“THERE ARE ONLY SO MANY WAYS TO
build an overdrive,” Gas FX tells us, but the
key to their Drive Thru ($299) lies in just
how they put these relatively simple ingredients together. The U.K.-based pedal
maker
has been tweaking the recipe for more than
a decade, all by way of creating an overdrive
that interacts seamlessly with a good tube
amp. Any new iteration that truly elevates
our playing experience is definitely worth
checking out.
Removing the bottom plate from the
chunky 4w" x 3w" x 2r" box reveals a hand-
wired turret board populated by high-quality
components—carbon-comp resistors, mica
and paper-in-oil capacitors—with pots and
switches entirely chassis mounted. It’s a tidy
op-amp-powered design with a choice of silicone or germanium diodes for grit,
all governed by straightforward Volume, Tone, and
Gain controls and a “Ge/Si” mini-switch for
selecting between germanium and silicon
diodes. Switching is true bypass.
Tested with various guitars into clean and
semi-cranked tube amps the Drive Thru proved
extremely dynamic and touch-sensitive—a
natural enhancement of the guitar-to-amp
bond. The germanium setting was softer and smoother, but
delightfully toothsome, while silicon gave
more cut and bite without being
at all harsh. There’s plenty of gain on
tap when needed, but at lower-to-medium
settings the pedal still offers a fast track to
the amp’s sweet spot, delivering a thick,
meaty tone that is delectably juicy. The term
“organic” is overused, but it’s
hard to avoid it here. Set approximately to unity gain, the Drive
Thru sounded virtually transparent, adding a slightly perceptible
fatness if anything, and it retained
that clarity as I increased drive levels and
heaped on the hair. Another bonus, surprising in an overdrive, was the ease
with which
this pedal ushered in edge-of-feedback sustain and all-out feedback when
desired. Gorgeous stuff, and a hard one to switch off!
KUDOS A very juicy, transparent, touch-sensitive overdrive. Well
built.
CONCERNS Could be a little chunky for
some boards.
CONTACT gasfx.co.uk