Drunk Beaver reinvents the classic overdrive pedal as the wonderfully Resonant, High Voltage, and Enhanced Harmonics Multi-Clipping The Forest Song
I had the v1.3 version of The Forest Song for over a year. That was already a fantastic candidate, while I had some issues with the Ge clipping mode back then - which suffered a little too much volume drop for my liking, and wasn’t quite as effusively harmonic as I know Germanium can deliver.
So Vitalii went back to the drawing board twice. Largely working on the ’Ge Clipping Challenge’ but also tweaking and refining the calibration of the other controls, voltage regulation etc. Readers will know that the very earliest prototype of this was supposed to have a fully variable Volts knob - rather than the binary toggle-switch arrangement which is now in place - that however introduced to much noise and interference into the circuit - which is why the 2-way switch won out in the end. If often brings quite a subtle change to the tonality - but you do for sure get higher headroom. As I’m all about the harmonics of the breakup - I tend to stick to the 18V settings.
Controls - Volume, Resonance (500Hz + 800Hz Peak Filters Cut/Boost), Drive, Mode (Clipping) : Boost / LED / MOSFET / Si / Ge / Asym Si, Volts ≈ 18 / 30.
Way back when - this was a seed of an idea to reinvent the classic TS808 as something quite significantly different - and to use the combination of High Voltage, Variable-Clipping and Resonant Filters to wholly set this variant apart from anything that came before - and create a whole new branch for that family!
There are several unique and unusual elements here - including the Resonance filters - one at 500Hz, and the other at 800Hz - you cut and boost those in tandem for that perfect hit of brightness and harmonics - which for me sweeps optimally between 3 o'c and Max. The Forest Song doesn't take long to get used to - things here are really just a little bit different overall - and you soon pickup on how well everything is calibrated - over the course of this pedal's development - it's most certainly been polished up to a diamond standard. And I want as many people as possible to be able to experience this properly new variant of classic overdrive!
As I mentioned - with my v1.3 everything sounded pretty sweet already - apart from the underperforming Ge clipping. And it took Vitalii two more significant attempts to bring out his usual magic! And where the Ge clipping was my least favourite option on the v1.3, it's now my most favourite on the v3.0 - what a transformation! - it truly sounds amazing. Each of those diode clipping types delivers the associated flavours of that core tone component - the softness of the MOSFET, and the stridency of the Asymmetrical Silicon in particular. While the Germanium clipping is truly next level. All the clipping options on this are fantastic and really well-balanced and well thought ou - so you don't get any kind of significant volume drop. I still can't get over how much the Germanium clipping has improved - it produces the most exquisite of breakup textures!
This pedal has been a long time in the making - and it's cool to see this in combination with the not too dissimilar layout of the recent Drunk Beaver Hoverla Ge Treble Booster - which boosts this pedal brilliantly too. While I don't think The Forest Song really needs a secondary Boost - it has its own version onboard as the first Clipping option.
It's so rare that you get such an expressive overdrive where all the clipping options are amazing - and the Germanium one is particularly spectacular.
I feel I've had quite the history with this pedal already - and I'm so delighted to witness it so well perfected at the end of this process - Vitalii really has pulled out all the stops here!
This is the 'NØTASCREÅMER' that you never knew you needed - but you really do! These deserve to sell by the bucketload. I first teased this pedal back in September of last year - it's been a long time coming - but oh it's been so worth it.
I tend to have Volume between 3 o'c and Max, Resonance similarly, and Drive @ 3 o'c. As mentioned - all the clipping modes are superb - but for me the Germanium one is genuinely next level. On the v1.3 I tended to live mostly in and around the Boost, LED and Silicon modes - while for the new 3.0 release candidate I'm pretty much glued to Germanium. As mentioned - I love maximum breakup textures and harmonics - so normally 18V is the preferable Voltage setting for me.
The first batch sold out in a flash - there wasn't any point in putting this article up then - as they sold so quickly. So this post marks the release of the second batch - you really need to get your skates on to secure one of these - $175 is the price of admission on the Drunk-Beaver.Rocks Webstore - go get yours now!
Demos
12 Degrees of Saturation 2023 Compact Edition
