Stone Deaf Warp Drive

The Stone Deaf Warp Drive is a high-gain distortion pedal with a parametric EQ and a built-in noise gate, designed and built in the UK by Stone Deaf. Stone Deaf pitches its gain range as covering "classic industrial textures to modern metal chugging and classic rock"¹. What sets it apart from most high-gain pedals is the EQ: instead of fixed bass and treble knobs, you get a sweepable parametric filter, the same approach Stone Deaf built its reputation on with the PDF-1X.

Both the standard Warp Drive and the current Warp Drive LTD are marked by Stone Deaf as the last batch before discontinuation, so the pedal is on its way out¹².

What it does and how it works

The core of the pedal is the Warp knob, which Delicious Audio describes as "a high gain drive boosting a noteworthy range of gain"⁴. Around that sits Stone Deaf's Paracentric EQ, a parametric filter with a frequency range from 35Hz to 6kHz⁴. A six-position Q control selects the width of the boost or cut bell, from narrow to wide, so you can hone in on a single problem frequency or shape a broad region of the spectrum⁴. Stone Deaf says the parametric EQ allows for quick and precise tonal adjustments¹.

The second channel is a noise gate. Delicious Audio notes the Warp Drive "can also act as a high-gain noise gate pedal, thanks to a second, gated channel," and that toggling between the gated and ungated channel lets you switch instantly between holding a riff and letting it ring⁴.

Expression pedal control with the EP-1

The EQ's frequency sweep can be controlled with your foot using the Stone Deaf EP-1 Expression Pedal. Delicious Audio is explicit that other expression pedals won't work: the Warp Drive is compatible with the EP-1 specifically⁴. The same restriction applied to the PDF-1X, which Gearnews reported "will work with the Stone Deaf EP-1 expression pedal just like the PDF-2 did" and does not play well with other brands of external expression pedal⁵.

With an expression pedal on the sweep, the Warp Drive moves beyond distortion into filter territory. Delicious Audio describes the result as "delivering phaser and wah sounds with a distinctly modern edge"⁴, which puts it in conversation with wah and filter pedals as much as with other gain boxes.

History and versions

Stone Deaf had seven stompboxes in its range as of Guitar.com's 2018 review of the Syncopy, and the Warp Drive sits in that lineup alongside parametric EQ pedals like the PDF-1X and the PDF-1X Ghost, a parametric overdrive/distortion⁴⁶. Delicious Audio traces the Warp Drive's EQ directly back to the PDF-1X, calling it "the same parametric EQ control that we've made our signature on pedals like the PDF-1X"⁴.

Stone Deaf also released a Black Edition of the Warp Drive, an analog pedal running on 9V DC center negative at 55mA³. RockBoard's PedalPedia describes the changes as refined noise gate response and tighter bass³.

The Black Edition: LED clipping and a tighter low end

The Black Edition, sold today as the Warp Drive LTD, is a limited version of the pedal with several circuit changes³⁷:

• Symmetrical LED clipping, which Stone Deaf says gives "a harmonically rich amp-like tone"²³
• Refined noise gate response²³
• Tighter bass²³
• A brighter, more balanced sound compared to its sister product, the standard Warp Drive²³

The two versions also differ in power draw: the standard Warp Drive draws 55mA, while the LTD draws 100mA¹². Both run on 9V DC center negative, and Stone Deaf warns that anything other than 9V center negative may harm the product and cause it not to work¹².

Using it on bass

Delicious Audio describes the Warp Drive as suitable for use with both guitars and basses⁴. The Paracentric EQ's reach down to 35Hz matters here: that is low enough to shape the fundamental frequencies of a bass guitar, not just its upper harmonics, so the same parametric control that sculpts a guitar riff can tighten or reshape a bass tone. Players building a bass pedalboard can treat it as a gain stage and a sweepable EQ in one box.

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