Henning is working his way through the new Fender pedals, and today he’s published his look at the Santa Ana Overdrive pedal.
Henning makes a great point at the start of this video, and it’s one that hasn’t come up in any of the other demos that I’ve shared so far. The Santa Ana Overdrive needs 130 milliamps of power. That’s more than most power supplies normally offer.
Watch the video for all the other observations – and tones! – that Henning has on this pedal.
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Over at In The Blues, Shane has posted his demo of Fender’s new Santa Ana Overdrive pedal.
This is a really good demo of this pedal, showing off what this pedal can do for a Telecaster, Stratocaster and for a Les Paul. Shane also points how the Middle EQ tone control is the crucial one for shaping the tone with the pedal.
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Pete Thorn has posted his demo of Fender’s 2018 Pedal range. If you want to hear what they sound like together in a mix, this is the demo for you.
Rather than go through every single tone the pedals offer, he breaks down a complete song, showing what he used for each part – and letting us hear them soloed out.
I love the tones Pete gets from the Santa Ana Overdrive in this video. I’ve already got the Pugilist, and it sounds great with a Tele. The Santa Ana with humbuckers … that’s a sound that I do have a need for. Not too long until pay day 🙂
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Earlier today, I had the opportunity to play the new Fender Santa Ana Overdrive for myself. AStrings’ recent demo had left me unsure what this pedal actually was, so I thought I’d go and find out for myself.
And I’m glad that I did.
I ran the Santa Ana into the vibrato channel of a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue (DRRI). I went for that amp partly because it’s the clean tone that I’m into right now, and partly because I know that particular DRRI is a very sweet-sounding amp. (If only I had the space for it, it would have come home with me a long time ago!)
For guitars, I used two very different beasts: a single-cut PRS 594, and a certain green Fender Special Telecaster. I’m not sure how I managed to leave the store without the Telecaster …
I haven’t come across another drive pedal that sounds quite like the Santa Ana Overdrive does. To my ears, it does offer something different.
I really liked how it sounded through the DRRI. Roll back the treble and presence a bit, wind up the drive and mids, and there’s a really sweet creamy lead tone there. Roll back the volume on the guitar, and you’re in ZZ-Top-ish Texas tones for rhythm.
There’s a softness to the initial attack that I particularly liked. Along with the pedal’s natural compression, it certainly made me sound a lot more fluid than I really am! I really enjoyed how it tamed the natural spikiness of the Tele’s bridge pickup. I had a hard job handing the Tele back after that 🙂
You can hear an example of what I mean in the jam at the end of this video:
The jam starts just after the 32 minute mark. The tone that Danish Pete gets out his Les Paul is very similar to what I was getting myself today.
Also, check out the earlier jam around the 25 minute mark. Very impressed with how well the Pugulist Distortion pedal worked over the top of the Santa Ana Overdrive in that.
Other thoughts …
The light-up knobs aren’t a gimmick. Even in a well-lit shop, I found they made it quicker to see how the pedal was dialled in. I wonder if we’ll see them catch on with other brands.
The two voices were different, but not drastically so. A bit like how a Tweed is different to a Deluxe, I guess. One was a bit more in your face than the other. Both were very usable.
The boost/extra drive circuit doesn’t change the tone at all. It’s just either a volume gain or increased saturation. I’m not sure that I’d make any use of it personally. I’m more inclined to either ride the volume knob of my guitar, or kick on a second pedal to change the tone.
It’s an interesting pedal, and I’m sure I’ll be picking one up at some point.
We’ve already seen AStrings demo the new Fender pedals, and now it’s the turn of Andertons. Watch the Captain and Danish Pete give you their thoughts on them here:
They’ve got all six pedals out, running them into a Victory V40 Deluxe and a Hot Rod Deluxe v4. These two amps sound very different to the Bassbreaker that AStrings used in their demos, so even if you watched all the excellent AStrings demos, the Andertons’ video offers a different look at these new pedals.
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The lovely folks over at AStrings have posted their third video on Fender’s new pedal lineup. This one looks at the Santa Ana Overdrive pedal.
The Santa Ana is a dual-voiced overdrive with an additional boost circuit if you want it. You can switch between the two voices using a toggle switch on the front panel.
After watching the video, I’m not sure how I’d describe the tone of the Santa Ana Overdrive. I think Adam hit the nail on the head when he said that this is a pedal you need to try for yourself, through the amp of your choice. I’d certainly like to hear it through something like a Hot Rod Deluxe to get a better idea of what this pedal is.
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