The 1981 Inventions DRV has become one of the most talked about pedals of the last few years, and for good reason. The DRV is a highly nuanced preamp/distortion pedal designed by 1981 founder Matthew Hoopes in collaboration with Jon Ashley of Bondi Effects. Through four years of abandoned prototypes and circuit tweaking, the pair emerged with a truly special and truly original circuit design. Nominally based around an early '80s large box, 'white face' ProCo rat, the DRV takes on a life of its own, with a musically rich and extremely versatile sound. The level of flexibility that can be achieved from the three knob layout is highly intuitive and interactive, covering a huge range of diverse drive sounds from lower gain, almost 'transparent' tones, to heavier, fuller distortion that can almost spill over in to fuzz.
The DRV has plenty of clarity and harmonic-rich warmth, with a midrange tuned specifically for guitar that adds a whole lot of clarity to almost any instrument. The DRV has a unique dynamic range and sensitivity, where instead of going clean to slightly overdriven, it goes from clean to slightly distorted, with the preamp and distortion sounds meeting and interacting extremely naturally.
The 1981 Inventions DRV is hand built and wired in the USA with vintage style through-hole components on the PCB. The DRV features off-board jacks and power enclosed in a uniquely subtle folded steel box. Each unit is personally tested and hand numbered. See the full 1981 Inventions collection available at No.Tom Guitars here.
