EPIC DRIVE
The Ultimate Overdrive Laboratory
SHIPPING: Estimated to begin shipping the first week of December in order or order received.
The EPIC DRIVE
The Pettyjohn EPIC DRIVE is a collection of overdrive circuits developed over fifteen years of Pettyjohn exploring overdrive circuits. Due to continuing supply chain issues, we have decided to discontinue all of our other overdrives and make one to rule them all. A greatest hits of all our favorite drives, rolled into one EPIC overdrive pedal with some super fun bonus features that make the EPIC DRIVE an overdrive like no other.
THE EPIC DRIVE from a Parallel Universe
One of the most unique features of the EPIC DRIVE is that it consists of two totally isolated overdrive circuits in parallel! You create the final tone by mixing these two overdrive engines together via their independent level knobs. This was first implemented on our PettyDriveV3 and we loved the way the tones combine in parallel. We found combining overdrives in parallel results in a much richer, less compressed/more open tone then stacking in series as well as much lower noise floor. You can creatively compile tones never heard before, quickly blending combos of flavors. Each side of the EPIC DRIVE has its own GAIN, LEVEL and three three-way clipping toggles as well as a rear mounted Lo/Hi gain switch. If you don't need dual overdrives blended, you can turn one side all the way off to isolate the other OR you can use LO-GAIN switch and bypass the clipping, toggles to middle and use one side as the "clean mix". Once the signals are summed together then they go through the sweepable HPF and the Inductor Mids circuit, more on those later! The EPIC DRIVE may indeed be our last overdrive we ever produce, as we move forward with more pro-audio focused products, but it is not an after thought. It is literally the pedal that took a decade and a half to make and for many, may be the only overdrive they need.
The Overdrive Sonic Laboratory
The EPIC DRIVE's two parallel overdrive circuits each offer a fundamentally different family of overdrive. Due to the nature of this "all in one" drive, we decided to label this with the technical terms for the settings and reveal the settings via the user manual, ie the write up. The EPIC DRIVE comes from 15 years of tweaking these overdrive circuits, literally trying 100s of combos of opamps, caps and diodes. These are our favorites and represent the finest and widest array of overdrive tones we could conceivably put into a pedal this size.
DIODE PARADE
At the core of our overdrive R&D over the years has been diode clipping array design, deeply exploring non standard topologies and unique diode selection. This journey often took us to eBay to order NOS diodes from Eastern Europe where they still have a few boxes of NOS soviet germanium diodes laying around. Germanium diodes are particularly interesting in overdrives because they have genuinely different knee characteristics, which translate directly to how they create the overdrive effect. In the EPIC DRIVE, there are no shortcuts taken and we include all of the best and most rare diodes in the stock unit, so long as we are able to get them. The EPIC DRIVE contains over 40 clipping diodes, some of them costing over a dollar each! The price doesn't really matter in the end, its the tones it can product that we care about, so even when we reference a famous circuit we have made our own take on it, usually changing stock diodes for better sounding options or adjusting the topology to improve the overall tone.
Circuit 1: Vintage JRC4558 Overdrive Circuit
The right side is based on the vintage JRC4558 opamp, incorporating feedback-loop based soft clipping, controlled by the top two clipping toggles. The lower toggle adds in, or bypasses, shunt style hard clipping, which they can be used independently or in combination for many different tones. Here are the Pettyjohn pedals that can be made using these settings:
Top toggle: Highest Headroom Feedback Loop
BB: High headroom silicon clipping from the GLASS, inspired by the Blues Breaker
RED: Red LED Clipping from the IRON, highest headroom
ODI: is the classic OD-1 asymmetrical setting with NOS Toshiba Diodes from the ODI
Mid Toggle: Lowest Headroom Feedback Loop
GE: Symmetrical Germanium Clipping via NOS Soviet made D18
OFF: Bypass, no clipping
TS: This is the symmetrical high headroom silicon clipping from the MIDS and NASH
Lower Toggle: Shunt diodes
FIVE: NOS Germanium Diodes from 1987, combine with GE setting for the FIVE pedal
OFF: Bypass, no clipping
NASH: Symmetrical Silicon in shunt. Add to TS for our NASH pedal which is inspired by the Nobels but with extended headroom.
Circuit 2: Classic TL072 Overdrive Circuit
The TL072 is widely regarded as one of the warmest opamps to be used in many classic overdrive designs. We found the TL072 sounds best driving shunt style clipping. Here are the settings we have included in the EPIC DRIVE.
Top Toggle: High Headroom
YEL: Yellow LED, a favorite setting from the CHIME
UV: UV LED, highest headroom from GOLD
BLUE: Blue LED from Royal and EDGE
MID Toggle: Medium Headroom
RAT: Our take on the classic Rat circuit, found in the ROUS and Nutria pedals
OFF: Bypass this clipping switch
CHIME: Creative blend of germanium/silicon from the CHIME V1 optimized for low gain sparkle
Low Toggle: Lowest Headroom
MYTH: Our take on a Klon style clipping, only 2x the headroom with NOS D9E diodes from the RARE and MYTH
OFF: Bypass this clipping switch
GOLD: Our original Plexi inspired "MIAB" clipping found in every generation of the GOLD using genuine 1N34A germanium diodes
LO and HI GAIN Switches
On the rear of the pedal, we have included 2 pushbutton switches that change the gain range for each parallel stage. This is what allows us to voice the TL072 side for the CHIME (Lo Gain) or the GOLD or RAT in High Gain mode. It also allows the user to explore the circuits in a gain range not originally offered!
INDUCTOR MIDS
Our favorite inductor based MID bell has been voiced for this overdrive with a Red Fasel inductor. Its musical, almost vocal when boosting and clean when cutting.
SWEEPABLE LOWS and HIGHS
From the very first pedal, the PreDrive over 15 years ago, we have always come back to some form of sweepable LPF and HPF for our LOWS and HIGHS controls. The main reason for this is it allows the user to voice the circuit instead of us the designer baking in our preferences. The LOWS controls is situated before the gain stage on each side, effectively tightening the lowend before it goes through the gain and clipping circuitry, which greatly changes how each clipping setting overdrives. Its fully range. Meaning when the LOWS control is all the way down, there is nothing in the path reducing lowend, other then natural effects of low headroom clipping arrays. The HIGHS control is after the two parallel paths sum, thus giving the user full control over how much high end and harmonics you want in your tone. Nothing is preset by us, so you can design your perfect overdrive tone to match your rig, wether its a electric guitar, baritone, bass, keyboard or synth.
MAXIMIZE POTENTIAL AT 36 VOLTS
Pettyjohn has long been using a proprietary 36-volt dual rail power supply, which gives us the ability to run Discrete Opamps but also the added benefit is the other opamps run at absolute maximum headroom. When you increase voltage you increase the headroom which then affects the tone and feel of a pedal. Dual rail power supplies are usually found only in classic studio gear, but is part of our vision to bring studio-grade electronics and sonic performance to the pedal board, delivering up to a massive four times the headroom of most guitar pedals. This high headroom imparts an openness and 3D quality that is unique to Pettyjohn pedals.
