Ross Distortion

The Ross Distortion is a distortion pedal first released in 1977 by Ross, a company from the Midwest, as part of a line of pedals that also included a Fuzz, a Phaser and a Chorus in later reissues. It is built on a classic op-amp hard-clipping design, and Pedal of the Day describes it as delivering "warm, tube-like saturation that drives your amplifier into harmonically rich, natural breakup"¹².

What it does and how it is controlled

The pedal keeps things simple: Level and Distort knobs dial in the dirt, with Level controlling the output⁵⁶. The side-mounted button toggles between two clipping modes, an "Era 2" germanium mode and an "Era 3" silicon mode³.

The original circuit used germanium diodes with very good results, according to General Guitar Gadgets, and was built around a dual opamp, using half of a dual IC instead of the 741 IC found in the closely related MXR Distortion+⁷.

Where it came from

Josh Scott of JHS Pedals dates the original to 1977, when "a company called Ross from here in the Midwest came out with a line of pedals"². Pedal of the Day places the Ross Distortion alongside the MXR Distortion Plus, DOD 250, and ProCo RAT as the legendary 1970s pedals that inspired it¹. Like the Distortion Plus and the 250 Overdrive, it was discontinued at one point and reissued after several years of absence from the new pedal market⁸.

From the original to the ERA 6 version

The current version is the ERA 6 edition from 2026. The Pedal of the Day reviewer, who owned an original '70s ROSS Distortion many years ago, found that "that feeling is back once again with this ERA 6 version," and called the ROSS Distortion "a standout among guitar pedals"¹.

The circuit family has a following among players and builders alike. Guitar FX Layouts, an independent technical site, put it this way:

Earlier versions of the pedal were also well received: a 2015 Pedal of the Day review praised "this tan beauty"⁶.

Questions