Free The Tone RJ-2V Red Jasper Overdrive

Many, many moons ago, we got our hands on an overdrive from a company we had just recently heard of, Free The Tone, called the Red Jasper. We loved that pedal, and have loved every one of their creations since, as our friendship and partnership has grown over the past 7 years. Therefore, we’re pretty excited to bring it full circle, back to where it all started, with the upcoming release of the RJ-2V Red Jasper Overdrive, back from the Land of Discontinued Pedals for all to enjoy…

The RJ-1V Red Jasper won popularity as Free The Tone’s first low gain drive pedal, but was discontinued in 2018 because some of its component parts became difficult to obtain. Now, after three years the Red Jasper has come back. Again, it features a sound resembling that of vintage tube amps, namely, smooth highs, punchy mids, full but tight lows, and natural and pleasing compression feel. Every component has been carefully examined and selected to refine the sound of this pedal.

In general, the sonic output of an overdrive unit in the lower registers varies with its gain setting and the type of guitar or amp/cabinet used. There would be many occasions where you wish to correct an excess or deficiency of the lower register components. The RJ-2V newly adds an internal Mode switch to select from four modes of different low frequency characteristics (cut-off frequencies). With this, you can adjust the lower register output to suit the characteristics of your guitar/amplifier.

In addition, the Red Jasper has a Hi-Cut tone circuit to adjust higher registers. A passive circuit with minimum phase error is used in the guitar signal to attain high-fidelity amplification, to get natural tone, and to keep guitar’s original timbre. This circuit provides a natural change like the tone control on a guitar and turning the knob counterclockwise cuts highs gently. From a subtle whispering tone to a powerful and persistent drive sound, it can output your guitar sound expressively.

Features:

– Carefully chosen high reliability components.
– Passive type tone circuit (hi-cut) to minimize phase error in guitar signal.
– Mode switch to select low end frequency characteristics from four settings.
– Astoundingly excellent signal-to-noise ratio.
– FREE THE TONE’s original HTS (Holistic Tonal Solution) circuit is implemented. Unlike conventional buffer circuits, the HTS circuit attains both “sound” and “low noise” by performing impedance conversion while fully bringing out sound characteristics of the guitar. The HTS circuit prevents degradation of guitar timbre even when the effect is turned off.
– no need to worry about phase reversal: the output signal is in the same phase as the input signal.

We love the new iteration of the Red Jasper, hands down. The range from boost to breakup to crunch to amp-driving glory is impressive, and you can hear how much work they put into this circuit from the TONES dripping from within. A perfect addition to the front/middle of any rig, this could be an always-on unit, a solo boost component, an all-show rock and roll machine and much, much more. It’s awesome what 3 knobs and a switch can do sometimes, and the RJ-2V Red Jasper Overdrive is a prime example of just that. More info on the Free The Tone website, as always – you’ll be able to grab one for yourself in about a month, but for now, you might as well watch (and re-watch) our demo video on the YouToobs. Cheers!

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Amazon – https://amzn.to/3FN04Mq