30 Pedals in 30 Days 2014: Goodtime Music Beyond Overdrive
Marc Johnson | Nov 28, 2014 | Comments 0
Come for the write-up, stay for the video. Also, do that giveaway thingy!
When TheToneKing.com checked out GTM Custom Shop’s End of the World Fuzz last year, we got a ton of positive feedback. Players were amazed how an indie shop could turn such an innovative sounding pedal. Now GTM’s back with a new addition to their line of pedals. How did the GTM Custom Shop Beyond Overdrive stack up against some of the bigger names during 30 Pedals in 30 Days 2014?
Let’s find out.
Goodtime Music has been open for 21 years.
Let that sink in a bit.
In a world of big box stores at every corner with more popping up every day, the fact that an independent shop has been able to thrive for over two decades is a huge accomplishment. Those guys must really know something.
They do. And what they know is gear.
When you’re the underdog in industry, you have to offer something that the big names can’t. When it comes to GTM, that thing is knowledge. Everybody at the shop is a working musician, there’s not a body in that shop that doesn’t know what it’s like to be playing in front of hundreds of people and have all of your gear take a dump at the last second before a show. With that in mind, Pat Davey and company made it their mission to offer only gear that they would feel comfortable playing themselves.
And what’s more comfortable than something that you built yourself?
The Beyond Overdrive is an overdrive pedal. No shit, right? It doesn’t make smoothies. But in a time where manufacturers are scrambling to build swiss-army pedals, the fact that a pedal does one thing and does it well is unique.
In classic GTM fashion, the Beyond Overdrive is the result of over a year of trials, tests, critiques, fistfights, drunken brawls, belligerent rants, hugs, and ear blistering test-drives. Everything from the number of gain stages, to the sweep of the pots was meticulously tested and furiously fought over. The result is a pedal as dynamic and aggressive as the collective personalities at the shop.
Hand wired and built in the U.S.A., the Beyond Overdrive is a modern high gain design based on a classic sound with a tight bottom end and singing highs, ideal for Hard Rock, Metal, and beyond! JFET based design with multiple gain stages, the Beyond Overdrive can go from a “bit ‘o’ dirt” to “balls to the wall” with the turn of a knob. Speaking of knobs! The Beyond Overdrive has six of them. A host of dynamic voicings are available through these six vintage-inspired mini chicken head shaped knobs. Gain, Presence, Volume, Bass, Middle, and Treble all give players enough room to breath and find that perfect sound. All of this is wrapped up in a badass laser-etched enclosure.
Goodtime Music has been in business for a long time. 21 years is a long time for anything, much less for a shop that had to fight for its place in the landscape of big box retail. Not only did they get that piece, but they’ve managed to prosper. Playing the Beyond Overdrive for 30 Pedals in 30 Days 2014, we here at TheToneKing.com were able to see why.
[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i13ra3pU5jM’]
[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDTs02AeorE’]
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