Hello Sailor Effects' Joe Halliday made me an Epic Viking Style version of his Thunderous Compact Dual Gain Anchor Drive
So back at the recent Kempton Park London International Guitar Show - Joe had a really cool black compact version of his Anchor Drive pedal for sale - and updated version combining the 2 gain knobs in 1 for a properly full-on and easy dial-in experience. I really liked that pedal - but someone had got to it first and reserved it - and went on to snap it up on the day - which actually turned out to be a blessing - as we shall see! In fact the first demo below is of that very pedal!
At that same show Joe had a lacquered sort of raw enclosure with the dual viking axe decal (per mine!) - for a one-knob Rangemaster, and next to that was another cool variety covered in purple leather-like wrap. I commented on the stand that the Viking decal onto the purple leather would make for a great looking pedal - but then thought no more of it.
A few days after the show though Joe contacted me and said he had acted upon my idea - to produce my very own preferred version of the Anchor Drive - as pictured above - and which looks utterly gorgeous in real life - and in fact looks as epic as it sounds!
The Anchor Drive is a sort of fairy raw full-fat overdrive / fuzzy-drive circuit consisting of 2 MOSFET gain stages - with a Gain (Bias) knob for each typically, and then a sort of Volume knob also which additionally impacts Low End and Gain. So the regular model has 3 knobs - while Joe thought is might be a cool idea to have both the gain stages controlled by the same left-hand knob - and indeed it works wonderfully!
Controls - Dual Gain (MOSFET 1 + 2 Bias), Volume (Output + Low End in Circuit + Gain).
On the original version you kind of do a balancing act between the two MOSFET Gains / Biases - but on this newer compact version both Biases are controlled in tandem. So that in some ways this actually ’fuzzy-drive’ kind of works like a fuzz on a basic level - where the Bias alters the character of the pedal’s timbre and texture. It already sounds pretty fantastic with the Dual Gain dial all the way back - peaking for me in terms of harmonics at around the 10 o’c mark, and then getting progressively ’stickier’ and more wiry as you dial it around to its highest value - not too dissimilar to dialling in a Fuzz Face bias in some ways - it definitely has quite a distinct change in character - also adding in more compression as you dial it up.
The right hand knob is another combination control as it doesn’t just impact on output volume, but it progressively adds more Low End into the circuit, as well as further increasing the gain of the pedal.
So the interplay and interaction between the two dials is really fantastic - and different combinations yield all manner of different voicings and different EQ’s actually too.
The Volume dial gets to about unity for my rig between 1 and 2 o’c - meaning my optimal range for that dial is mostly circa 2 o’c to 5 o’c. Where my very favourite full fat thunderous setting occurs with the Dual Gain knob at 10 o’c and the Volume knob at Max. You get the most incredible richly textured full fat thunderous tones - but still with the output nicely balanced. If you dial back the Volume to between 1 and 2 o’c you dial out the extra low end and the output becomes brighter and sharper to a significant degree.
I play mostly with humbucker pickup guitars and this sounds totally killer on those - on my core full fat setting - but then I kick in the Tele voicing on my V2 Keyztone Exchanger pickup modeller, hit the Low-cut on my JA Bloom too - and you get a wonderful single coil voicing also.
I often steer clear of 2-knob pedals as those typically mean that I can’t fully dial the pedal to my exact preferred tonality - typically because of a lack of tone-stack / EQ control. While on this pedal - the right-hand control doubles up as a Volume and EQ really - and the interplay between the two knobs as mentioned is just superb - you can set the left knob in a fixed position of gain/bias and then sweep the Volume for all manner of tones and textures - and by the same token you can park the Volume at around 2 o’c and sweep the Dual Gain Biases from top to bottom and vice versa.
Joe has made all kinds of experiments with this pedal - in trying to add refinements and some sort of more granular tone stack - but each of those changes diminishes the raw potency of the original circuit - which yes - has beautiful guitar volume gain clean up too - for some superb playing dynamics. The circuit sounds best in this most minimal of formats and without any sort of additional dedicated EQ control/s.
For me the circuit is at its ultimate in this new compact format - it sounds so impressive - likely my favourite Hello Sailor Effects pedal to date! There are just so many different tones and textures onboard - and I’m kind of amazed by how well the 2-knob control works here - it really is some kind of marvel.
I of course created a suitably epic Viking backdrop for the visual of the pedal - using craggy mountains from my Viking homeland of Iceland. For me the ’Anchor Drive’ moniker is a little odd in this context - obviously fitting for the Hello Sailor Effects maritime / naval branding - but not really descriptive of its epic thunderous tones - possibly it needs to be called something like Dual Battle Axe Drive - and definitely for my particular version!
Obviously all HSE pedals are unique - so you won’t get one exactly like mine, but circuit and format wise there are and will be other versions available for the self same killer output - where these typically go for £200 on the Hello Sailor Effects Reverb.com Store.
This is such a killer under-the-radar drive pedal / fuzzy-drive - more people really need to experience its wonders! One of my all-time favourites for sure!
Demos
Dem 7
12 Degrees of Saturation 2023 Compact Edition
