NAMM 2018: Fender Santa Ana Overdrive Pedal

The Santa Ana Distortion from Fender is bold offering. In fact, all of the pedal in their new range at NAMM 2018 are surprising. In the past, Fender have played it safe when dealing with effects. Most recently they've produced pedals that resembled far east micro-clones of three knobbed overdrive, distortion and the like. But it looks like they are ready to blaze a new path. The Santa Ana features a brushed aluminum body and a full range of features. I'd say that Fender has a winner on its hands, but I'd need to hear a better demonstration than the NAMM Show floor can provide.

More Information:

Santa Ana - Sounds Like Santana?

The Fender Santa Ana Overdrive pedal is a dynamic and nuanced overdrive effect that is perfect for generating the types of tones associated with the guitarist from which this pedal (most likely) gets its name - Santana.
The Santa Ana is designed to be an open sounding and dynamic pedal that can achieve a wide range of overdrive flavors, from edge-of-breakup tones through to thick, rich and sustaining lead sounds. It responds very well to your playing dynamics, and will clean up simply by rolling down the volume control on your guitar.
For blues and rock players who like an amp-like response, this pedal will give the balanced range of dynamics that you require, and help to bring out every nuance in your playing.

Multiple Controls

The Santa Ana pedal has a 3-band EQ and presence control to shape your sound. It also dual independent voices for different flavors of overdrive.
A boost switch is a handy addition to the Santa Ana that lets you set up your core tone with the pedal, and then engage the boost effect to push your sound even further into saturation. This effectively gives the Santa Ana two separate tones making it a very versatile pedal.

Professional Features

The Santa Ana has a rugged and lightweight aluminum chassis with a brushed metal finish. This gives it both read-ready durability and a classy-aesthetic that can take pride-of-place on your pedalboard. The pedal is built by Fender who have a multitude of experience in amplifier design and you can be sure that this pedal will last a lifetime of gigging, rehearsing and recording.

Magnetic Battery Door & Jewel Light

The jewel LED light not only looks great, it also adds a handy on-stage visual indicator of the pedal's operation. The pedal has a clever battery compartment door; it has a magnetic latch which means you can easily change the battery with no fiddly screws to worry about.
This is a thoroughly professional pedal - both in tone and appearance - and would make a welcome addition to your pedalboard.

Features

• Rich and open overdrive with great pick dynamics and nuance
• 3-band EQ plus presence control for maximum tonal shaping
• Two voices
• Boost switch
• Drive and level controls for wide ranging tone from edge-of-breakup to thick saturation
• Responds to guitar volume control and cleans up when volume is rolled down
• Rugged anodized aluminum construction
• Classy brushed finish and jewel light
• Battery door with magnetic latching opening (no screws needed)
• Powered by 9V battery or DC

Specifications

• Effect Type: Overdrive
• Controls: Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence, Output Level, Voice Toggle (A/B), Drive, Boost Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch
• Inputs: 1 x 1/4'' Instrument
• Outputs: 1 x 1/4'' Instrument
• Power Requirements: 9-Volt Battery or DC Negative AC Adaptor
• Power Consumption: 120mA
• Input Impedance: 1M ohm
• Output Impedance:5k ohm
• Material: Anodized Aluminum
• Color: Red