Programmability and preset storage aren’t generally concerns for the average overdrive user. But if expansive digital control for true analog drive pedals becomes commonplace, it will be because pedals like the Full English Programmable Overdrive from RJM Music Technology make it fun and musically satisfying.
Following on from the Overture, which combined classic overdrive types and original RJM circuits, the Full English is dedicated to serving up as many British-flavored overdrive flavors as you would find on its famously over-the-top namesake breakfast dish. (Which drive is the black pudding, we have yet to decide.) The pedal’s digital capabilities make navigation easy, facilitate MIDI implementation, and enable user editing of presets via Mac/PC/iOS software. But the overdrives and signal chain are fully analog, and it sounds great as a result.
Brit Box Abounding
Any one of the six core overdrive circuits can be the foundation for a preset. From mellowest to heaviest (more or less), they include push, blues, royal, imperial, shred, and stack. Each can be adjusted WYSIWYG-style with the gain, tone, volume, bass, mid and treble knobs (the latter three are configured as post-gain EQ). They can then be saved—overdrive mode, knob settings and all—to one of eight preset slots by a long-press of the same button that cycles through the six voices. The right footswitch is a standard on/off while the left selects from four active presets. But stomping both footswitches together toggles between red and green preset banks, enabling access to the full eight. All told, it’s easy, straightforward stuff.
Even when the pedal is bypassed, the active preset is indicated by the slot and mode lights, so you don’t lose track of what lies in wait when you switch on. Doing so illuminates a red LED above the on/off footswitch, indicating an active preset. Twist a knob, though, and that on/off LED turns green, indicating you’re in a live state for that control function, or any others you manipulate. The pedal also includes a USB-C port for connecting to your computer, where it will appear in any MIDI-enabled app.
Royal Flush
I taste-tested the Full English with a Telecaster and an ES-335 through Vox and Fender tweed-style amps. No matter the combination, the RJM’s core sounds were robust and wide-ranging, with all the dizzying performance versatility the feature set implies. Players are likely to find something to love in all six modes, although for pure aural appeal, I was most drawn to the medium-drive ODs—royal and imperial. Each was rich, thick, and lusciously saturated, plus easy to shape and re-voice to right where I wanted with a twist of the very capable EQ.
Stack and shred were fun for really slamming the amps, though, and well-suited to heavy rock leads and classic metal, respectively. Though the six modes span a pretty huge range of gain, I can see plenty of players getting good use out of all six modes and moving between radically different sounds from song to song—or within one, for that matter. Even using eight variations of one or two favorite core voices offers a ton of variety for rhythm, crunchy chords, lead, and solo-boost settings. And other than the time invested in the initial user-reconfiguration, it’s easy to use in practical, real-world performance situations.
The Verdict
RJM Music Technology has done a fantastic job of taking analog overdrive into the programmable realm here. The number of really great sounds is enough to impress. But it’s the preset options, MIDI control, and the ease with which you can put them to work that take the Full English over the top—both in terms of pure usefulness and appeal to old-school players that, to date, found anything more than a 3-knob overdrive too complex.
