The Spun Loud Litigator is a Wonderful Creamy and Sparkly Take on Clapton's Beano Tone

I first covered The Litigator in my ’4 Cool Noteworthy Overdrives with Character and Bite!’ feature - back in March this year. Pretty much constantly since then I have been trying to snag one as they are continually being sold out. Lucky for me then that friend Andy at Break The Machine decided to stock them - where I was finally able to get my hands on one.

This is a discrete transistor overdrive - using 2 x MPSA13 transistors with what looks like asymmetrical Diodes - 2 regular Silicon (1N4148?) and one Schottky Diode looks like - while I’m unable to see the exact parts references.

It has the very typical 3 classic controls with a smart-ranging Tone control which Spun Loud refers to as somewhat ’Sparkling’ - it’s pretty much useful for its entire taper. I like things bright myself, while I have the Tone typically dialled in between 9 o’c and Noon. Gain I like best at around 3 o’c, and there’s a magical spot around 4 o’c on the Volume dial which delivers the perfect balance of open harmonics - too much and it starts to throttle that!

This is such an elegant creamy overdrive - just beautifully creamy really - still capable of a certain bite though via that very usable Tone control.

There’s really not too much more to say about this - it’s very definitely been shaped to recreate that Beano style Tone - which it does with aplomb! Just a beautifully calibrated and sweet sounding overdrive which touches on Fuzz territory but can be rendered incredibly even-tempered and creamy.

It’s available in some interesting shades now - Orange, Purple and Blue - while for obvious reasons it’s best served in original cream coloured enclosure - mainly for reasons of symbolic synaesthesia. Pricing is a very reasonable $149 per the Spun Loud Effects Webstore, or £139 from good friend Andy at Break the Machine.

Do any of you have the Litigator - and what are your own thoughts and insights?