Nashville-based Thorn Soundlabs has unveiled their initial range of nine guitar pedals, all designed with the philosophy of “Classic Analog Tones, Refined Modern Control.”
Thorn Soundlabs
The new Thorn Soundlab pedals are built to sound familiar to guitarists but with added controls that provide more flexibility and nuanced control over the sound.
Three key features standard across many pedals are Damping, Headroom, and Mid Frequency controls.
Damping allows guitarists to reduce low-end on the drive circuit, Headroom adjusts the volume and gain simulating an amp’s headroom, and Mid Frequency dials in the perfect sound for a particular rig or band.
Thorn Soundlabs Guitar Pedal Rundown
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Magma: This distortion pedal is designed for classic metal tones. It features Gain, Volume, a 3-band EQ, Mid Frequency control, Damping, Headroom, and a Noise Gate. MSRP – $225
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Bad Cash: This low-gain overdrive pedal is ideal for clean amps and can also tighten up a high-gain amp. It features switchable Asymmetric and Symmetric clipping, switchable Class A or AB tube emulation, Drive, Volume, a 3-band EQ, Damping, Headroom, and a Presence control. MSRP – $180
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Tremonator: This tremolo pedal offers a wide variety of sounds from warm and vintage to more modern-sounding tremolo. It features a SIN/Square switch for selecting waveform shape, a symmetry knob, rate control, tap tempo footswitch, and a multiplier knob that can increase the tremolo speed up to eight times. MSRP – $229
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STEAM & STEAM Bass: These two compressor pedals are designed for guitar and bass. They feature a unique Manual/Auto switch that controls Attack/Release and adjusts them based on playing dynamics, a Detail knob for blending between fully compressed and clean sounds, Threshold, amount, Attack, and Release controls. In auto mode, the compressor acts like an “intelligent” assistant that adjusts the compression based on the user’s playing. MSRP – Steam $189 and Steam Bass $195
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The BASSTARD: Similar to the Bad Cash, but designed for bass guitar, the Basstard features the same controls with the addition of a Blend control and a 4-way mid-frequency switch. MSRP – $175
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Silver Spurs: This pedal captures the sound of a classic British amp. It features a 3-band EQ, Presence, Gain & Volume controls, Damping, and Headroom controls. MSRP – $180
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Black Swamp: This fuzz pedal is designed to be highly flexible. It features Gain, a 3-band EQ, Volume, Damping, Mid Frequency controls, switchable hard/soft clipping, and a Character knob with three settings: Smooth, Normal, and Hot. MSRP – $190
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The FreaQ: This two-in-one pedal combines a boost and an EQ. The boost side features Boost amount and Damping controls, and the FreaQ side allows guitarists to select a specific frequency to boost between 200 and 3.4 kHz. MSRP – $140
Guitar Bomb Verdict
Handcrafted in Nashville, Thorn Soundlabs pedals are built to last, combining classic analog circuitry with modern precision. This new range of stompboxes is one to watch for 2025.
We know the people behind this new line of pedals, and to say they are connoisseurs of effects pedals would be an understatement.
