“Runs the gamut from boost through to fuzz-flavoured distortion”: Dinosaural Hypoid Drive review

What is it?

Long-time Guitarist readers will no doubt be familiar with the Cogmeister, a previous release from the Dinosaural brand and brainchild of designer Dan Coggins.

The triple-footswitch pedal, which featured in the Drive category in our Gear Of The Year list back in 2023, basically put three drive/boost pedals in one chassis.

Now, not all players needed three components of the pedal in one place and some folks asked for them to be made individually. Luckily, Dan was happy to oblige.

First, we saw the Cogmeister’s final boost section singled out as the Dan Solo pedal, and now it’s the turn of the central drive section – the beating heart of the Cogmeister – to be set apart with the release of the Hypoid Drive.

That section of the Cogmeister was itself derived from two previous Dinosaural drive pedals, the long-discontinued Tube Bender and OPA-101, but Dan says that the Hypoid Drive is the final incarnation of the design.

Specs

• PRICE: $279/£182
• ORIGIN: UK
• TYPE: Drive pedal 
• FEATURES: True bypass, 
• CONTROLS: Volume, Sustain, Tone, Shift switch, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V battery or 9-12V DC adaptor (not supplied) 50mA
• DIMENSIONS: 73 (w) x 121 (d) x 55mm (h)
• CONTACT: Coggins Audio

Usability and sounds

What we get is a drive pedal with the standard Volume and Sustain (gain) knob duo and a Tone knob linked to a three-position Shift switch, which brings in three distinct midrange contours, all of which seem perfectly voiced for guitar.

The central switch position can be thought of as the flat position, offering the fullest iteration of the midrange and putting us in mind of Marshall sound, while the other two positions have different degrees of mid scoop.

Between these three options and the Tone knob, to balance low and high for just the right degree of top-end presence, there is plenty of scope to get the pedal to perfectly complement whatever amp and speaker setup you may be using.

With the Sustain knob turned down, you can dial in a clean boost from about one o’clock onwards on the Volume knob, but the pedal’s most salient feature is the wide spectrum of driven tones it is capable of.

Advancing the Sustain knob takes you from a clean sound with a bit of ‘hair’ through increasing degrees of break-up and gloriously throaty driven amp-style distortion, culminating in something verging on smooth fuzz at the end of its travel. All of this with great string clarity and Volume-knob clean-up.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★★

Guitar World verdict: The Hypoid Drive offers classy sound with flexibility. It’s a stunning drive pedal that will run the gamut from boost through to fuzz-flavoured distortion, all with tonal options to match it to any rig.

Hands-on videos

That Pedal Show

So Much Tone! Mythos Big Puft, Cornerstone Nucleo, TWA Source Code, EHX Swello & Dinosaural Hypoid - YouTube

Watch On

• Dinosaural Cogmeister review – with three gain sections, can this triple threat cover all your dirt needs?
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.