The Lion Drive by Monarch Musical Devices is an overdrive pedal that you should know about!
Monarch Musical Devices describes this pedal as an overdrive that can capture the classic overdrive tones, with punch and clarity – and that is a spot-on description.
The Lion Drive houses a standard overdrive circuit that ranges anywhere from a crisp clean boost pedal all the way to a very gritty overdrive pedal with sounds that cross over onto the territory of a mean distortion pedal. No matter how the settings on this pedal are arranged, it still holds a beautiful, punch, and clear tone. This versatility means that this pedal can make a great addition to any pedalboard.
However, before we dive into the Lion Drive, let’s talk about Monarch Musical Devices.
Monarch Musical Devices is an up and coming Kansas pedal company who is responsible for creating the Lion Drive. With only this one pedal in their arsenal right now, the company has already done a great job at bringing innovative ideas to the pedal world. We are very excited to see what the future holds for Monarch Musical Devices.
As mentioned above, the Lion Drive is an incredibly versatile overdrive pedal that packs a punch. Perhaps the most notable feature of the Lion Drive is the active two-band EQ section of the pedal, which allows the user to separately adjust the bass and treble frequencies of the pedal. As we know, many of today’s popular overdrive pedals, like the Ibanez TS9, only have one tone control; while they sound good, there is not a lot of options to choose from in terms of tone. The Lion Drive is here to change the game! The two-band EQ lets you dial in the perfect, punchy overdrive that you want, but gives you the option to bring up the low and high end as you wish. This feature really makes sure that your tone will never fall victim to getting lost in the mix.
The pedal itself is 100% handcrafted, vintage-inspired overdrive. Featuring true-bypass wiring, a durable enclosure (powder coated in blue), laser etched graphics, and an awesome yellow LED that could easily be mistaken for the eye of a lion. This pedal roars.
The gain knob acts just as it is expected to. This knob can be used to dial in a varying degree of overdrive. Ranging from a subtle clean boost that can really help brighten up solos, or it can be cranked to create rich, saturated overdrive tones. This pedal can really get make some thick, heavy sounds.
There is not a lot to say about the volume knob of the Lion Drive, but Monarch Musical Devices has done a great job at making sure the volume knob is incredibly useful. The Lion Drive sounds great at any volume!
The Bass knob on the Lion Drive is probably my personal favorite. This knob can be used to boost or cut the bass frequencies coming out of the pedal. If you are looking for an overdrive pedal that can help fatten up your low end, this knob should get you excited.
Much like the bass knob, the Treble knob allows you to adjust the treble frequencies coming from the pedal. This knob lets you really boost the high end of the overdrive for a loud, screaming solo. Or you can dial it back to cut out unwanted high frequencies.
The Lion Drive really holds true to its name. This pedal really captures a lion’s roar, and turns it into a truly amazing overdrive pedal for any musical setting. Whether you are looking for just a little extra breakup in your tone, or a screaming, gritty overdrive – the Lion Drive is an overdrive pedal that you should look into!
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