Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Spruce Effects' Americana States Series Germanium Transistor + JFETs Distortion makes for a very compelling proposition with high aesthetic and sonic appeal
For whatever reason - this is only the second time I cover a Spruce Effects pedal, and much like my earliest 80’s record buying forays - this one had much to do with its cover art! I somewhat got the wrong handle on the recent Spruce Blow-out Sale - which I presumed was a going out of business sale. But no - it was more of a pivot really - selling off remaining stock to put funds into a re-launch of the brand in some V2 rejuvenated guise - to happen as early as this Autumn / Fall. In any case it gave me a solid reason for picking up the Limekiln Edition from the Americana States Series - which pedals feature picturesque scenes / vistas from some of the USA’s favourite National Parks.
There were 4 artwork editions featuring the same evolved Gale Distortion circuit - but with some additional controls and tweaks. The 4 Editions / Parks available were :
- Año Nuevo
- Anza Borrego
- Emerald Bay
- Limekiln
Which you can see in the below visual.
All those are now all sold out bar the Año Nuevo Edition.
For me the Limekiln Edition had one of the most gorgeous pedal artworks I've ever seen - featuring a glorious sunset vista with blue-green / aquamarine sea of that stretch of California coastline. Of course it wasn't just the artwork that drew me to the pedal - while that was very much the initial catalyst!
The one video demo for this pedal series features the Anza Borrego Edition - which notably was the first variant to sell out. I feel very lucky to have snagged a Limekiln. We were warned that a number of those pedals were B-stock - with possibly tiny imperfections - while my one is wholly pristine!
It's an interesting hybrid gain machine in several ways - straddling Overdrive, Distortion and Fuzz all in the one device - depending on how you set those knobs. The controls are unlabelled, and not particularly easy to discern without being told what they are - particularly the last 'Shape' on in the second row.
Controls [left-to-right, in 2 rows!] - Volume, Gain 1, Gain 2, Tone, Shape [Clipping High Shelf], Top Clipping Switch : UP LEDs / Down Schottky diodes.
There are obviously 2 Gain stages - the П416Б [P416B] Germanium Transistor, and then what looks like a pair of SMT 6R7 JFETs - which are supposedly BFJ112 equivalents.
Originally I thought it was a mix of Germanium Transistor and OpAmp, and indeed there are 2 OpAmps in the circuit - but those seem to be more for power handling and switching purposes. I'm presuming Q1 is therefore the P416B and Q2 is the 2 x 6R7's - which then correspond to Gain 1 and Gain 2 controls - that seems to make the most sense to me.
The only control that requires further explanation is 'Shape' a sort of High Shelving Filter for the Diode Clipping - which shaves off some high frequencies - which is supposedly most evident at low gain settings. With Gain up - that control is very subtle - and kind of Bite / Tempering control I guess.
Of the two Clipping Options the Schottky's here deliver darker, denser, more compressed, and grungier textures, while the LEDs are more open and searing - with quite a bit more volume too. I typically favour LED Clipping and that's very much the case here!
You can for sure get some interesting tones from the Schottky Diodes, but for my preferences - I much prefer the Red LEDs - they really open up the profile of this Distortion and make it sing!
My Preferred Settings are - Volume @ 2 o'c, Gain 1 @ 3 o'c, Gain 2 @ 9 o'c, Tone @ 3 o'c, and Shape @ 3 o'c. For whatever reason the Shape sounds best at either 9 o'c or 3 o'c, but can be very subtle on certain occasions - and you often cannot discern any noticeable difference to where that dial sits.
With LEDs engaged it's a glorious fuzz-edged distortion - open, balanced and with a nice amount of sear to it. The biggest challenge on the dial in is balancing up the 2 Gain Stages - as the output can become very overblown all too easily - and give you kind of broken speaker outputs - if that's your thing. I generally fund that if one Gain was Up then I preferred the other one someone tempered and vice versa.
The controls are pretty straight forward - apart from the sometime mystery of the 'Shape' knob - while the balancing of the 2 Gain Stages can take some time to adjust too.
With my settings this pedal sounds as picturesque as its cover art.
I have a number of Germanium Overdrives and Distortions, and some of the others impart more fuzzy flavours - with more typical Germanium grit and characteristics. While this one is a little more subtle with its provenance - and that Germanium quality does not always come to the fore quite so emphatically.
There are overall probably some of my other Germanium Drives / Distortions whose output profiles I slightly prefer. While none of those can compete with the visual appeal of this Limekiln.
As mentioned - all but the Año Nuevo variety are now sold out. You can still buy that one on the Spruce Effects Webstore. It's still an attractive pedal, but possibly not quite as high appeal as the others! Unless of course you happen to come from that part of California!
Demos
