Jet City Afterburner review

Dual-stage overdrive from Soldano and Co.

  • £79
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Dual-stage overdrive comes via the boost stomp-switch.

MusicRadar Verdict

If you're after low or mid-gain sounds at a reasonable price, this pedal is a great solution.

Pros

  • +

    Great low to mid-gain blues/indie sounds. Versatile tone control. Well priced.

Cons

  • -

    Not great for high-gain sounds. Battery access can be fiddly.

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It's been a year and a half since Jet City's launch at NAMM 2010. Since then, it's seemed like the mission of Mike Soldano and co is to release an ungodly amount of gear.

Hot off the line is the Afterburner, a mid-priced overdrive pedal that gives you two stages. It's your common 'drive configuration, with Volume, Tone and Overdrive controls, but there's also a Boost dial that adds another level of gain.

There are also two stompswitches - one for bypassing the pedal and another for kicking in the boost.

Pushing the clean channel on a valve amp with a singlecoil and low gain/high output setting on the Afterburner gives a weeping bluesy lead sound. Up the tone, select a bridge humbucker and you'll get an indie rhythm crunch.

With the gain higher, you get a stack-in-a-box rock rhythm sound. From here, engage the Boost and add some bite with the Tone control for a larger chorus rhythm sound/cutting solo tone.

Even with the Boost maxed out, gain freaks won't be satisfied, but that's not the niche the Afterburner is trying to fill. The looks won't scream from the shelf and battery access is a little fiddly, but if you dabble in low to mid-gain sounds, this pedal will provide a solution.

The tone control is versatile enough to prove that a single EQ knob doesn't have to be a compromise, nor do you have to shell out loads for a good drive sound. Hardly rocket science, eh?

Stuart Williams
Stuart Williams
Drums

I'm a freelance member of the MusicRadar team, specialising in drum news, interviews and reviews. I formerly edited Rhythm and Total Guitar here in the UK and have been playing drums for more than 25 years (my arms are very tired). When I'm not working on the site, I can be found on my electronic kit at home, or gigging and depping in function bands and the odd original project.