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Photo provided by: Atomic Tone LLC.
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I remember when I was at Music School and I had to play “Smooth” by Carlos Santana for one of my recitals, my guitar professor told me my overdrive sounds like a vacuum cleaner. I´m not sure anymore which pedal that was, but I´ll never forget his words. Needless to say, I´ve become very sensitive to overdrive pedals. Especially being a Country Guitarist in Nashville TN, who´s playing Telecasters with a mostly clean sound, I´ve always found it hard to find an overdrive pedal that I like - that will give me a fat but still clear and smooth overdrive, without being trebly and brittle.
With that being said - when I got offered to try out the new overdrive pedal “Vintage Green” by Atomic Tone, I was a little bit skeptical, but I agreed to give it a try and let me tell you: I´m so glad I did. I´m currently on tour in England with a country-rock artist and this pedal is a staple on my pedal board.
Now let´s talk about the pedal: The first thing that stands out is the beautiful vintage design, green with blue and black sprinkles, reminiscent of an abstract painting. It has an analog circuit, and it comes with a 3-position toggle switch and 4 knobs: Volume, Drive, Tone and Plexi.
The tone knob works post-distortion to either clean up muddy lows or tame harsh high-end frequencies. What makes this pedal very special, and in my view lets it stand out from other overdrive pedals, is the Plexi knob. It basically works as a High-Pass-Filter pre-distortion, but it also adds presence and little bit of sag, just like what you would get from an amp, that enhances the dynamics and makes it more responsive to the picking attack.
The mid-hump helps you really stand out in a solo in a live situation, but if it´s a little too nasally for your taste, the Plexi knob, as you turn it clockwise, will smooth that out a little and at a certain spot it will replace the nasally mid-range with a glassy tone.
This pedal has so many different tone options with the 3-position switch and the combination of the Tone and the Plexi knob. It will take a little time to find your personal perfect tone, that sweet spot, but trust me, it´s there!
From smooth overdrive with a creamy midrange, to very high but crisp clear and fat overdrive. The tone is so thick and gritty and not fizzy at all and the sustain is amazing.
If you’re looking for Tube Screamer-ish pedal, but you want to have more tone options than a TS could give you, this Vintage Green pedal is perfect, regardless of what music style you play. This Vintage Green pedal is a keeper.
Last but not least, what I love about Atomic Tone Pedals, all of their pedals are hand built and assembled in the USA with only premium parts and high-grade components used.
Kudos to the Atomic Tone LLC team.
