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Orcrist Overdrive (Black Back special edition)

$275.00
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**The Black Back edition is part of the Artwork Series and uses the stainless steel plates from the original run of Orcrist pedals mounted on a black texture powdercoated enclosure of improved design**
                                  Ready Built/ In-stock

The Orcrist is an original design overdrive that goes from nearly clean boost to medium crunch. Named after the sword from The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, this pedal can be your secret weapon for great tone. When the pedal is engaged, the blade of the sword glows blue with its name in Gondolinin runes.

  The idea behind the design was to zero in on the sound that a lot of players are after-- that just starting to break-up crunch of a 15-30 watt tube amp, turned up.  A lot of players use a TS or BB style drive with the gain turned way down to accomplish this sound. To my ear that really makes the drive sound dull. Those pedals have a HUGE range of gain, the Orcrist does not. It doesn't do super-stustainy higher gain sounds like a cranked TS, it takes the low-medium gain sound and expands it over the entire range of the gain controls in order to let the user dial in his/her exact desired sound in that range.
  The Orcrist uses 5 distinct gain stages to do this and gives you control over early gain with the Gain control and late stage gain with the Bite control. The two controls are very interactive with each other. Turn up the Gain for more  saturation -or- turn down the gain and turn up the Bite for more of a cleaner boost with a little crunch. Turn up both for nice crunchy overdrive.
The Tone control is a basic treble cut. The input and outputs of each stage of the circuit have been voiced to give the fullest frequency range response, including low harmonics. This voicing makes the Orcrist really rhythm guitar friendly. It doesn't get muddy when you strum open chords b/c the high mids and highs aren't accentuated as much as in some Overdrive circuits. The Orcrist is voiced for more of a beefy, low mid tone.
  If you want a little more treble and a little more headroom, switch the toggle on the back from Biter mode to Goblin Cleaver mode. This engages an 18 volt charge pump in the circuit to give a wider available amplitude swing.
   Each pedal is housed in a laser-cut stainless steel enclosure with laser-marked graphics. Each also features a top quality, Japanese built DeMont "soft click" latching footswitch for true bypass integrity with the softest "click" of any latching stomp i have ever tried. Components are all sourced from USA suppliers whenever possible. PCB's are high quality USA made boards.  Knobs may vary slightly from those in the photos depending on available supply.
    As with all Wrought Iron products, this one features the Wrought Iron satisfaction guarantee.

 

“ORCRIST”, “THE HOBBIT”, and “THE LORD OF THE RINGS” and the items, characters, places, and events therein, are trademarks of  Middle-earth Enterprises under license to Wrought Iron Effects.  All rights reserved.

 


  For more info on Wrought Iron Leather and Effects, see out FB page, Instagram, or check out the Kickstarter campaign we used to launch this line of pedals. Feel free to contact me with any questions,
Ed

3 Reviews Hide Reviews Show Reviews

  • 5
    Orcrist

    Posted by Tommy S on Jun 28th 2023

    I love this pedal so much. Provides an amazing amount of sustain for low-medium gain OD. Great for rhythm but I really love it for lead work, by its own and when stacked with my Klone. Sounds great with single notes and double stops sound amazing. As do chords etc. would say it can even get over the medium level of gain a bit, but I’m not the most informed as far as the minute details of pedals go. Ed was great through the whole process and did spectacular work. And obviously, this pedal looks spectacular and any Tolkien fan would be blown away by the details of the orcrist and the names that take you straight to middle earth.

  • 5
    Orcrist On Bass

    Posted by Ken on Mar 22nd 2023

    Such a versatile and interactive OD pedal for bass that retains the low end. So many different drive sounds by turning the gain and bite controls. Turn these up, and you get nice rich harmonic distortion, and I can go from a light OD to fairly heavy distortion. If it gets too bright sounding, there's a handy tone control to tame it. The switch on the back to change from 9 to 18V is also a nice touch. What a well thought out and executed pedal. Thanks!

  • 5
    Orcrist

    Posted by Sam Moon on Apr 5th 2018

    Some guitarists are all about the utilitarian and functionality while others really do appreciate the aesthetics of pedal design. Wrought Iron is one of those rare pedal makers that does not compromise on either. These are truly beautiful pedals that your eyes will be pleased to have on your board, and more importantly a drive pedal that imminently useful and versatile. If you've got a good tube amp, this pedal can help push it to new heights.

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