The TEFI Vintage Lab GainOver is an overdrive pedal from the Italian maker TEFI Vintage Lab, designed around two gain sections that can be preset independently. Each section has its own Volume and Gain controls and its own footswitch, so a player can set one for a lower-gain sound and one for a higher-gain sound and switch between them during a song. A Contour knob adds extra tone coloring on top of the two gain stages.1
It belongs to the wider family of overdrive pedals, sitting alongside related gain-staging effects like distortion pedals and fuzz pedals.
What it does
The GainOver is built on what the maker calls a special proprietary circuit configuration, abbreviated PCN. Within that configuration sit two gain circuits, one high and one low, each with its own footswitch and its own Volume and Gain controls.1
The two sections are meant for different jobs:
- LO Gain section: a low gain range intended for finely adjusting a creamy crunch tone.1
- High gain section: the second circuit, preset separately, for higher-gain sounds.1
On how the pedal responds, Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio described the character of the gain this way1:
"offering a dynamic distortion, creamy and characterized by a progressive action: will never come as a 'scratched' sudden"1
In other words, the maker's intent is a distortion that comes in gradually as the player digs in, entering discreetly at low gain settings and respecting the dynamics of the playing rather than snapping on abruptly.1
Controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Gain (LO Gain section) | Sets the amount of gain in the low-gain circuit, for creamy crunch1 |
| Volume (LO Gain section) | Sets the level of the low-gain circuit1 |
| Gain (high gain section) | Sets the amount of gain in the high-gain circuit1 |
| Volume (high gain section) | Sets the level of the high-gain circuit1 |
| Contour | Extra tone coloring1 |
| Footswitches (two) | One per gain circuit, to switch between the two presets1 |
Related pedals
TEFI Vintage Lab later brought a similar dual-overdrive idea to the Tefi Vintage Lab Maccheroni Bros Mk2, another two-channel overdrive from the same maker.1
Videos
Eirik Stordrange
PedaiseEfeitos
Sources (1)
- TEFI Vintage Lab GainOver, Delicious Audio, 2018-08-02
