LARRY ALAN
INFINITY DRIVER
BY STEVE OUIMETTE
If you’re a pedal manufacturer in these glory days of stompbox design, it’s not easy to find
a unique sonic signature. But Larry Alan (of
Lansing, Michigan’s Larry Alan Guitars) seems
perfectly willing to put the power to shape
unique sounds into the hands of the player.
The Infinity Driver overdrive emphasizes
versatility and the ability to play nice with
myriad amps and guitars. In part, this flexibility is derived from the pedal’s simple, smart
layout and the inclusion of a boost circuit.
But the box also benefits from a germanium
diode in the clipping stage that adds a whole
range of color to the pedal’s sound palate, and
with a bass switch in the mix to help even out
the midrange emphasis that’s inherent to overdrive use, the Infinity Driver shapes up as an
overdrive of, well, almost infinite potential.
room than say, a Boss or MXR pedal. But
you get a lot of switching potential for the
real estate. There are three big, black knobs
for drive, tone, and level, a switch for the germanium diode (the Infinity function), a bass
switch that enhances low-end response, and
two stomp switches with dedicated LEDs for
the overdrive and boost functions.
to hear audio clips of the pedal at
premierguitar.com/may2012
CLICKHere…
Maximizing Real Estate
Built in a Hammond 1590BB-sized enclosure, the Infinity Driver takes up a little more
Subtle Shades of Dirty
I checked out the Infinity through a Fender
Concert 2x10 with Eminence speakers—a
nice blank slate for discerning the nuances of
an overdrive—and played a G&L Comanche
and Epiphone Sheraton with Tom Holmes
PAFs. With the Fender set up clean and full,
and the G&L at the other end of the cable, I
set the Infinity’s drive, tone, and level knobs
to around noon. The volume was slightly
lower than the bypassed signal, so I pushed
up the level to around 2 o’clock. At these
settings, the Infinity gets louder and thicker.
I found that by rolling off the Comanche’s
volume knob a touch, I could get a relatively
clean and complex tone with a little extra
sweetly sustained thickness.
Germanium
diode-engaging
Bass
boost
Boost
channel
