The G777 dual overdrive pedal is the latest offering from Mason from Greenchild.  This pedal is made in the USA and features two music channels that can be used on their own or together for extra drive, sustain, and gain.

Features

• Two mechanically isolated channels
• Transparent buffered input/output
• Boosted power supply with 30 volts of dynamic headroom (+/- 15V)
• Symmetrical soft clipping
• Versatile tone stack
• Unique gain and EQ topologies
• Boost (Channel #2 ) with up to 18dB of non-distorted, post signal volume control

How does it Sound?

To my ear, the left side of the pedal sounds very Vox like in tonality.  It definitely has a class A sounding tone.  It’s not based precisely on a Vox by any means, but that’s the closest approximation of sound I can compare it with.  The right side is more of a boost/low gain overdrive that can pretty much do anything you like in terms of EQ thanks to the Mid control.  You can scoop out the mids or add them in for a fatter sound.  The Tilt control adds more or less top end, so, between the Tilt and Mid control, good things can happen.  The right side of the pedal is also pretty low gain in terms of dirt too, but it packs a punch.

The video above is a very detailed video of the pedal and how it sounds in all positions on the controls. The video below shows how simple it is to get a very usable sound with very little to no tweaking.

Who is this pedal for?

Players who are looking for a 2 in 1 that is different will appreciate this effects pedal. The Greenchild G777 is best suited to folks playing rock and roll or classic rock.  The reason why its best suited to those styles is the voicing of the left (red) channel.  Being it’s also very class A, it would also work great for country pickers who are looking for that class A sound matched with a Telecaster.  It will, of course, do blues, but I feel it would be more of a classic rock and country style pedal.

Being that the left side of the pedal has a lot of clarity means it will work great for both humbucker pickups as well as single coils.  This pedal is an excellent addition to the Greenchild line up, and it’s also made it into my top 5 pedals of 2016.  Great job, Greenchild!

The brand new (as of July 2016) Greenchild K818 ticks all the boxes in terms of functionality, tone, and design.  Shane and Ric from the intheblues channel on YouTube put forward an idea to Mason at Greenchild to try his hand at a new dual pedal that featured highly sought after tones that were tried and tested for the working musician.  This great combination of overdrives not only sound great on their own but they also sound amazing stacked together.

The Vintage Overdrive Channel

On the left is the vintage overdrive channel with a point of difference you’re going to love.  What makes this left side of the pedal unique is the tone/voice control in the centre.  What this control does is adds more presence/tops with the control to the left and adds more body and warmth with the control to the right so you can basically get this to sound like your amp with a bit of dirt or use it to transform the clean tones of your amp.   The left side of the pedal was designed to be used as an off-clean tone for stacking the right side but in the end with the tweaks from Mason it became it’s own fantastic and usable vintage overdrive channel.  This particular channel is more open and less gainy than a Maxon OD-820 and also has less noise floor.

The Klon-ish Overdrive Channel

If there’s one pedal that stacks well into any vintage overdrive it’s the Klon.  This right side of the pedal features all the tones of the Klon KTR but improves upon it by reducing the overall noise floor of the pedal.  One of the inherent problems with stacking a Klon can be the overall noise floor is raised but through some nifty designs Mason has done some improvements with the circuit and it now stacks better than ever.

Specifications and Details

Retro style K818 with custom anodized aluminum enclosure and black Dymo lettering. Naturally transparent buffered input/output; two independent mechanically isolated channels in one pedal.

This pedal combines a K-style circuit (right side) with our own special blend version of the Tube Screamer (left side). One may stack the channels or operate them in isolation.

Gain staging with both channels engaged: Input -> K-Side -> TS Side -> Output

This pedal has a boosted internal power supply with 30 volts of headroom (+/-15V), and accepts 9-18VDC (center negative). The k818 has been designed with a very low noise floor and maximum dynamic range in mind.

Overall

For the gigging musician or recording musician this is what you need to cut the mix.  Two classic pedal designs in one with major improvements to the circuits results in an extremely usable pedal that is a blues players dream.   This pedal is around the same physical width as a Klon KTR for example, but it’s slightly taller footprint.  It will be a great space saving addition to anyone who is after a dual overdrive who likes classic tones from Maxon, Ibanez, and the Klon for example.  Being able to stack the channels or use them on their own is also awesome.  There’s no weird switching, no confusing options, and nothing to make life difficult.  This pedal does exactly what it was conceived to do which is work simply, easily, and effortlessly.