Westwood

Anything from clean boost to aggressive Overdrive.

The Westwood Translucent Drive Manipulator combines a true clean boost with a two-band active EQ. Responding beautifully to the intensity of the pick attack and changes in the guitar’s volume, it reveals subtle nuances in the technique and tone.

The simple four-knob layout enables intuitive sound shaping with the usual Level and Drive controls plus separate Treble and Bass controls. Fortunately, the EarthQuaker Westwood colours the core tone to a minimum extent when the EQ controls are set to the centre detents. Anyhow, when in action the Treble control delivers up to a 20dB boost or cut at frequencies around 2kHz while the Bass control operates at around 80Hz.

It’s all-analog, can be powered by either battery or regulated power supply and the true-bypass switch is relay-based to ensure silent switching.