ThorpyFX Gunshot

The ThorpyFX Gunshot is a two-stage overdrive pedal designed, in its maker's words, "to be the overdrive to beat all others"¹. Released in April 2015 as the first official ThorpyFX pedal², it uses what the maker calls a cascading gain engine: a first gain stage set by the Caliber knob and a second, mid-focused stage set by the Gain knob, delivering everything from subtle grit to searing hard-rock drive³⁴.

ThorpyFX describes the pedal as responding like a valve amp, with rich harmonic complexity and touch sensitivity⁵, and reviewers consistently placed it in British-amp territory. MusicRadar called it "a commanding, versatile hard-rock overdrive that thinks it's a hot-rod head"⁶.

What the Gunshot does: a two-stage hard-rock overdrive

The Gunshot's core idea is stacking two overdrive stages in one box. Pedal of the Day's reviewer explained that "the Calibre knob... sets the level of a secondary overdrive stage that compliments the normal first overdrive stage"⁷, while Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson described the split the other way round: Caliber as the gain of a first, flat-EQ'd stage adjusted through a sort of bias control, and Gain as the gain of a second, mid-focused stage². Either way, the two controls interact, which is what gives the pedal its range from gritty blues to full-bore hard rock.

MusicRadar's Jamie Dickson found that with all controls at noon "it's an aggressive yet warm drive, with sharktooth upper mids, which excels at hard rock" and vintage metal⁶. He also noted it cleans up well: the Gunshot "works really well with your guitar's volume," in Pedal of the Day's words, making it easy to set the dials high and dial the effect back from the guitar⁷.

The pedal sits in a custom-engineered enclosure: a stainless steel, laser-etched center console wrapped in a tough baseplate³. Pedal of the Day called the look futuristic, with a chrome exterior and an angled bypass section⁷.

The controls: Gain, Caliber, Tone and Volume

Four knobs control the pedal⁹. What each one does, as described by the maker and reviewers:

Power and connections

The original Gunshot runs on 9-volt operation through a standard DC input⁹, and guitar.com's 2015 review confirmed power "via 9V battery or PSU"¹⁰. Current draw is 25mA³. The smaller V2 version dropped the battery option and can only be powered via a 9V power supply³. Adrian Thorpe has said the company no longer fits battery compartments at all: "We used to. We don't any more. It's a waste."¹¹

The pedal uses top-mounted jacks³, which suits tight pedalboards, and its true bypass switching was praised by guitar.com as "a smooth-action, true bypass footswitch rated at many thousands of cycles"¹⁰.

History and versions

The Gunshot was released in April 2015³, on April 1st by Guitar Pedal X's account, as the very first official ThorpyFX pedal². Premier Guitar announced it that May as "ThorpyFx brings its first offering to market," with a UK RRP of £199.99 and a limited-time release price of £184.99⁹. Gearnews noted at the end of 2015 that all ThorpyFX pedals had offered "far more tonal control than their vintage counterparts"¹².

The line has since grown into several versions and relatives:

• V1: the original 2015 pedal, battery or PSU powered³¹⁰
• V2: a smaller version, 9V power supply only³
• MKIIB: the current version with refreshed artwork celebrating ThorpyFX's 10th year in business, sonically identical to the V1³
• The GUNSHOT MAUD JCM Edition: also sonically identical to the V1, with recessed knobs and top-mounted jacks¹
• Judge Dredd Lawbringer Gunshot: a pedal based on the award-winning Gunshot circuit, blending stacked gain stages for what its maker calls the ultimate British-style overdrive⁸

The Gunshot circuit has also reached the DIY world: GuitarPCB published a free bonus PCB build document in November 2025 replicating the circuit, with a schematic, wiring guide and drill template, and noted that builders can try other dual opamps such as the TL072, 4558 or LM833⁵.

What reviewers said

MusicRadar's review was enthusiastic about both sound and construction, praising "exceptional hard-rock tone and bags of amp-like bite; immaculate build quality"⁶. Their tonal references were firmly British:

They found the pedal amp-dependent: it "gelled beautifully" with a Vox AC15C1, "like adding a high-gain channel to the amp," while a bright Mesa Recto-Verb 25 with a hard, efficient speaker revealed detailed harmonic content at the expense of some warmth⁶. With both Gain and Caliber cranked, they reported "beefsteak Van Halen and AC/DC lead tones erupt from the amp"⁶.

Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson offered a useful frame of reference: "I've always likened the Gunshot to a Hot Rodded Plexi - while Adrian has revealed that its profile is actually closer to" a JCM800 amp profile². In the same outlet's comparison against the ThorpyFX Bunker, the Gunshot's control set of Gain, Caliber, Tone and Volume was laid out alongside its two-stage architecture². Compared with another ThorpyFX drive, The Dane, the Gunshot has more gain, per the Guitar FX Layouts technical analysis¹³.

That Pedal Show reviewed and demoed the pedal in May 2015, with Mick playing a Fender American Vintage 62 Stratocaster and a Collings 290 DCS and Dan playing a Gibson Custom R8 Les Paul¹⁴.

Who uses it

The Gunshot is hand-built by Adrian Thorpe⁶, whose background includes bomb disposal for the British Army⁶¹⁵. It was the first in what MusicRadar called "a small range of belligerently named effects"⁶, a range that now includes the Peacekeeper, The Bunker and the Electric Lightning signature pedal with Chris Buck.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

Questions