Bondi Effects further enhances its Legendary Dynamic / Transparent Del Mar Overdrive - now in refined MK2 Edition

Jon and Anna Ashley’s most celebrate pedal is back once more - and this time it looks like I will finally get my hands on my own unit. Europeans trying to order one off the Bondi Effects website will be disappointed that the only delivery region options are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States.

Not to worry though as Bondi Effects are now part of the MAS Distro family and will therefore become available at MAS Distro dealers soon enough. Right now the current batch is sold out - so I got in there just in time!

It does pay to have friends in different places around the world, and my thanks to good friend AD Hauser for doing me a solid here and picking one up on my behalf. Supposedly this pedal began as a project to extract the best elements from the Blues Breaker, Klon, and Tube Screamer circuits simultaneously. The perfect blend of combined verve and dynamics - and playing up to the strengths of each of those, but also being something more than the sum of its parts.

Controls - Active Bass ±15dB, Active Treble ±15dB, Gain, Output, Toggle Up : More Compression + Drive, Toggle Down : Less Compression + More Bass.

The 9V input voltage is charge-pumped to 24 internally, and to squeeze every ounce of tone out of this unique format we have ±15dB Active 2-Band EQ - with expansive range also for Drive and Output controls. What players find particularly impressive about this pedal is how much detail it produces / extracts at relatively low levels of gain. It veritably purrs and sings at all levels - and it does so with superior dynamics and feel.

Mark Johnstons’ extensive demo below is a suitably apt homage to one of the all-time classic overdrive pedals. I’ve long wanted one in the collection - while for various reasons it has evaded me until right now. I just have that typical wait now for the pedal to get over the oceans from Australia. Even though this will likely arrive here before the end of the month, It’s not officially going on the board until next month - as this month is incredibly already pretty much spoken for. I of course need to give all worthy pedals their time in the spotlight - so the Del Mar will certainly have its time to shine - but starting next month.

The Del Mar MK2 is available from the Bondi Effects Webstore (when in stock!), for the princely sum of $299. It’s one of those pedals where demand typically outstrips supply, and an example of that its that second-hand ones can fetch as much as $500 on Reverb.com - in fact there’s one now at $586, down from $670 - and at one stage these were fetching as much as $1.500. Obviously the new release has mostly brought the pricing down.

I feel that the latest edition is the best sounding and best looking one yet - time has given Jon and Anna the possibility of finally getting the circuit to the exact place they wanted it to reach. Were I to do my Best Overdrive Selection - this would certainly feauture. In fact there have been so many great recent overdrive releases - that I would probably need to expand the selection from 32 to 40!

Any of you already own a Del Mar - or are thinking of getting one in?