WALRus Audio
VOYAGER
BY t YLeR gReen
There are a lot of parallels between space travel and getting a great, guitar tone.
Both ventures are true exploration. Yet
while the end result of both endeavors may
be spectacular, reliability and utility are at
the root of the equation. So it goes in your
signal chain—if your magic flanger and
reverse delay are the rocket’s roar, trail of
flames at liftoff, and nebula image captured
with your Hubble telescope—your overdrive is the nuts and bolts that keeps the
rocket together.
With graphics representing the Russian
Soyuz spacecraft, the Walrus Audio Voyager
seems to acknowledge its humble role in
a noble quest. But to confuse the fundamental nature of the Voyager’s task with
ordinary would sell this pedal short. It’s
an excellent overdrive that shines bright,
possessing a quality build that’s fit for a
space program and tones that transcend the
sounds of the classics.
to hear audio clips of the pedal at
premierguitar.com/jul2012
CLICKHere…
interesting that Walrus opted for them here.
That said, this could ultimately be a key to
the pedal’s range and agreeable nature.
covered by a clean coat of epoxy on top
that obscures their model designation. Most
classic pedals used one or two chips and
some discrete transistors. Walrus Audio,
however, uses modern chips and high-precision resistors on the heavy-duty circuit
board. And there’s just one box capacitor
inside the Voyager—which may be due to
space constraints. To most ears, box capacitors tend to have a cleaner sound than
traditional poly caps and a smoother sound
compared to the electrolytic caps you’ll see
in, say, a vintage Super-Fuzz. This is great
in some applications, but not always desirable for a distortion or gain box, so it’s
The Stars Aligned
I tested the Voyager (along with my US
Lonestar Stratocaster and blackface Twin
Reverb) in the real-world crucible of a West
Coast tour—which means I got to evaluate
both the Voyager’s stand-alone capabilities
and the remarkable ways it interacted with
other effects on my pedalboard. On both
counts, the Voyager excelled.
One of the most remarkable things
about the Voyager is the breadth of the
pedal’s capabilities, and how that range
enables it to stand in for other effects. In a
normal performance situation, I’ll use a distortion pedal (with gain down and volume
Mission Control
You can’t help but notice that Walrus
Audio’s Voyager is well made. Its heavy-duty
true-bypass switch makes a nice, mechanical
clicking sound when engaged but remains
inaudible through an amplifier. The white
LED indicator is super bright and can
cut through the thickest of stage fog. And
the 9V, Boss-style power-supply jack is
thoughtfully placed and recessed at just the
right depth to work with right-angle cables.
The control set is nothing complicated—just volume, gain, and tone—and
the black, anodized-aluminum knobs exude
quality. Nicely spaced for their size, their
fluted sides make setting the controls a snap
with your feet. And the potentiometers are
extremely smooth, providing just the right
amount of resistance. These thoughtful and
practical touches, along with the mint-green
powder-coat finish and cool graphics, suggest the creators have more than just a passing interest in design.
So what’s inside? Unlike a lot of classic overdrives, there are three op-amps
Super-
bright
LED
Traditional
tone, volume,
Three
op-amp
design
