TC Electronic reaches up to the heavens to bring us the Zeus Drive – “a golden chalice among overdrive pedals“

TC Electronic has added another hugely promising and easily affordable overdrive pedal to its lineup. The Zeus Drive is a compact drive pedal that promises an amp-like touch sensitivity and a transparent drive 

There are all different ways you can use the Zeus Drive. Keep it on all the time to sweeten the tone, step on it when your solos need some oomph, or crank it for some hot mid-level drive crunch. 

Oh, and with this sort of drive profile and performance, you could also use to to satisfy that Klon craving you've been nursing ever since the YouTube algorithm sent you down the cult overdrive rabbit hole.

The Zeus Drive has controls for Drive, Volume and Treble, plus a FAT switch for boosting low-end frequencies and thickening up your sound. Note that it has a Treble control, not a Tone control as you might ordinarily find on an overdrive pedal. This is because the low end is already dialled in. Simply adjust the treble to add sparkle when needed.

What makes the Zeus Drive so special is its dual concentric gain control. Now, what's that when it's at home? It's simple, but very clever. It shapes your drive response in two ways, by first simultaneously blending more overdrive into the clean signal coming from your guitar, and by then increasing the clipping as you turn the dial up. It keeps the drive response amp-like and “crystal clear.“

Under the hood, you will find a pair of 1N34A Germanium diodes driving things along, and internal charge pump that ups your 9V DC voltage for increased headroom and an outsized output level from what really is a compact little drive box. 

Size-wise and price-wise it's a similar deal to the Magus Pro, retailing for a quite ridiculously cheap £45 / $59 and keeping your pedalboard tidy with top-mounted jacks. It'll help you keep your signal path tidy, too, courtesy of an internal DIP switch to select between buffered and true bypass.

See TC Electronic for more details.