Working in your own studio with other artists can lead to great gear discoveries. I was turned onto the Dharma Drive from WychElm Effects by a band I was engineering due to its unique graphics, and stumbled on one of the best drive pedals I’ve tried in a while.
Truly one of the most “toneful” and versatile all-analog overdrives to come along in a while, is a titan of tone – and strangely enough, not many people seem to have realized that yet. Equally at home being utilized as a standard overdrive with boost or as a total front end to your signal chain.
Featuring some really great tone-sculpting features, the Dharma Drive sports the standard input ‘Gain’ and output ‘Level’ controls. EQ adjustments can be had via the ‘High‘ and ‘Low‘ knobs, which are rolloff potentiometers. The ‘Constant‘ control is a clean blend, and a welcome addition to an already great sounding pedal, really allowing the sound of the overdrive to be tailored to the player’s personality and rig. ‘The Button‘ engages the optional boost, and the interestingly named ‘4815162342‘ control adjusts the amount of boost. For one last bit of tonal options, the toggle switch adjusts the diodes from asymmetrical or symmetrical clipping.
If WychElm Effects keeps up this type of innovation, the sky is the limit with what they cook up next. – Brandon Stoner
