Electronic Audio Experiments The Bard Overdrive Effect Pedal

Gather 'round ye'all and hear the tale of the Electronic Audio Experiments The Bard Overdrive! Be regaled by the exploits of one ever-misunderstood solid-state amplifier of years passed: The Music Man HD130. The triumphant highs, the devastating lows, the intriguingly tantalizing in-betweens, EAE pens a proper symphony with their Bard drive!

Back in the day, a little company called Music Man produced some great amplifiers in the style of classic '60s American tubes. Clean and sparkling with the capacity to deliciously distort, the late '70s' Music Man HD130 featured a solid-state preamp and a tube power amp – quite unconventional for the time. This break from convention and tone that wasn't quite so familiar to the era's tube and solid-state standards made for a cult classic amp all these years later.

The Bard's circuitry centers itself around an op-amp-based recreation of the HD130's solid-state and tube hybrid design. EAE's crack analog design makes for an effect that easily and smoothly runs the gamut from a clear, sparkly clean to a thick, glassy, medium-gain drive, to a belligerent, chunky breakup. The Bard plays uniquely with EAE's decision to place its passive tone stack control before the primary gain stage, offering greater opportunities to capitalize on specific overdriven sweet spots. A two-way channel switch emulates the HD130's design for a glassy treble response on lower gain settings. True bypass switching and standard nine-volt power requirements make The Bard effortlessly playable and worked into any rig easily.

An unsung hero of hybrid amps finding its voice all these years later, buff your party with The Bard's sweet, sweet tune.