The Walrus Audio Mayflower is a low-to-medium gain overdrive pedal, Walrus Audio's own take on the Timmy circuit. Vintage Guitar magazine described it as a transparent booster that lets the guitar cut through the mix without losing its character, meant to embellish the natural gain of a tube amp1. It is long discontinued: Guitar Pedal X reported in June 2024 that production ended, coinciding with Paul Cochrane coming back from hiatus2.
What it does
The Mayflower sits in the low-to-medium gain territory of overdrive pedals. MusicRadar's reviewer Trevor Curwen found that with the Drive control at minimum and Level anywhere above two o'clock, it offers a clean boost with just a touch of grit, and he called it a practical complement to a clean amp or one that's just breaking up, adding dirt while retaining articulation4.
At the other end of its range, Pedal of the Day's reviewer Mike B found the Drive control has a nice range, allowing for everything from a small amount of crunch to a raging, crisp and powerful overdrive, bordering on distortion and fuzz when maxed out. He summed up the pedal's character as "Warm, biting drive tones are easily achievable here"5.
Controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Level | Output volume; above two o'clock with Drive at minimum it works as a clean boost4 |
| Drive | Gain, from a small amount of crunch to overdrive bordering on distortion and fuzz when maxed5 |
| Bass | Low EQ shaping1 |
| Treble | High EQ shaping1 |
The separate Treble and Bass controls help shape your sound to work with your amp, pedals and pickups5. The pedal has true bypass and a single on/off footswitch1.
Where it sits in Walrus's lineup
Mike B placed the Mayflower "Right in the meaty spot" relative to Walrus's Voyager Drive and Iron Horse Distortion, between the two in gain character5. Guitar Pedal X noted that as a Walrus Audio project the Mayflower came in myriad different colourway editions, and that it is very much its own take on the Timmy circuit, with timbral differences between the four varieties of that circuit the site compared2.
The Mayflower is long discontinued2. Players looking at Walrus's current overdrive range will find later models such as the Voyager Preamp/Overdrive MKII and the Walrus Audio 385 instead.
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Questions
Is the Walrus Audio Mayflower still in production?
No. Guitar Pedal X reported in June 2024 that the Mayflower is long discontinued, coinciding with Paul Cochrane coming back from hiatus. The pedal still turns up secondhand, and players who want a current Walrus overdrive can look at the company's later models such as the Voyager MKII or the 385 MKII.
What kind of overdrive is the Mayflower?
It is a low-to-medium gain overdrive that MusicRadar's reviewer described as a practical complement to a clean amp or one that is just breaking up, adding dirt while retaining articulation. Vintage Guitar magazine called it a transparent booster meant to embellish the natural gain of a tube amp, letting the guitar cut through the mix without losing its character.
What controls does the Mayflower have?
The Mayflower has four knobs, Level, Drive, Bass and Treble, plus an on/off footswitch with true bypass, according to Vintage Guitar magazine. The Drive control runs from a small amount of crunch to a raging, crisp overdrive bordering on distortion and fuzz when maxed out, and the separate Treble and Bass controls shape the sound to work with your amp, pedals and pickups.
Sources (5)
- Walrus Audio Deep Six and Mayflower; Celestial Effects’ Cancer Wah the Fuzz?, Vintage Guitar magazine, 2015-10-14
- Guitar Pedal X, Guitar Pedal X, 2024-06-20
- Walrus Audio Mayflower Drive, Pedal of the Day, 2014-09-28
- Walrus Audio Mayflower review, MusicRadar, 2017-05-17
- Walrus Audio Mayflower Overdrive, Pedal of the Day, 2014-10-11
