ThorpyFX Judge Dredd Lawbringer

The ThorpyFX Judge Dredd Lawbringer is a limited edition version of the Gunshot overdrive, built as a collaboration with Judge Dredd and carrying refreshed artwork on the same custom engineered enclosure. ThorpyFX states plainly that "This is sonically identical to the Gunshot", so the Lawbringer is about the look: the circuit, the controls and the sound are the award winning Gunshot's¹. RockBoard's PedalPedia describes it as blending stacked gain stages for British-style overdrive².

What it does to your sound

ThorpyFX positions the Gunshot circuit as a British-style overdrive with unusual range. The company says you can achieve "overdrive flavours from subtle through to searing, think slightly hairy blues to hard rock"¹. At the heart of the pedal is what ThorpyFX calls a proprietary cascading "gain engine", and the two gain controls work together: "with stacked gain stages you can blend the calibre and gain together to tailor and deliver the perfect British style overdrive"¹.

Reviewers have placed the Gunshot's gain range relative to ThorpyFX's other drives. Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson, comparing it with The Bunker in 2020, wrote that "the Gunshots seems to cover slightly more range - going from fairly mellow medium gain to really quite high gain", calling it a slightly more well-rounded proposition in gain range³. On the comparison with The Dane, the Guitar FX Layouts technical blog noted "The Dane doesn't have quite as much gain as the Gunshot"⁴.

When the original Gunshot appeared, That Pedal Show's Dan and Mick reviewed it in May 2015 and called it "a brilliant overdrive/distortion from new name on the block, ThorpyFX"⁵.

Lawbringer or Gunshot?

The practical question for a shopper is what the Judge Dredd edition changes. The answer, per the maker, is the artwork and nothing else¹:

The Gunshot itself was released in April 2015, and ThorpyFX's current standard version is the all new look GUNSHOT MKIIB⁶. ThorpyFX has also issued other Gunshot variants, such as the GUNSHOT MAUD JCM Edition. If the Dredd artwork does not appeal, the standard Gunshot delivers the same circuit. For a wider view of where this pedal sits, see the site's Overdrive Pedals page.

Build, power and the Caliber crackle

The enclosure is a point of pride for ThorpyFX: a stainless steel laser etched center console wrapped in a tough baseplate, in a custom engineered enclosure¹. RockBoard's summary matches that: "Built like a tank with recessed knobs, top-mounted jacks, and a laser-etched stainless steel console"². Top-mounted jacks help the pedal sit low on a crowded board.

Power is 9V DC center negative² at a 25mA draw¹, which most isolated supplies handle without trouble.

One thing to know before you assume a fault:

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