Built to provide vintage Brit-style amp drive, the Retro Drive sports the expected Gain and Output knobs but also has a Tone knob that covers a very practical range of top-end presence, which can be used to dial in a sound that best complements your guitar amp.
Starting off on the lowest settings of the Gain knob, you have to set the Output to about three o’clock for unity gain so there is a little leeway beyond that to dial in a bit of kicked-in clean(ish) boost if you want.
Further on, the Gain knob takes you through all shades of driven amp crunch through to the full-on raunchiness and harmonics reminiscent of a vintage non-master volume Brit amp with its volume knob maxed.
It works well with a clean amp that needs an extra driven channel to be switched in at will, but also has all the necessary ability to push an already driven amp that bit further.
VERDICT: A very decent drive and price: this vintage amp flavour won’t bust your budget.
Specs
- PRICE: £79
- ORIGIN: China
- TYPE: Drive pedal
- FEATURES: True Bypass
- CONTROLS: Bypass footswitch, Gain, Output, Tone,
- CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output,
- POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) 50mA
- DIMENSIONS: 873 (w) x 112 (d) x 58mm (h)
- CONTACT: Ashdown Engineering (opens in new tab)
