The Vaux Flores Pejibaye Overdrive is an overdrive pedal with boost, built around a single control and a three-way clipping toggle. Pedal of the Day, reviewing it in January 2017, described it as "a simple but powerful pedal that unleashes beautiful, semi-transparent tones with ease"1. It sits in the territory shared by overdrive pedals and boost pedals: the design, the reviewer wrote, "is meant to focus on your guitar's original tone, and enhance it a bit along the way"1.
Controls and clipping options
The Pejibaye has one knob and one toggle switch, and that is the whole interface. The lone control "goes from boost-on-steroids mode to refined and saturated drive as you slowly move" it from left to right, so the pedal covers everything from a level push to a fuller drive sound with a single turn1.
The three-way toggle selects between three clipping options, which is where most of the pedal's range comes from1:
| Toggle position | Clipping style | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nearly unnoticeable clipping | Cleaner and a bit clearer sounds1 |
| 2 | Softer, LED-based symmetry style clipping | Pushes the sonic boundaries a little1 |
| 3 | Hard, silicon rectifier-based grit | Higher gain territory1 |
The clipping settings are the reason a one-knob pedal can stretch from clean boost to drive: the knob sets how hard the pedal pushes, and the toggle sets how the clipping shapes it. For comparison with other clipping-based drive circuits, see distortion pedals and fuzz pedals.
What reviewers said
Pedal of the Day's 2017 review is the published account of this pedal, and it was positive on both the sound and the range. The reviewer wrote that the Pejibaye "unleashes beautiful, semi-transparent tones with ease," meaning tones that do not poorly color the original sound while adding options1. On the toggle switch, the reviewer concluded that it turns "a seemingly simple piece of gear into a true monster with range you wouldn't have thought possible at first glance"1.
"This black and white beast seemed so tame when we opened up the box"
The enclosure is black and white1.
Videos
Pedal of the Day
Questions
How much boost does the Vaux Flores Pejibaye Overdrive have?
Pedal of the Day describes the Pejibaye as harnessing up to +30dB of boost, which is enough headroom to use it as a clean boost as well as an overdrive. Its single control runs from a boost-heavy character at one end to a refined, saturated drive at the other, so the amount of level and drive is shaped with one knob.
What do the three toggle positions do on the Pejibaye?
The three-way toggle selects between three clipping options. Position one is a nearly unnoticeable clipping option for cleaner and clearer sounds. Position two is a softer, LED-based symmetry style clipping. Position three moves into higher gain territory with hard, silicon rectifier-based grit.
Who designed the Vaux Flores Pejibaye Overdrive?
The pedal is made by Vaux Flores, and Pedal of the Day credits Travis Johns, associated with Vaux Flores, in its review of the Pejibaye Overdrive.
Does the Pejibaye Overdrive use diode clipping?
The Pejibaye offers three clipping options selected by a toggle switch: a nearly unnoticeable setting, a softer LED-based symmetry style, and a harder silicon rectifier-based grit for higher gain. The review does not go further into the clipping components than that.
Sources (1)
- Vaux Flores Pejibaye Overdrive, Pedal of the Day, 2017-01-17