2 LUNASTONE BIG FELLA £209

ORIGIN: Denmark TYPE: Overdrive pedal FEATURES: True bypass CONTROLS: Boost, Tone, Volume, Gain, OD1/OD2 switch, Boost footswitch, Drive footswitch CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output POWER: 9V battery or 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) DIMENSIONS: 119 (w) x 93.5 (d) x 34mm (h)

This two-footswitch pedal combines an overdrive and a boost section, each operating independently so you can have boost, overdrive or both together. Overdrive has standard Gain, Volume and Tone, plus a choice of OD1 and OD2 voicings, selected via a toggle switch.

LunaStone describes its overdrive pedals as “True Overdrive”; their drive is created purely from cascading gain stages, rather than clipping diodes, and that manifests itself in a valve-like sound with natural compression. OD1 is less gainy and excels at sounds just on the edge of breaking up, to low-level crunchy overdrive. OD2 gets into higher-gain territory, from Marshall-style rhythm raunch to full-on harmonically rich, smooth distortion for sustaining leads. Tonally, the sound is full with plenty of thick bottom-end like a cranked stack, but still transparent enough to let your core tone shine through. [TC] VERDICT A robust, natural-sounding drive/distortion suited for rock but versatile enough for other styles