This pedal is designed to be always on and the first pedal in the signal chain.
Albany, OR (June 2, 2014) -- The co-owners, Stephen Pettyjohn and Chris Hoff of Pettyjohn Electronics, based out of Albany, OR, announced on Thursday, May 1st, 2014 the Pettyjohn PreDrive, a studio grade, dual footswitch guitar preamp. This guitar pedal is designed to be the always on and the first pedal in a guitar player’s pedal board of guitar effects. The PreDrive offers many features unique in a guitar pedal. It can equally be used in the recording studio or on stage during a live performance. The PreDrive has three main functions that work together to set your guitar’s tone; PreAmp, PreShape & PreBoost.
The first switch engages the preamp section of the PreDrive. The preamp’s main function is to preserve every detail in the tone and dynamics of your guitar. The first part of the preamp circuit starts with a studio grade discrete opamp chip built with a full range frequency response, high headroom and a toggle switch called Vari-Z used to match the impedance of different pick up types used in a variety of different guitars. You can pre-shape your guitar tone further with the EQ section of the pedal. This section of the pedal features 2 knobs with wide range, sweepable high cut and low cut filters for smooth and transparent tone shaping.
The second footswitch engages the boost function of the pedal, driven by a second studio grade discrete opamp chip. The big top hat knob in the middle of the pedal sets the amount of boost and can be easily adjusted with your foot during recording or performance. With up to 11db of gain on tap, use this as a standard clean boost or pre-boost into your other drive pedals or guitar amp for outstanding overdriven tone. The harmonic drive toggle switch engages the vintage voiced harmonic drive circuit and activates the drive knob of the pedal. In this mode the pre-amp becomes slightly more mid-focused. The drive knob then mixes in the amount of harmonic content (drive) added to the signal. With the boost on, you can drive the circuit into full saturation for natural compression and rich harmonic content, reminiscent of a vintage tube amp driven to the edge of overdrive.
The input and output knobs allow the user to set the amount of volume going in prior to the circuit and amount of volume going out after the circuit during its use. Looking to the back of the pedal you have the input, 18 volt DC power and output jacks. There’s also an extra buffer output for a tuner and a transformer couple direct output on a balance TRS connection. The direct output makes the PreDrive perfect for anyone using digital effects, virtual amps or recording and re-amping your guitar lines in the studio.
The PreDrive is hand made in the USA with premium analog discrete opamp circuitry normally found only in professional studio equipment, available now for the first time in a guitar pedal format.
For more information:
Pettyjohn Electronics
