Well, there’s always a first in this crazy business, and we’ve got another one today! The pedal in questions has traveled to us all the way from Belarus, a country I admittedly know very little about. However, after playing the Warmer Drive from Kartakou Amplification, it’s safe to say that they’ve got at least one cat who knows what they’re doing when it comes to building overdrive pedals. This one not only has great sounds right out of the box, but it has 5 different interchangeable internal chips INCLUDED for you to experiment with. Intrigued? You should be.

Based on the classic Tube Screamer, as many overdrives are, the Warmer Drive features Volume, Gain and Tone control knobs, but also incorporates 2 toggle switches for even more additional tone shaping. The Tone and Gain both have nice ranges and are able to rock out a multitude of sounds, but the real magic with this pedal lies in the tiny (literally) details. Let’s start with the toggles: Bass Boost and Asymmetrical Clipping. The boost does just what it should, beefing up the low end and giving you that extra bass-y punch that some certain screamers may have a reputation for lacking. I dig this feature, as I often lean towards the lower end half of the tone knob on a lot of drives, but hey, it’s all personal preference, right? The second toggle is a clipping mod, which basically gives you a little more “oomph” in your sound, turning things a bit heavier and crunchier than you may be expecting. Both of these toggles fit in perfectly with the outside-the-box thinking on the design of this pedal, and they make me want to play it more and more.

The icing on the proverbial cake here has got to be the selection of included chips you can swap out inside the pedal, with ease and quickness, I might add. The chips include: the original JRC4558D, NE5532, TL072, TL062 and LM358, with each one carrying different characteristics that alter the Warmer Drive’s sound in differing ways. Some have more of a volume boost, turning the drive into a higher-gain pedal, and they all have unique tones as well, which means you’ll have a blast sitting around and swapping them out to see what fits your style the best. Who knows, you might even discover a totally new sound you didn’t even know you liked, or that even existed!

It takes a little while for the Warmer to get to your doorstep once you order it, but it’s worth the wait, trust me. Not to mention it’s on the low end of the price spectrum, so you’ll be presently surprised when it appears at your house one day. Cheers to Kartakou Amplification for letting us experiment with this new and exciting take on a classic drive – we’re looking forward to more awesome gear coming out of the mystical land of Belarus, let us all know when it’s ready! Cheers!

Specs:
Controls – Pedal Switch, Bass Mod Switch, Crunchy Switch, Gain, Tone, Level
Indicator – Check Indicator (serves also as battery check indicator), Light Rim
Jacks – Input Jack, Output Jack, Adaptor Jack
Input Impedance – 2Mohm
Output Impedance – 100 Ohm
Recommended Load Impedance – 10kOhm or greater
Power Supply – DC 9V
Current Draw – 10-20mA

Submitted by Mike B, Website

Demo Rock pedalboard by West Coast Pedalboard