Great Eastern FX Co. takes inspiration from the Fender Champ for its first-ever stompbox, the Small Speaker Overdrive

UK-based pedal builder Great Eastern FX Co. has lifted the curtain on its first-ever effects pedal, the Small Speaker Overdrive.

Heralding from Cambridge, England, the newly established company says its debut overdrive pedal aims to offer up the sounds of small Fender guitar amps, and promises organic break-up and a sonic character that will cut through the mix.

It’s a sound that has been favored by many electric guitar heroes in the studio over the years – Duane Allman, Joe Walsh, Billy Gibbons and Mike Campbell, to name a few.

The pedal itself features a transistor circuit that is said to emulate the “magical thing” that happens when you stick a mic in front of the humble eight-inch speaker of a Fender student-model valve combo.

Hand-built in the UK, the pedal features four control knobs: Gain, Level, High and Low. The gain and level parameters are pretty straightforward – they control output and, well, the gain level – while High and Low serve as boost/cut controls for their respective frequency ranges.

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In operation, the Small Speaker Overdrive is intended to sit at the start of a signal chain, and is said to be up to the task of serving up everything from an almost-clean boost to a “honky” saturated drive.

Not only that, Great Eastern FX has said its premiere pedal shares similarities with vintage fuzzes, in that it seeks to bring a convincing response to picking dynamics and volume knob adjustment to the table.

As it is a UK-based pedal, there’s only a UK price, though it can be purchased by overseas customers for £182. By our calculations, that’s approximately $242.

To find out more, visit Great Eastern FX Co.