Orange Vintage Distortion Pedal

Meet the new Orange Distortion pedal, same as the old Orange Distortion pedal — at least that’s how it seems on the outside! After all, apart from the modern tweaks of an added LED and a 9V DC input, this looks like a straight-up reboot of the 1970s relic, right down to its simple type stencilled onto the classic chunky aluminium shell.

Under the hood, though, it's a different story! The circuitry of the new Orange Distortion has been rebuilt from the ground up, ditching the original's back-to-back diode design and replacing it with an amp circuit including a tone stack, where bass and mids are preset but treble is user-adjustable via a little trimmer inside the casing.

A Tone That's True to the Original

New design doesn't mean new sound though — this one comes with all the bite, growl, warmth and howl that you need for that classic '70s amp-like distortion, from vintage crunch to full saturation. With only two dials (for level and depth) but huge versatility, the Orange Distortion can set up your sound for everything from a clean boost to warm and fat gravelly textures, to red-hot trebly screamers and maximum saturation. There's a sweet spot for Jimmy Page-style guitar heroics, and another for Nuggets-style garage rock squall. In fact, every shade of grit and dirt is in there — as long as it's vintage.

Add in a hardwired switch that's separate from the PCB and therefore super-easy to service, and you've got a vintage pedal fit for the modern age. It's that level of attention to detail, combined with dedication to an era of crunching power chords that makes the pedal a perfect homage to one of rock's golden ages, ready to be heard again with fresh ears. It might be a new design, but with the Orange Distortion, the song remains the same!

Key Features

• Low Power Consumption — The Orange Distortion draws very little current (only 3 mA), making it easy to slot into your pedalboard's power supply.
• Buffered Bypass — A high-quality buffer in the signal chain retains tonal integrity. The Orange Distortion's buffered bypass takes care of this with its low-impedance buffered bypass switching, retaining your guitar's full tone.
• Adjustable Treble — On the amp circuit's tone stack, the bass and mids are preset, but the treble is adjustable to taste via a little trimmer inside the pedal's casing. It's set in the factory to be a third of the way up, but the user can tweak with ease.

Specifications

• Controls: Level, Depth
• Power: 9/12V DC Adapter (Centre Negative)
• Current Draw at 9V: 3mA
• Unboxed Dimensions (W x H x D): 9.2 x 10.2 x 8.4 cm (3.62 x 4.02 x 3.31")
• Unboxed Weight: 388g (13.7 oz)