Strymon Sunset Dual Overdrive

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111

june 2017 Guitarist

StrYMOn

hits your amp just right.

The Treble setting offers a

clean boost that’s full range

with its tone knob at one

extreme, but allows you to

roll off bottom-end. Used

by itself, it has plenty to

tickle the front-end of your

amp, but may find most

use in combination with a

channel B circuit, its reduced

bottom-end and extra gain

immediately boosting yet

tightening up.

On channel B, the 2stage

circuit offers a soft clipping

stage followed by a hard

clipping stage and way

more in gain than anything

from channel A. It has a

full low-end and the two

gain stages combine for a

complex sound with loads of

harmonics that encourage

you to dig in and play. The

Hard circuit, which offers

the type of harder clipping

sounds found in, say, a RAT

or a Boss DS-1, is great for

dialling in hard rock or

metal sounds, and at higher

gain settings can attain

a fuzzy edge. The JFET

setting offers the sort of tone

conditioning role provided

by pedals such as the Xotic

EP booster, which recreates the characteristics of an

Echoplex tape echo’s preamp. If you wish to warm up

your signal and add some grit, this is the place to be.

Using channels A and B together in parallel serves

up some tasty blends: adding just a touch of one of the

cleaner sounds to an overdriven sound to juxtapose

clarity and saturation yields a great range of practical

tones. But if you’re looking for higher gain and

more saturated sounds, the mix ’n’ match stacking

combinations provide a multitude of possibilities as

one channel drives the other further.

Verdict

A dual overdrive is always a practical pedaboard

asset, delivering three levels of dirt while using just

one power supply, but (with the possible exception

of the Chase Bliss Brothers) there are none that offer

the game-changing range of tonal flexibility of the

Sunset. Strymon certainly seems to have accurately

Tech Spec

ORIGIN: USA

TYPE: Overdrive/

boost pedal

FEATURES: True or

buffered bypass,

variable-threshold noise

reduction feature,

6x drive types (Ge,

Texas, Treble, 2stage,

Hard, JFET)

CONTROLS: Drive (A

and B), Level (A and B),

Tone (A and B), selector

switch A (Ge/Texas/

Treble), selector switch

B (2 stage/Hard/JFET),

bypass footswitches

(A and B), Bright switch,

A/B configuration

switch

CONNECTIONS:

Standard input,

standard output,

Favorite switch input,

Expression pedal input

POWER: 9V DC adaptor

(supplied) 250 mA

DIMENSIONS: 102 (w)

x 114 (d) x 44mm (h)

Musicpsych

0207 607 6005

www.strymon.net

captured the characteristics of the most popular drive

and boost circuits here, plus it’s delivered easy access

to combining them in creative ways – besides the six

single effects, you get nine parallel and 18 stacked

configurations. With so many options, a case could be

made for multiple presets accessed via MIDI, but that

would have made for a larger/more expensive pedal.

As it stands, though, you’ll have great fun finding your

favourite settings, ready to be dialled in to get through

any gig – the vast tonal possibilities combine with

outstanding performance.

TOP The Favorite and

expression pedal outputs

give you further options

in switching presets and

conﬁ guring knob control

BOTTOM The tonal

possibilities here are immense

– using channels A and B

together in parallel opens up

an array of combinations with

which to experiment

PROS Accurate, responsive renditions of classic overdrives and

boosts; wide spectrum of tones; Favorite switch adds instant

access to two sounds; expression pedal parameter adjustment

CONS It needs 250mA of current (more than your average dirt

pedal); presets with MIDI recall could have added appeal