Spiral Electric FX Yellow Spiral Drive

The Yellow Spiral Drive is an analog overdrive pedal from Spiral Electric FX, released in March 2019 at a $249 street price¹. Its circuit is based on the DOD 250 Overdrive Pre-Amp, with what the launch press release called "choice alterations"¹. The designer is Tom Cram, who created pedals including the Carcosa, Rubberneck and FreqOut during his time at DOD and DigiTech¹.

The pedal is positioned as a do-everything drive. Premier Guitar's press release described it as "truly the swiss-army knife of overdrive pedals," covering an always-on tone sweetener, clean boost, dirty boost, low-gain distortion, mid-gain distortion and amp pushing¹. Gearnews listed the same range of uses and noted it is 100% analog².

A DOD 250-based overdrive for guitar and bass

The DOD 250 is the circuit at the heart of the Yellow Spiral. JHS Pedals' history of Spiral Electric FX calls the pedal a descendant of "the nineties DOD 250" and its author goes further: "Personally, I consider this pedal to be the ninth version of DOD 250"⁶. The same family of circuits is well known among builders: Griffin Effects sells a DIY PCB from which you can build a DOD 250, a DOD YJM308 or an MXR Distortion +⁷.

Cram himself traced the pedal's origin to his own bench work. In a Guitar.com interview he said: "A lot of my experimental stuff with it became the Yellow Spiral"⁸.

What separates the Yellow Spiral from a stock 250 is its clipping. Gearnews reported that it uses a Nanolog N2 Quantum Junction, a carbon-based clipping component, mixed with silicon components and an LED clipper, plus an 80n asymmetrical diode network and selectable clipping sections²⁶. Delicious Audio described the same arrangement as Nanolog's carbon clipping technology in combination with more traditional diodes⁵.

For a player, the result is a drive that responds to how you play. The press release describes it as "very touch-sensitive, goes from chime to grind with just an increase in pick attack"¹, and Pedal of the Day's 2022 review of the LF351 limited edition found the same character, noting that DOD 250 and Micro Amp boost sounds are readily available and that it cleans up well with the guitar's volume knob⁹.

The controls: Gain, Output, Girth and the clipping toggle

The control surface is four elements: a gain knob, an output knob, a rotary and a toggle. The Girth control is a 6-position rotary tone network that retains your highs but increases low-end, and the toggle is a three-way switch that either blends the N2 with silicon or LED diodes, or selects the N2 on its own¹⁰².

The Girth control is the pedal's signature feature, and it first appeared here. Premier Guitar's later White Spiral Boost announcement states plainly: "The 'Girth' Control was first introduced with Spiral Electric FX's Yellow Spiral Drive"¹¹. Gearnews described it as "a 6-position rotary tone network that retains your highs but increases low-end"², and Guitar.com called it a six-way tone selector that adds low end while retaining highs¹⁰.

The clipping toggle is the other voice-shaping control. Gearnews described it as "a three-way toggle switch that chooses between, N2 + LED, N2 and N2+Silicon"², letting you run the carbon clipper alone or blended with silicon or LED diodes.

Does it work on bass?

Yes. MusicRadar reported that the Yellow Spiral Drive "works with both guitar and bass"⁴, and the press release went further on how it behaves: "The Yellow Spiral sounds fantastic on bass with none of the low-end loss commonly associated with this circuit"¹. The Girth control is the reason: adding low end without dulling the highs addresses exactly the bass loss the 250 circuit is known for. Players shopping for low-end-friendly drives can compare it against other options on the bass pedals page.

History and versions

Spiral Electric FX is Tom Cram's own company, founded after his DOD and DigiTech years⁵. The Yellow Spiral Drive, released in March 2019³, was its first major overdrive, and the line grew quickly around it:

There was also a limited edition: the Yellow Spiral LF351 Limited Edition Overdrive, an LF351 opamp-based variant reviewed by Pedal of the Day in March 2022, which the reviewer noted "keeps with the original version of the Yellow Spiral Drive"⁹.

The enclosure itself is part of the identity. Gearnews described "a very striking 'blasted' finish with bright yellow knobs"², MusicRadar noted it ships in a variety of one-off oxide finishes⁴, and Delicious Audio listed laser-etched graphics and a chemical oxide top among its features⁵.

What reviewers said

Published reaction to the Yellow Spiral has been positive. Pedal of the Day, reviewing the LF351 limited edition in 2022, wrote that "this one sounds different from any other drive we've come across"⁹. MusicRadar's Michael Astley-Brown, noting Cram's track record, wrote that "our hopes are high for this one"⁴.

Gearnews quoted the company's own blurb for the pedal's full-tilt setting: "unleashing the fury, everything on 10 lead shred-o-rama"².

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