ThorpyFX The Deep Oggin review

The second Thorpy pedal designed in collaboration with former Lovetone boffin, Dan Coggins, is named after naval slang for the sea, no doubt in honour of the waves of modulation it is designed to deliver. 

It’s a fully analogue chorus/vibrato pedal with plenty of parameters to adjust without being overcomplicated, and it has two outputs, so if you want to stray from the standard pedalboard mono in/mono out scenario you can send the wet and dry signals to separate amps. 

Besides the Rate and Depth knobs that you’d find on any chorus or vibrato pedal, the Deep Oggin also has a Blend control that runs from fully dry to fully wet - key to dialling in the effect. Chorus relies on a blend of dry and modulated sounds whereas vibrato in its purest form is modulated signal with no dry sound present as found with the Blend knob turned up full. 

All points backward from that fully clockwise position yield a wide range of modulation variations, hitting classic vintage chorus tones at around 50/50 wet/dry, right through to subtle shadings just audible behind the dry sound for added interest. If you have the luxury of two amps, or are using the pedal for direct recording, the tried-and-trusted method of dry signal on one side and modulated on the other - like the way the signal goes to the speakers in a Roland JC-120 – opens up a real sense of spaciousness and movement in the sound. 

Sounds

Tonally, there’s plenty of variation on the warmth/ brightness theme set by the Treble knob. We matched the tone of our vintage Boss CE-2 pedal fairly well somewhere in the first half of the knob’s travel, but fully clockwise it offers more of a modern sparkle. Usefully, too, the output volume starts out fairly close to unity gain, so there’s a lot of travel left to add a boost when you kick the effect in - nothing excessive but plenty to ensure you’ll be heard in the band mix. 

Stylish and well put-together with quality components, this is a versatile modulation pedal with a parameter range that goes beyond that of vintage pedals to immerse you in an ocean of musical variations on the chorus/rotary speaker/vibrato theme.