Strymon are always pushing the envelope. Their Riverside Multistage Drive pedal is an innovative hybrid design that has both an analogue and digital circuit — capable of delivering a wealth of raw, amp-like gain tones that can easily be controlled via a clever digital interface. This makes the Riverside an incredibly flexible drive pedal, and with the quality that Strymon are renowned for, this could be the only overdrive you'll need on your board!
Digital & Analogue
The first stage of gain that your guitar signal hits on the Riverside is the all-analogue, class A JFET circuit. This is a commonly used distortion circuit for guitars that will dirty up your tone, while retaining loads of clarity and jangle. Strymon have designed the JFET circuit to give you up to 20dB of analogue gain, so that you can really crank up the pedal before it starts compressing and "sagging". However, if you keep the level down and max the gain, then you can still achieve that glorious "sag".
Once the signal has gone through the warm analogue circuit, the incredibly powerful SHARC DSP chip will add detailed and responsive distortion to match the dynamics of your playing. In essence, classic gain tones enhanced with modern digital power!
Real Tube Dynamics
The Strymon Riverside reacts like a tube amp and when you play quietly, the pedal will respond accordingly. Up the intensity of your picking hand, and you'll create more aggressive distortion. Riverside has a low-gain channel for smooth, classic overdrive sounds and a high-gain channel that provides a more modern, saturated distortion tone — so you can set the pedal up to match your genre, and then play within that parameter. Or, you can use the 'Favourite' switch to tap dance between a high-gain setting and a low-gain overdrive setting. It's like having 2 pedals in 1, and can essentially turn a clean single-channel amp into a 3-channel monster!
Multistage Design
We've touched on the fact that there's more than one gain stage, but Strymon have actually crammed four gain stages into the Riverside that will cascade into each other — adding more gain as you go. This will increase the harmonic response so that you don't lose clarity or top-end under loads of distortion.
Amazing Flexibility
Ultimately, the Strymon Riverside a very versatile drive pedal that will give you access to classic sounds at your feet, but more importantly, will help you carve out your own unique distortion sound. Plus, the 3-band EQ makes it easy to match the pedal to your current guitar and amp setup.
Specifications
Sound Design
- Custom cascading multistage distortion topology provides a wide range of tube-inspired drive tones.
- Digitally controlled analogue class A JFET input gain stage maximizes headroom while adding up to 20dB of pure analogue gain.
- Precision crafted DSP gain stages provide detailed complexity and responsiveness.
- Low-gain channel for smooth classic overdrive.
- High-gain channel for modern saturated distortion.
- 3-band EQ with independent Bass, Middle and Treble controls.
- Selectable post-analogue gain mid-band EQ push.
- Presence switch to tailor the sound for use with all amplifiers from dark to bright.
- Optional variable-threshold noise reduction helps tame noisy guitar pickups.
Ins, Outs & Switches
- High impedance mono input.
- Mono output.
- 'Favourite' footswitch to save a favourite setting.
- Expression pedal input allows the connection an expression pedal for simultaneous morphing control over multiple parameters (Expression mode), or logarithmic taper for smooth volume control (Volume mode).
- Boost pedal input allows connection of an external footswitch for up to +6dB of analogue boost, or to toggle the Favourite preset on other Strymon pedals (Favouite Out mode).
