Hotone
Grass
Hotone Audio’s marketing copy
for the diminutive Grass overdrive
pedal says it will provide your guitar
with an “artistic overdrive sound,”
a statement I both agree with and
snicker at. Despite the awkward
ad copy, the Grass is genuinely an
excellent and affordable pedal that
seeks to emulate the sound of a
cranked “D-style” amplifier. I can’t
say how accurately it pulls this feat off,
as I have never played one of these,
nor have I heard one in person, but
it sounds at least as good as any of
the much more expensive “humble”
clone pedals I have played. It can
do clean-ish boosting, mild, sparkly
drive sounds, and ballsy crunch and
lead tones with equal aplomb, and
its thoughtful layout fits a lot of
function in a very compact form. The
top-mounted gain control and glowin-the-dark knobs are especially cool
features. The Hotone Grass can be
acquired new for under 70 bucks
from various online retailers.
40
TONE TALK //
A Working Guitarist’s Guide to Cheap Overdrives