PETTYJOHN
ELECTRONICS
IRON DRIVE
REVIEW BY SAM HILL
STREET PRICE $229.00
Pettyjohn Electronics
has garnered favor with
guitarists thanks to gems
like the PreDrive and
PettyDrive. The Iron Drive
is based on the left side of
the latter pedal, and it is the
first stompbox in the new
single pedal format. Anyone
who knows even a little bit
about effects pedals knows
there is no shortage of
overdrive options—it seems
like another one pops up
every day. There’s nothing
wrong with a lot of options,
but it can get a little
maddening sometimes. Let’s
take a look and see what
sets the Iron Drive apart.
Level, Tone, Drive, and Mix
controls, as well as toggle
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GEAR REVIEW
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switches for Low Cut and
Clip round out the control
set. The Clip switch lets
you choose between LED,
MOSFET, and Asymmetrical
silicon clipping modes, and
the Low Cut switch features
three distinct frequency
alterations that allow the
Iron Drive to fit into any
tonal scenario.
The Iron Drive sounds
superb in all clipping and
low cut modes, and it
worked well with other dirt
pedals in my chain. Nobody
will need to kick it off their
board because it doesn’t
get along with other dirt
boxes. It also sounds great
with Vox amps, which can
be hard to do.
Many pedals are advertised
as being able to provide
a wide range of sounds
from clean to dirty. And
technically, that’s true—if
you back off the gain and
increase the level on any
dirt based device, you’ll
achieve a clean(ish) boost,
it’s just what happens. But
not all of them sound great.
With a generous amount
of gain, you can get into
old school heavy metal
territory—think Zeppelin
and Sabbath. With the
Gain around noon, you still
have plenty of crunch and
grit, but it is very sensitive
to pick attack and guitar
volume adjustments. Lowergain settings still offer a
Pettyjohn Electronics Iron Drive