Intensive Care Audio's new Life Support Overdrive + Boost delivers a unique bright sounding voicing which transports you to the heyday of classic 60's and 90's British Pop

When I visited the Doctor! (Patrick Smith) this past Friday, he played for me the most inspirational demo set for his new Life Support pedal - covering the sounds of 60’s British Psychedelia in particular - and among that set snippets and tones that represented - Revolver era Beatles (Taxman), early Rolling Stones (2000 Light Years from Home), Small Faces (That Man), Yardbirds (Happenings Ten Years Time Ago) and early Syd Barret Pink Floyd (See Emily Play). With a strong dose of signature Britpop jangle - particularly reminiscent of Blur, and extending through to peak Radiohead.

Patrick played for me a range of tones at different levels of gain - which were all though underlined by exceptional Note Clarity - a verily Spanky and Sparkly sound - extending to smooth vintage fuzz at the extremes of gain. Really a very distinct and unique breakup texture that so evokes those 2 key classic eras of peak British Pop / Rock music.

The Life Support Overdrive was actually mostly engineered for the lower-gain voicings - and the JFET Boost side included to get the most out of the subtler side of the pedal. Of the 4 YouTube demos to date - only Patrick’s own original one fully captures the heart of the pedal - which was so evident in the session that Patrick played for me.

There is a tendency for demos to kind of lean into more generic territory - and not always capture the essence or heart of what the pedal is about. This was also kind of the case for the recent Muir Audio Silicon Steel launch - which for me totally nailed that Carlos Santana tone - and was very reminiscent of ’Europa’ in particular - while not at all really evident in the demos that supported that pedal’s launch.

I was so wowed by Patrick’s live demo - that I encouraged him to put out a version of that selection toute suite! - something I also did recently at Rainger FX regarding David’s take on his new Chop Fuzzz. No one knows how to eke the maximum tonality out of those pedals - better than those genius engineers that birthed them!

The Life Support very much delivers that classic British Pop Sound - Bright / Spanky / Articulate - where the strings always ring out with bell-like clarity - regardless of how much gain you load into the mix.

This pedal really does evoke a nostalgia surge when I listen to it - and considering Patrick is hugely influenced by 60’s Psychedelia - it’s not surprising that he’s created a pedal that mostly evokes that mid-to-late 60’s era. It also sounds unerringly like peak Blur - exactly like the sound of Beetlebum - kind of like the perfect Signature pedal for Graham Coxon!

The trouble with Overdrives is that they mostly sit within just a handful of genres - and there are relatively few that are wholly individual and distinctly different - and indeed outside that generic mix! I’m nominating the Life Support as its own category of Spanky BritPop Overdrive (SBPO / SBO) - evoking both peak-time 60’s and 90’s eras of Classic British Pop Music in particular.

For my Preferences I really like the sort of fuzz voicing you get at the peaks of gain - on both styles of clipping. As the LED Clipping outputs louder - I tend to lean into that for the softer lower-gain stuff - and you can of course support that with diligent use of the Boost Footswitch - as intended!