Origin Effects has introduced the Deluxe 55 – the latest installment in its growing line of stompboxes that seek to bottle vintage tones. The firm is already adept at leafing through the history books to recreate hugely popular guitar tones in modern and pedalboard-friendly formats. Over the past few years, it has tackled the Ibanez Tube Screamer, with the Halcyon Green ; the Marshall Bluesbreaker, with the Halcyon Blue ; and the Klon Centaur, with the Halcyon Gold .
Now, it’s turned its attention to a tube amp , with the Deluxe 55 promising to channel the authentic tones of a genuine Fender 5E3 Tweed Deluxe from 1955. Under its hood, the pedal features an all-analog, transistor-based circuit and tube amp-style signal path (though it is not tube driven) that hopes to nail “the sound, feel and personality of one of history’s quirkiest combos”. The original 5E3 Tweed Deluxe was famously used by the likes of Neil Young, Mike Campbell and The Eagles.
Like the amp itself, the pedal equivalent is pitched as being good for everything from articulate edge-of-breakup tones to full-throttle fuzz , with a rough-around-the-edges, charmingly un-refined character that speaks to the OG Fender unit. “Is it sophisticated and refined? No. Does it get the job done with style and bags of character? Absolutely!” Origin Effects writes.
To put the Deluxe 55 together, its maker took a close look at the real deal in order to pick apart its circuit and understand its ‘quirky’ wiring..
