Orange Amps is probably not the first company you think of when faced with the decision of what overdrive pedal to get. That’s because they’re really new to the effects game, having only introduced their first pedal very recently, and their first and (so far) only OD pedal just a month ago.
They’re aiming for a spot on your board with the cleverly named Getaway Driver, with stylish artwork to match the name (an attractive young thief with her accomplice at the wheel, 5-0 in the rear view) and to that end, they’ve made their first OD pedal one that operates on a few different levels. Firstly, it’s a dirt box – something you can use to drive your amp harder – that’s implied in the name. Second, it’s an amp-in-a-box – a quick way to get a driven amp tone from your clean channel. Third and most interestingly, it can be used with headphones plugged straight into the pedal as a practice amp or direct to front-of-house because of the built-in cab sim sound coming out of the second output.
It’s simple as can be otherwise, with one small exception – there’s an internal button which, according to the official description, “tames the top end to make it better for clean channels with treble bleed caps on the volume”. Aside from that button, it’s a three-knob pedal with the usual suspects – Volume, Bite (tone) and Gain. The sound is Orangey, meant to evoke the 70’s classic modded amps of the era, and doesn’t have any of the kind of mixed clean-and-dirty sounds that you sometimes find in lower-gain OD pedals. It’s a full-on drive sound that sounds as close to an amp as you can find in a pedal.
The Getaway Driver ($155) is a cool pedal with more functionality than your basic OD, but not more complication than you need, and it excels as an amp sound in a box or just adding grit and character to your amp.
