Ashdown PRO-FX Retro Drive Pedal

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Ashdown PRO-FX Retro Drive Pedal

Some overdrive pedals want to completely reinvent your guitar sound. The Ashdown PRO-FX Retro Drive has a different idea: take the sound you already love and give it the warmth, grit and harmonic richness of a vintage British amplifier being pushed properly hard. Simple, musical and refreshingly free of nonsense, this is old-school drive in a seriously pedalboard-friendly box.

Designed and engineered in the UK with Ashdown electronics engineer Dave Green, the Retro Drive is voiced to recreate that wonderfully organic transition between a clean amp and one that's beginning to sweat. Keep the Gain low for subtle breakup and extra warmth, push it further for crunchy classic-rock rhythm tones, or wind things up for the gloriously ragged harmonic character associated with vintage non-master-volume British amps.

The controls couldn't be easier. Gain determines how much dirt you're adding, Tone moves the sound from thicker and warmer towards brighter and more cutting, while Output controls the overall level. It's particularly good in front of a clean amplifier when you want an instant crunch channel, but it'll also happily push an already driven amp into richer, more saturated territory.

There's proper road-worthy thinking underneath the retro attitude too. The PRO-FX Retro Drive uses true bypass switching, top-mounted connections, genuine Neutrik jack sockets and a tough steel enclosure with an anodised front fascia. Power comes from a standard 9V DC centre-negative supply, so it'll slot neatly into most existing pedalboards.

At Musicmaker, we have plenty of time for pedals that reward playing rather than knob-twiddling. The Ashdown PRO-FX Retro Drive is exactly that: three controls, loads of character and a beautifully convincing dose of British amp-style crunch. Plug it in, turn the Gain until things start getting rude, and carry on from there.