Rockett Pedals .45 Caliber OD

The Rockett Pedals .45 Caliber OD is an analog overdrive pedal that puts a cranked vintage Marshall into a small box. Rockett Pedals describes it plainly¹²:

In other words, it is an amp-in-a-box pedal, one of a family of drives that aim to reproduce a specific amplifier pushed into distortion rather than to add generic grit. The sonic targets the maker names are specific: the pedal's voicing draws on "the old Malcolm Young, brilliantly crunchy rhythm tones and the old Pete Townsend" Live at Leeds sound¹³. Pedal of the Day's 2022 review framed it the same way, calling it "a dirt pedal derived from the classic rhythm playing of Malcolm Young"⁴, and a 2016 guest review on the same site said it "strives to get that AC/DC sound (Malcom and Angus)"⁵.

What it does: an overdriven JTM 45 amp in pedal form

The .45 Caliber is an overdrive pedal that recreates the sound of an overdriven original 1962 JTM 45 amp². J. Rockett Audio Designs describes it as a pedal they had been asked to create for some time, with the sonic influence coming directly from the old Malcolm Young, brilliantly crunchy rhythm tones and the old Pete Townsend Live at Leeds tones³.

The .45 Caliber is a recreation of the original 1962 JTM 45 sound, overdriven, and it is often described as an amp-in-a-box pedal. That is the appeal of this kind of pedal: you get the cranked-amp feel from a clean or lightly driven amp on your pedalboard¹⁴.

Reviewers placed it squarely in that category:

• Pedal of the Day wrote in 2022, "If you're on the hunt for your next amp-in-a-box pedal, this might be just what you're after"⁴.
• MusicRadar's review of the Tour Series .45 Caliber noted that where many overdrives are content to add dirt, this one "specifically aims to nail the classic Marshall" sound, and found it "Superb for classic rock tones"⁶¹. That review was put to the test in fitting company: the reviewer plugged in "a '67 Gibson SG Jr for a classic Townshend vibe"⁶.
• The pedal also sits in a lineage of JTM 45-style pedals. In JHS Pedals' history of the Bluesbreaker circuit family, Josh Scott lists the Rockett 45 Caliber among "a few great options" for players chasing that sound⁷.

How it is built and powered

The .45 Caliber is an analog design with a very low 8mA current draw, so it places almost no demand on a pedalboard power supply¹. Power comes from a 9 volt negative tip adaptor with a standard 5.5mm x 2.1mm jack, or from a 9 volt battery¹. Premier Guitar's launch coverage specified 9V DC operation with standard negative tip and positive sleeve⁸, and MusicRadar's news piece likewise reported 9V power supply operation⁹.

Switching is true bypass¹, so the pedal drops out of the signal path entirely when disengaged. The input and output jacks sit at the head of the pedal³, the top-jack layout many players prefer for tight pedalboards. Pedal of the Day praised the hardware itself:

The pedal also introduced a switching feature at launch. Premier Guitar reported that "The .45 Caliber also takes advantage of the new 'Speed Switch' system"⁸, and MusicRadar's news coverage likewise noted it packs J Rockett's new Speed Switch system⁹.

History and development

The .45 Caliber Overdrive came out of what J. Rockett Audio Designs described as roughly a year of development, with the company saying "After a year or so we feel we have nailed it, not only in sound, but also in feel"¹. The design's sonic influence came directly from two players: the "brilliantly crunchy rhythm tones" of Malcolm Young and the "face-melting" Pete Townsend Live at Leeds sound³.

Development took a while. Rockett Pedals writes on its product page:

That emphasis on feel, how the pedal responds to picking dynamics and volume changes, is central to what amp-in-a-box pedals are trying to capture, since a real amp's response is as much about touch as tone.

The pedal has stayed in the lineup since, and the maker sells it in two versions:

Pedal of the Day revisited it in September 2022, having first covered it in a 2016 guest review that described it as "one beast of an OD pedal"⁵⁴, and returned to it again six years later⁴.

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