I recently bought a Gunshot overdrive pedal directly from Thorpy Fx. The pedal arrived quickly and was very well packed. Unboxing the Gunshot is an event in its self - the packaging has been nicely designed and there is a real weight to the feel of everything. The pedal its self is built like a tank, is of the highest quality, looks fantastic and has been well thought through with great touches like the controls being protected against accidental knocks from clumsy feet like mine! So far, so good. And then you turn it on……
There is a sound that not many people get to really hear or appreciate these days. It’s a sound often talked about, often written about and often the goal of many a pedal or amp designer. It’s not a sound that you hear often these days as there simply aren't that many venues or situations where a guitarist can really take it to 11! It’s that sound in your head, it’s that sound on the records, it's the sound of a high powered valve amp cranked to the maximum and then pushed a bit more. It’s THAT sound. And Thorpy have nailed it.
I have lots (and lots) of overdrive pedals. I mix and match them, stack them, put compressors in front of them and/or after them, use them to drive the front end of different valve amps harder, play with ’sag’ controls on power supply's to change their character, all the things that guitarists do in their quest to find the sound in their head. Then I plugged in the Gunshot between a Les Paul and a Lazy J J20.
Rock happened. And it happened right.
There’s complex harmonics, depth, clarity and quality. It cleans up with the guitar volume control just like a vintage bank account busting valve amp would. It fills the room, just like a wall of 4x12’s would. It had me powering out riff after riff, noodling trick leads and singing out single note melody lines all night. What a fantastic bit of kit. The twin gain stages enable you to blend the character of the sound to just how you like it and it works, really, really well. Play around with it to find that sweet spot that you like and there it is, THAT sound. And now I have it at volumes that won’t scare the neighbours! At last.
As you can tell, I’m impressed with the Thorpy Gunshot. It’s a quality bit of kit with a sound to match. I bought directly through the Thorpy FX website so the builder (Adrian Thorpy, British Army bomb disposal and electronics expert, so he knows his way around a circuit!) gets maximum benefit so he can carry on building such decent guitar gear. If you like the sound of valve amps working hard, with that natural, warm, smooth power they produce, get a Thorpy FX Gunshot and you’ll hit the target every time.
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@ThorpyFX
Thanks for the review@SteveY
Settings were clean amp channel, TS808 OFF, BD-2 OFF, actually everything OFF, except GUNSHOT, and even that had Calibre at 0. I'm playing a stratty type guitar, neck pickup, tone rolled all the way off. Oh my word - that noise is the reason I play guitar!
I use clean amps, either a Fender Rivera Concert or a Carol Ann Satin, so all drive is from the pedal.
My drive pedal must be thick, crunchy, and alter when the guitars volume is turned down. It's must also play nice with a boost before of after it.
The best I've found, and the longest surviving pedal on the board pre Thorpy was a Mojohand Rook. I love that thing.
But the Gunshot is so much more. The quality of the gain hitting the amps seems way more responsive and touch sensitive.
Can't see anything replacing it anytime soon.