ThorpyFX The Dane

The Dane is a dual overdrive and boost pedal from UK builder ThorpyFX, made in collaboration with YouTube guitarist Peter Honoré, better known as Danish Pete. It has two sides: a light to medium gain overdrive on the left and a high-headroom clean boost on the right, each with its own footswitch¹. ThorpyFX describes it as "a dual mid-gain overdrive and boost pedal"¹.

The pedal is designed so the boost runs into the drive side¹. That fixed order is the whole idea: Honoré wanted a mid-gain overdrive that was very responsive to picking dynamics but could be made to saturate for solos with the addition of a boost². With both footswitches off you get nothing, with one on you get boost or drive alone, and with both on you get boosted overdrive, which ThorpyFX says yields "three distinct tonal variations ranging from clean boost all the way through to full and fat saturation"¹.

An overdrive and a clean boost in one pedal

The overdrive side is what ThorpyFX calls a complex light to medium gain overdrive, and the boost side is a high-headroom, super clean boost¹. The two channels work independently, as Honoré himself demonstrated on That Pedal Show, where he confirmed "they do work independently... and the boosters before the drive"¹⁰. The boost's clean headroom matters here: it can raise the level into the overdrive without coloring the tone first, which is how the pedal goes from rhythm sounds to a fatter, sustaining lead sound with one extra stomp.

The boost circuit has its own lineage. According to ThorpyFX founder Adrian Thorpe, much of the boost's underpinnings were the same as the company's Chain Home, with modifications including an even higher headroom diode, a 3.3V zener⁶. That same high-headroom clean boost was later spun off into the ThorpyFX Heavy Water boost pedal¹¹.

The controls

The Dane keeps its control set simple: five knobs and two footswitches. The overdrive side carries three knobs and the boost side two⁴².

The Lows control is the one players single out. MusicRadar's Jonathan Horsley wrote that on the MkII "the Lows control does a lot of heavy lifting and comes in very handy for fine-tuning the bottom end and perhaps adding a little more weight and width to your tone when using single-coil electric guitar pickups"¹². On the MkII, the clipping toggle on the boost side switches between the standard DP (Danish Pete) clipping and Heavier Clipping (HC), which ThorpyFX describes as similar to the second channel of the Heavy Water¹.

Power and connections

The Dane runs on a 9V DC center negative supply and draws 34mA³¹. There is no battery option: Guitar.com's review of the original describes it as powered by a 9V mains supply only, with the supply not included⁴. Both MkI and MkII draw the same 34mA¹⁹.

ThorpyFX sells the MkII with a choice of normal or TRS input and output options, and either alone or bundled with a Thorpy Barefoot Button¹. The MkII's smaller enclosure, 65mm wide against the MkI's 100mm, is aimed at cramped pedalboards¹⁹⁵.

From Danish Pete's signature pedal to the MkII

The Dane arrived in 2018 as Pete Honoré's signature pedal⁶. Honoré, a well-known YouTube guitarist, worked with designer Adrian Thorpe on the circuit⁵⁶. According to Thorpe, the design began by combining elements of ThorpyFX's Peacekeeper and Gunshot circuits, partly inspired by tones from pedals such as the Greer Lightspeed and T-Rex Møller, before evolving into its own circuit⁶. The initial production run was small, with Honoré saying on That Pedal Show that "there's a hundred being built probably 200"¹⁰.

The MkII followed in 2023 for the pedal's fifth anniversary¹²⁷. It condenses the same circuit into a smaller black anodised aluminum enclosure and adds the DP/HC clipping toggle on the boost side⁵⁷. At launch, Gearnews reported the MkII at $235.00 / £222.00 / 259.00€, and noted the standard full-sized version remained available from Thomann for players who wanted it without the extra clipping mode⁵. Delicious Audio called the MkII "the most versatile pedal available on the market for such a clean design"⁷.

What reviewers said

Reviews of both versions have been positive, with one consistent criticism.

• Guitar.com's Richard Purvis found the overdrive alone "essentially transparent and amp-like, with lots of organic warmth and minimal flattening out of playing dynamics," and said that with both sides engaged the pedal produced "a sound that screams 'classic rock'." His verdict on versatility: "Considering it only has five knobs and two footswitches, there's really not a lot that this thing can't do."⁴
• MusicRadar's Jamie Dickson found the overdrive side on its own "toothy, purposeful and, like all Thorpy drives we've played, has great clarity without being clinical," and with the boost engaged "a really fat, sustaining lead tone that somehow keeps its edge definition and lively responsiveness." His overall verdict: "A deceptively useful, well-executed pedal."²
• The same MusicRadar review lists one reason to avoid: "Can't swap order of boost and drive, as with the Keeley D&M Drive."²
• Gearnews wrote of the MkII that it "looks and sounds like a smart update to this already popular drive/boost pedal and I'm sure it will be popular."⁵

On That Pedal Show in 2018, Dan and Mick walked through the pedal with Honoré, covering how the two sides stack and why the Lows control earned its place: "I like the lead the lows, that's why we put the lows"¹⁰.

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The DIY angle

The Dane has a following among home builders. The tagboardeffects blog published a layout of the original circuit based on schematics found on an effects PCB site, using an OPA2134 opamp, with the boost's clipping handled by two 3.6V zener diodes in a back-to-back arrangement¹³. Builders in the comments reported mixed results: one found both channels sounded very good but got a high-pitch squeal from the Lows knob past 2 o'clock on the two-board build, which the single-board version did not have, while others reported builds that "worked perfectly with no sqeals"¹³. The blog also documented how to wire the MkII's clipping switch as a DIY modification using a DPDT switch¹³.

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