The Turbo Dane Rides Again!
Back in 2019 I coined the term ’Turbo Dane’ - meaning using the just then released Heavy Water in combination with The Peacekeeper Overdrive. As I detailed in last week’s Heavy Water Origin Story, the Peacekeeper circuit was involved right at the start of The Dane development project, but where that latterly headed off in its own distinct direction. The Dane (MKI and MKII) is obviously Pete Honoré’s signature Drive + Boost pedal - specifically designed to bring out the very best in Pete’s favourite purple vintage Telecaster Guitar.
Pete's signature Tele has a pretty bright profile, hence the development of an overdrive circuit which added some natural depth and low-end balance to that profile, and where via a secondary boost - you could further enhance how much low-end you added to the signal. The Boost on The Dane meant that you had a natural 3-in-1 pedal, and where lots of players - like Chris Buck, really loved that Smooth Dane Boost. Chris was one of those who was significantly responsible for compelling Thorpy to develop the stand-alone Dane Boost that would become the Heavy Water Dual-Channel Boost - which would come with an additional more textured, harder clipping second boost voicing. You can recap on the further details of that via my recent Heavy Water Origin Story.
And while The Dane's soundstage is massively more versatile than just working for Single-Coil / Tele guitars, it nonetheless is ultimately most precisely honed in that area. That's not to say you can't get superb tones out of Humbucker's on The Dane too, but it's quite evident that its deeper, darker profile is very much optimised for Single Coils. Thorpy always deigns to make his signature artist pedals as versatile as possible - and each of those goes way beyond the singular artist use-case. However, it is still very evident that The Dane has core deeper darker profile - which works best for Single Coil guitars.
So when I received my own Heavy Water back when it was launched, I immediately thought that I could combine that with the super-versatile Thorpy Peacekeeper Overdrive - to get me into and well beyond 'Dane' territory - which indeed was the case, and which is how I came to coin the phrase 'Turbo Dane'.
Obviously the new Compact Dane MKII Edition now comes with both sides of the Heavy Water Boost onboard, but you cannot deploy both together for a 3rd voicing. And the 3 EQ controls of the Peacekeeper - Treble, Presence, and Bass - give you a lot more variety and versatility than the single Dane Tone Control.
k in the day - would be good to know who else out there is still rocking that superior combination!?
In fact a reader recently asked me if I still preferred and would still recommend the Heavy Water + Peacekeeper 'Turbo Dane' combination over the new Dane MKII. And he answer is of course emphatically Yes - even though I really rate and can get some really excellent sounds from The Dane II. The Turbo Dane still delivers a lot more, and particularly for those who favour Humbucker Guitars!
If you haven't introduced yourself to the Peacekeeper then you're really missing out on one of the most versatile Overdrives out there - which can deliver a smart mix of Klon, Breaker and Timmy tones with ease - and then some! The Peacekeeper is still one of my very favourite all-rounder overdrive pedals - and used in combination with the Heavy Water - it is particularly magnificent.
The Dane Drive + Boost MKII is for sure a fantastic timeless classic combination - while indeed the 'Turbo Dane' still rules!
Both Heavy Water and Peacekeeper are of course available from the the ThorpyFX Webstore, and at numerous international dealers - where they go for £209.99 ($279) and £214.99 ($289) respectively, which combination is of course significantly more than for just the Dane MKII at £264.99 ($319) - but still so worth it for me!
I know quite a few players took up my 'Turbo Dane' challenge back in the day - would be good to know who else out there is still rocking that superior combination!?
GPX-Branded Hardware April Give-Away
USA, UK and Canada are now way in the lead on numbers of entrants. We do though finally have someone from Belgium! - but still very few from the Benelux area, and indeed the same for my home territory of Scandinavia! Still no one from South America or Asia / South-East Asia yet! Which is very strange considering the reader demographics - I'm wondering if there might be a last minute rush! Surely there are more ThorpyFX and Guitar Pedal X fans out there!
The [ENTRY FORM] is active until the end of this month - up to Midnight of April the 30th!
Make sure you enter before then, and remember only ONE ENTRY per person, otherwise you will be ineligible for the prizes!
Support GPX on Patreon!
I'm still getting lots of inquiries for advice and recommendations coming in via email, contact forms and social media - all of those should really go through Patreon now! Pledge $5 or more and you get direct contact with me, in fact pledge $10 a month and you get direct video contact!
It's understandable that people will always want something for nothing - but I still need to have a way to earn my crust as such - this project goes nowhere on the back of my dispensing purely free advice! Which I kind of already do via my many featured articles.
Support Guitar Pedal X now - via www.patreon.com/guitarpedalx/membership !
The time is right!
12 Degrees of Saturation 2023 Compact Edition
