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Photos too small? Click on photos, screenshots and diagrams in articles to open a Larger View gallery. January 2010
Other recent issues: | Custom Tones Ethos Overdrive TLEBoutique overdrive pedalPublished in PM November 2008  Printer-friendly versionReviews : Effects Pedal The term 'boutique' often also means 'expensive', and that's certainly true of this premium overdrive pedal, but does its performance match the price tag?  There's a man who lives in Monza who has been responsible for more damage to my wallet than almost any other friend that I have. It isn't Ferraris that cause the damage though; it's guitars and guitar-related bits and pieces. The latest was back in March this year, when he rang me up to tell me about this overdrive pedal that he'd just heard. It was fantastic, I ought to get one and to do so I'd have to go on a waiting list, then eventually I'd get asked to pay for it and then it would arrive on my doorstep. So, despite the very hefty price tag, I ordered one there and then, eventually got an email in early July asking for payment and my very own Ethos Overdrive pedal landed on my doorstep just before my birthday at the end of that month. Overview  The Ethos Overdrive TLE is housed in a rugged, die-cast aluminium chassis. The Ethos Overdrive was apparently inspired by a 1980s Overdrive Special, one of the most desirable (and expensive) boutique guitar amplifiers ever made and particularly renowned for its tone and responsiveness. Robbie Hall, the founder of Vermont-based Custom Tone, spent a considerable amount of design time emulating those qualities in the Ethos Overdrive. The Ethos features two independent channels (Clean and Overdrive) plus a Boost function that operates only on the Overdrive, thereby giving you a total of three footswitchable sounds. Add in the voicing switching and four-band EQ, straight or speaker-simulated outputs, Guitar Amp Compensation and Hi-Cut circuits, and the Ethos provides an extremely flexible package that is equally at home as a guitar pedal that effectively adds two more independent channels to your amplifier, as a DI interface for PA and recording mixers or even as a feed for a suitable power amp and speaker combination. The only visible difference between the two channels is that the Overdrive channel sports a master Volume control, in addition to the channel Gain, the three two-position voicing switches and the four band EQ — Treble, Middle, Bass and Presence. The three voicing switches are not something that you'll come across very often on a pedal — or on an amplifier for that matter. First up is the Brite switch, which brings in a high-frequency boost. The Modern/Classic switch selects between the thicker lower-mid voicing of the later Overdrive Specials and the thinner, more Fender-like voicing of the earliest versions. Finally the Jazz/Rock switch selects between a flat-response, hi-fi-like tonality and one that is more aggressive and mid-heavy. The Guitar Amp Compensation circuit is another unique feature, as it is designed to compensate for the effect of the tone circuits in Marshall and Fender amplifiers so that the Ethos sound gets through as its designer intended. Turning it off (or on) also gives you another tonal option to experiment with. Of course, if you're using the Ethos as a DI or as a recording preamp, the GAC isn't required — but it's always fun to try different tonalities. The Hi-Cut control tapers off high frequencies and is used to tune your overall sound, letting you go darker or brighter to taste. The implementation of the Boost function is interesting. Rather than bringing in an extra gain stage, as is often the case, it actually takes parts of the Overdrive channel's tone circuitry out of circuit, which results in less mid range being attenuated, giving you the effect of a boost. Incidentally, the TLE designation refers to the Tight Low End version of the Ethos Overdrive, as opposed to the original Classic. Both are available at the same price and the difference is that the Classic has a harder-driven low end, which means that if you're playing low-register chords on single coils it can get a bit mushy and less articulate down there. The TLE is just that, a tighter and more articulate low end that doesn't mush up with low-register single-coil chords. Personal preference will dictate which you'd go for. In use After you've hooked it up to your guitar amplifier, mixer, power amp or soundcard using the Guitar Amp Compensation or speaker simulator as appropriate, you'll set the Ethos Overdrive up exactly as you would a two-channel valve amplifier. If you're like me, you'll start by getting your clean sound sorted out and setting up the voicing switches to give you the basic character that you want. For me, with my Strat I ended up starting out with the EQs at 12 o'clock and Brite, Classic and Jazz switched in. Bringing the Hi-Cut into play after all the basic work is done then allows you to precisely tune the overall character of your sound, as it works across both channels. Naturally, since the Ethos is so dynamically sensitive, this clean sound could be used to overdrive the input of your guitar amplifier simply by digging in harder. Then you'll switch to Overdrive and things just get better. In addition to the voicing switches, I found that the position of the Mid control and the Presence control had a real influence on the character of the sound. Modern and Rock voicing with Brite off and a backed-off Mid was particularly effective for my humbucker sounds, but there is an enormously wide palette of crunch and distortion sounds and tones available to work through and, depending on the gain setting, backing off the guitar's volume and/or lightening up my pick attack always allowed me to clean up the sound enormously. Plugged straight into my digital mixer I got some very authentic valve amplifier sounds without any real production effort. The Ethos has a real character to it and if you like the kind of sounds that a good valve amplifier makes then I'm fairly sure that you're going to like it a lot. Into my '64 Fender Deluxe the efficacy of the GAC circuit became obvious and, plugged into the Jam 400 mini-PA that I use with my amplified acoustic guitars, it gave me results so good that I could well be taking the Ethos rather than the Deluxe out on smaller gigs in the future. On gigs where I'd normally use the Deluxe miked up I'm not sure that the Ethos on its own would give me the feeling of dynamics that I look for on stage, but plugged into the miked Deluxe I'm sure that it would work a treat. One word of caution, however, is that the Ethos Overdrive isn't a modelling preamp and there is no digital wizardry involved. It's 100-percent analogue (as its front panel proudly proclaims) and you have to be prepared to work at your sound — don't expect just to plug it in, wiggle the knobs a bit and hey presto, instant magic. Like all good guitar amplifiers the more you put into your sound, the more you'll get out. Conclusion The Ethos Overdrive is not only the best-sounding and most touch-responsive solid-state overdrive that I can ever recall using but it is also the most expensive. Whether or not it will suit everyone I can't really say, because we all want different things from our sounds. For me, the Ethos Overdrive gives probably the closest sound and feel to actually playing through a valve amplifier that I've found. If you think that this is the kind of unit you'd like, sadly you can't go and try one out unless you know someone who has one, as they're not available in the shops. You'll have to do what I did — visit the Custom Tones website and check out the video and sound samples that are there before making up your mind. These convinced me to spend the necessary, and I'm very glad that they did! 0  Published in PM November 2008  | Custom Tones Ethos Overdrive TLE £299 Inspired by one of the most desirable boutique valve amplifiers ever made, the 100-percent analogue Ethos Overdrive is one of the best-sounding, most flexible and most touch-responsive overdrive pedals out there. Spend a bit of time and effort in setting up your sounds and you'll be rewarded with great tone and feel. The downsides are that it's only available direct from the manufacturer in the USA, and that it isn't exactly cheap — but then quality seldom is.
Tech Spec Ethos Overdrive TLE Dual independent channels with EQ (overdrive, clean). Preamp boost (overdrive channel). Speaker simulation output. Guitar Amp Compensation circuit with Hi-Cut. Tone stack switching: Brit, Modern/Classic, Jazz/Rock. Operates on a 9V battery or 12V DC adaptor (not supplied). Buffered inactive mode mitigates loading effects. Die-cast aluminium chassis. |
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