Spruce Effects The Arborist V2

The Arborist V2 is a light-to-medium gain overdrive pedal from Spruce Effects, a California builder. Premier Guitar describes it as "a fresh update of the light-medium gain boost and drive sounds of the original Arborist," built around a discrete transistor circuit with two gain stages¹. It carries a list price of $180 as of its 2023 introduction¹.

The circuit has a family history. Delicious Audio explains that the Arborist "is actually an evolution of one of their older designs," specifically the silicon side of the now discontinued Giganteum Drive². Where the Giganteum paired germanium and silicon channels in one box, the Arborist takes the silicon half and gives it its own pedal.

What it does to your sound

Premier Guitar characterizes the V2 as a gain-staging tool first: "It's most useful as a gain stacking tool, or as a powerful way to push your already distorted tube amp into sweet and colorful sustain"¹. That places it in the boost-and-drive role rather than high-gain distortion territory, sitting in front of other drives or an amp already working hard.

The clipping itself is germanium. Both press sources describe the voicing modes as "based on a unique germanium feedback/diode clipping arrangement," and Premier Guitar adds that each toggle position clips its own frequency, which is what makes the three modes genuinely different rather than just more or less of the same thing²¹.

Controls and the three voicing modes

The V2's biggest change over the original Arborist is its tone section. As Delicious Audio puts it, "V2, as requested by many users, replaces the Tone control with independent passive treble and bass controls"². So the front panel carries four knobs:

The treble and bass knobs are not a generic EQ. Premier Guitar reports that they "work very similarly to the famous Fender Bassman 5F6A tone stack," calling them "very interactive" and noting they allow fine tuning of highs and lows in the different voicing positions¹. Like the amp circuit it borrows from, the two controls affect each other, so finding a sound means moving both.

The three-way voicing toggle changes the clipping character. The two press sources label the positions differently, which is worth knowing when comparing writeups¹²:

Premier Guitar describes its labels as loose descriptions of the clipping characteristics in each position¹. Whichever naming you prefer, the underlying mechanism is the same: each position routes the germanium feedback/diode clipping arrangement to clip a different frequency¹.

Power and connections

The Arborist V2 runs on standard 9V center-negative power with a negative ground, drawing 2.6mA². That draw is low, so it is easy on a pedalboard power supply.

Connections are top-mounted Switchcraft jacks, with the input on the right and the output on the left²¹. Bypass is true bypass through a premium Gorva footswitch, with an LED showing on/off state²¹.

Build, colors, and where it is made

The enclosure is printed and milled in the USA, and the pedal is hand-wired and assembled in California²¹. It was offered in two colors at introduction: Dana Sage, a mint green, and Vintage Green, a dark green¹.

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