Pigtronix FAT Philosopher Overdrive and Compressor Pedal Reviews

3.3/5.0 based on 2 customer reviews

Write your own review for this product

Sort By Date Sort By Rating

Customer Reviews

John Y
from New Jersey
February 4, 2013Music Background:
Student/Hobbyist

Fantastic pick sensitive distortion with compressed germanium flair

I originally purchased the other Sweetwater exclusive Pigtronix Philosopher's Twin Germanium pedal, and although that pedal is a fantastic compressor with great tone, it really wasn't able to give me the nice crunchy, fat, heavy sound of the germanium that I was looking for without cranking the sustain and blend controls up, and thus squashing my original pick attack and a lot of my original guitar tone.

This pedal however, gives me the best of both worlds with the FAT distortion drive and Philosopher's Rock germanium compressor circuits combined. I can get any sort of distortion I want out of the left (FAT Drive) side, from nice blues to scorching metal and searing leads with the MORE switch. And this distortion section is amazing at capturing your picking dynamics; you can go from mild overdrive to red hot, rich breakup, just by changing your pick technique. I have this side activated almost all the time.

Usually I use the right side (germanium compressor) more like a germanium boost pedal, which can launch my guitar solo into a thick, gritty, or sludgy germanium flavoured solo. This side of the pedal is superior to the Philosopher's Twin Germanium in that you do not have to turn the sustain and blend up real high to get the germanium flavoured punch that we all love. I usually set the volume and blend controls around 11 o'clock, and the sustain around 9 o'clock, and I get a sick germanium boost to my guitar solos or heavier songs, without losing my pick attack or punch of power or barre chords. Even with the sustain fairly low at the 9 o'clock position, it still helps my Fender Strat ring out those notes much longer than without the compression. And if I need extra searing gain, I can easily kick the MORE switch with my foot on the left side of the pedal to put my guitar over the top!

Overall, this is a fantastic pedal from pigtronix. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a solid germanium sounding distortion or just plain distortion with solid compression. This pedal sounds amazing no matter where I have the knobs set. And the Send/Return jacks are great too for patching in phasors and flangers and stuff like that! Thanks for reading the review, and enjoy!

Kurtis
from Colorado
February 7, 2013Music Background:
Musician, artist, world customizer

Too fat and noisy

I wish the mini toggles were stomp buttons to make it easier to go from more to less and make use of all the extra space. When engaging the compressor, It makes a pop sound.