The Red Velvet is an overdrive/distortion pedal from Vanilla Sundae Pedals, built around a CMOS Hex Inverter. Pedal of the Day, reviewing it in February 2022, summed it up as "Part overdrive, part distortion and all balls-out dirt", and described its range plainly: "Plug it in and easily go from mild overdrive to thick, chewy, saturated distortion."1 It sits in the overlap between overdrive pedals and distortion pedals, and it comes in what the reviewer calls an eye-catching enclosure with simple controls.1
Circuit and family
The Red Velvet is not an exact copy of the Tube Sound Fuzz/Red Llama, but Pedal of the Day's reviewer calls it "very similar" to that circuit.1 The Red Llama itself is a long-standing design: Way Huge Electronics, which makes it, has called it one of the company's most popular overdrive pedals.2 For a player, that lineage points to a simple, touch-sensitive dirt box rather than a high-gain modern distortion.
Controls and how it plays with your guitar
The pedal keeps things simple, with a Drive knob setting the amount of drive. The reviewer's notes on how it behaves1:
- With Drive all the way up, the guitar's volume knob can be used to control the amount of drive, so cleanup happens at the instrument rather than at the pedal.1
- With Drive all the way down, the pedal is naturally rather bright, and the top end falls behind as drive increases.1
"Turn the Drive knob all the way up, and you can experiment with your instrument's volume knob to control the amount of drive"
Input impedance and buffers
Two practical points from the review matter for where this pedal sits on a board. It has no buffers on its circuit, and it has "a rather low input impedance which can load the pickups".1 Loading the pickups is not automatically a problem: it is part of how this style of circuit interacts with a guitar, and it is one reason the pedal responds so strongly to volume knob changes. Players who want a fully buffered signal path can look at buffer pedals to place elsewhere in the chain.
Where it sits in a rig
Pedal of the Day found that "the Red Velvet Overdrive Distortion sounds great in front of or behind any other pedals", integrating well with a rig wherever it is placed in the signal chain.1 That flexibility, combined with the volume-knob response, makes it a dirt stage that can sit before or after other overdrive, fuzz or boost pedals without fighting them.
Videos
Pedal of the Day
Questions
Is the Red Velvet a Red Llama clone?
Not exactly. Pedal of the Day's review describes the Red Velvet as very similar to the Tube Sound Fuzz/Red Llama, though not an exact copy. Both are simple dirt pedals in the same family, and the Red Llama itself is one of Way Huge Electronics' most popular overdrives, so the comparison tells you roughly what territory the Red Velvet occupies.
Does the Red Velvet have a buffer?
No. The Pedal of the Day review notes the lack of buffers on this circuit, and also points out that the pedal has a rather low input impedance, which can load your guitar's pickups. Players who want to keep their signal buffered may want to pair it with a dedicated buffer pedal elsewhere on the board.
Does the Red Velvet clean up with the guitar's volume knob?
Yes, and it is one of the pedal's main traits. The review says it responds beautifully to the instrument's volume knob, and with the Drive knob turned all the way up you can use the guitar's volume control to set the amount of drive, rolling back for cleaner tones and up for full distortion.
Where is the Vanilla Sundae Red Velvet made?
The pedal is made in Boise, Idaho, which the review calls the City of Trees, using what the reviewer describes as high quality components.
Sources (2)
- Vanilla Sundae Pedals Red Velvet Overdrive Distortion, Pedal of the Day, 2022-02-26
- Way Huge Electronics Red Llama 25th Anniversary: A silver jubilee of dirt, gearnews.com, 2017-05-19
