tiny footprint and the same rechargeable lithium battery system, which MusicRadar's Trevor Curwen described in his review of the range as offering 300 hours from a charge, or the option of a 9V adapter7.
The controls
The Ivy keeps its control set to the bare minimum: two knobs, like every Sister4.
That is the whole panel. There is no tone control and no separate EQ, so the pedal's voicing is fixed and your shaping happens with the guitar's volume and tone controls, or with other pedals in the chain. Red Witch's product copy is refreshingly blunt about it: "Volume controls……. the Volume!" and "Gain controls…….. the Gain!"1. Some of the other Sisters hide a little more inside: the Eve Tremolo, for example, has an internal gain trimmer that allows a boost above unity8, but no such internal trimmer is listed for the Ivy.
Power and connections
Power is where the Seven Sisters design is most distinctive. The Ivy runs from either its internal rechargeable battery or a standard 9 volt DC wall wart supply3. Plug a 9V DC power supply into the left-hand power socket and the internal circuitry charges the Lithium Ion cell4; when the range launched at NAMM 2011, MusicRadar reported that any DC adapter between 9 and 18 volts could be attached9. Premier Guitar's reviewers found that in practice you get one to two weeks of power before recharging again4.
The current draw is listed at 110mA3, which is worth noting for pedalboard planning: that is a real draw for such a small box, and it reflects the charging circuitry rather than the audio circuit alone.
Connections are equally minimal. The jack sockets are mounted on the top side of the enclosure rather than the sides3, which saves board space side to side, and the switching is true bypass3, so the signal passes through untouched when the pedal is disengaged. Premier Guitar's review of the range describes the switching as a sturdy true-bypass switch4.
Ivy and Ivy Distortion
Red Witch's site carries the pedal under two names: the Seven Sisters Ivy Distortion and the Seven Sisters Ivy. Both pages describe the same high-gain distortion with the same controls, power system, true bypass, 110mA current draw, 157 gram weight and 90mm x 30mm x 45mm dimensions31. The Ivy Distortion page adds the 119 USD list price and the Sold Out status3.
The Ivy sits in a seven-pedal range, each in the same tiny enclosure2:
- Ivy Distortion
- Lily Boost
- Grace Compressor
- Ruby Fuzz
- Violet Delay
- Scarlett Overdrive
- Eve Tremolo
The range was designed by Ben Fulton of Red Witch Pedals4, the New Zealand maker whose larger pedals include the Famulus Overdrive and the Leviatha. For players who can find one secondhand, the Ivy offers a genuinely small high-gain option with true bypass and a battery that charges from the same supply that runs the rest of a board.
Videos
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Sources (9)
- Seven Sisters Violet Delay, Red Witch Pedals
- Red Witch Lily, Grace & Ivy Pedals Review, Premier Guitar, 2011-12-27
- Seven Sisters Ivy Distortion, Red Witch Pedals
- Comprehensive Review of Red Witch Guitar Pedals, Premier Guitar, 2011-12-20
- Seven Sisters Ruby Fuzz, Red Witch Pedals
- Red Witch Eve, MusicRadar, 2014-05-15
- Red Witch Violetta Delay review, MusicRadar, 2014-05-12
- Seven Sisters Eve Tremolo, Red Witch Pedals
- NAMM 2011: Red Witch debut Seven Sisters pedals, MusicRadar, 2011-01-17
