Jetter Gear Traindrive
Trainwreck Amp Feeling inspired by Ken Fischer....
A former Ampeg engineer, Ken Fischer of Trainwreck Circuits is a legendary name in the amp building circuit. After leaving Ampeg, he started his own company where he built custom amps for Mark Knopfler and Eddie Van Halen. The amps had a look to match their sound—both were outstanding. As Ken’s shop cranked out a very limited number of amps with custom-wound transformers, the amps are rare as hen’s teeth, and to this day, nothing really sounds like them.
Until now. Jetter’s new Traindrive pedal captures all the roaring tone and touch sensitivity as one of Ken’s dovetail-jointed machines. One characteristic of Trainwreck amps is their simplicity of design that gave way to supreme touch sensitivity and an unparalleled feel. Ken’s amps are worth thousands of dollars, and it’s not because they have a stunning natural finish—they components are painstakingly hand selected and matched. Mr. Fischer took great care in the component selection, much like a master chef forming a special bond with his or her ingredients.
And now, in 2014, Brad Jeter has captured the same labor of love in a pedal. The Traindrive delivers a thick, rich overdrive, saturated in harmonics and dripping molten tone. It’s a bit of a high-gain beast, but the touch sensitivity is beyond compare. And what’s more, the pedal cleans up in a very pleasing way. That’s not to say that it turns into your amp’s clean tone, but the sound that comes out is a sweet, low-gain buttery overdrive that will melt even the most gear-overloaded heart.
The Traindrive is hand-made in Georgia, and is wired for true bypass. It accepts a standard 2.1mm 9v center-negative Boss-style power adapter. The current draw is low, and it is ready for an isolated power supply.?