GEAR SPOTLIGHT
BUFFALO FX
CARRERA
REVIEW BY DAVID A. EVANS
STREET PRICE $250.00
Buffalo FX’s Carrera
overdrive occupies that
middle-ground between
not-too-little and not-too-
much overdrive. The pedal
adds a bit of presence, a bit
of breakup and edge, and
for lack of a better term, a
bit of je ne sais quoi, as the
French purportedly say. The
Carrera accomplished this
task quite well. Moreover,
the pedal exceeded my
expectations about its
quantity of distortion, given
the company’s modest
claims.
the tone a bit more fullness.
Indeed, my clean tone
seemed flat, maybe even a
little sad, because it lacked
the punch and edge which
the Carrera offered my
guitar. And that was only on
the lower gain setting!
Compared to my clean tone,
I think the Carrera brought
out a bit more harmonic
complexity in the midrange,
which, consequently, gave
56
GEAR SPOTLIGHT //
When I strummed softly,
the lower and middle
frequencies seemed most
affected by the distortion
circuit, while the higher end
chimed through my amp.
When I strummed harder,
the higher frequencies
began to distort, along with
their lower and mid-range
cousins. The distortion
responded well to these
dynamic shifts, as a good
overdrive ought to.
Buffalo FX Carrera
Mid and higher gain settings
delivered a smooth, velvety
distortion which responded
just as gracefully to
dynamics as did the lower
settings. When I rolled back
my guitar’s volume knob, I
had to compensate more
than I anticipated by turning
up the Carrera’s Level knob.
But the Carrera cleaned
up and delivered a warmer
tone in this setting, one with
a fairly good amount of high
end. In other words, the
lower input volume didn’t
kill the tone as it might
have.
At high-gain settings,
the Carrera delivered a
respectable quantity of
overdrive, more so than