Overview

What We Say:

The Driver from Balkan is an overdrive pedal designed to enhance an already good base tone with just a touch more drive, sustain and warmth. It has a toggle switch which allows for selection of either the Vintage or Modern voiced circuits.

The Vintage circuit adds some extra midrange and is lower gain, sounds a little like a tubescreamer to me? And the Modern circuit has extra bass and treble as well as more gain which Balkan claims can also work well for bass players.

True Bypass switching and high quality components are the order of the day here, and all of this available at a much lower price than most competitors in this area. It sounds promising and the only thing that does not appeal to me is the unorthodox layout of the knobs and LEDs, however, this is purely cosmetic.

What They Say:

”…The Driver by Balkan is a quality handmade pedal aimed at the more experienced player who needs an overdrive to add to an already established sound. I believe that the best guitar sounds are achieved using good quality guitars and amplification. I also believe pedals should work with and compliment your equipment.” – Rich, Balkan Pedals.

Dual drive mode switch.

Toggle between 2 drive modes.

Vintage mode has a more midrangey character with a looser feel to the overdrive and less gain.

Modern mode has more bass and treble, and more intensity to the drive. In fact this mode, unlike many other overdrive pedals, allows all the bass in your signal through, making it ideal for guitarists and bass players.

The dual modes make this pedal just like having 2 boutique quality overdrives in one!

Gain control & Output volume.

The gain control takes the pedal from clean boost duties to full overdrive in a smooth sweep.

The smooth volume control offers lots of volume output, making it ideal for driving your amp hard. Nice amp too loud for use at home? Cut the volume on the Balkan Driver and use the gain control to get tasty useable overdrive out of your amp at volumes which won’t upset the neighbours.

High quality stompswitch.

A durable footswitch with a positive action. Switch between effect and bypass modes. The pedal is true bypass, and therefore preserves your sound when the effect is not engaged.

Powered by AC adapter or battery.

The Balkan Driver accepts a 9 volt, center negative, 2.1mm regulated adapter. There is also a battery clip inside the case for running the pedal off a 9 volt PP3 battery.

Tough metal casing with hard wearing finish.

This pedal is built to last.

Fully handwired and handbuilt.

Point to point handwired, with hardware installed off the circuitboard for ultimate durability. Each pedal is individually built for you at time of order.

True Bypass.

When the pedal is off, your sound is fully preserved…”

Sources: www.balkanpedals.com

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