WHEN TRANSPARENT OVERDRIVE ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH

We took our most legendary overdrive to a new level and redefined what it means to be transparent. Clearer pick attack, improved low end, and more versatile gain stacking.

This is the ultimate first-stage overdrive pedal.

IT STARTED AT SOUND CHECK.

I watched Julian Lage dial in his tone at a soundcheck in Chicago. Vintage Fender amp. Collings semi-hollow guitar. He adjusted pickup heights, moved positions on stage, chasing the perfect balance. It was captivating.

Julian has used a Morning Glory for years — he's a big reason it ended up on jazz pedalboards worldwide. After the soundcheck, we discussed what he looked for in an overdrive. One thing led to another. My brain started wandering off into different ideas. Could we make the Morning Glory even better?

THE PROBLEM WITH TRANSPARENT.

When you add overdrive — any type of clipping — you lose nuance. Pick attack gets compressed. Dynamics narrow. All overdrives shape frequency response, even the most transparent.

So we tried something no one's done: we took our Morning Glory (a Bluesbreaker-style topology) and completely rebuilt it around a studio-grade parallel clean blend. Not just a modification, a redesign from the ground up.

On paper, it seemed pointless — why blend a clean signal into something already transparent?

Here's why. The Morning Glory's magic happens when you turn up the Drive, the circuit boosts higher harmonics and adds soft compression. Jangly. Perfect in a mix. The parallel clean circuit lets you keep all that while dialing the natural low end back in — all the tone, all the character. Nothing compromised.

THIS ISN'T A CLEAN KNOB SLAPPED ON A MORNING GLORY.

For those wondering — let's talk about what's actually happening inside.

The Clean control uses a dual-gang potentiometer. As you turn it, clean gain scales proportionally with the drive signal — it’s perfectly engineered from the ground up. Most clean blends are an afterthought — a simple mix knob tacked onto an existing circuit. This one was designed so the two signals track together across all gain settings. No volume jumps. No weird phase issues. Just seamless blending from Morning Glory to pure signal and everything in-between.

The power section runs on a ±9V dual supply — the same topology as our V4 — which gives you higher headroom than the original V1 circuit and any other Bluesbreaker-style pedal out there. This is where most clones get it wrong. Think of it as the original Version 1 Morning Glory voicing with the V4 engineering enhancements.

The Tone control affects only the overdrive path. Your clean signal stays parallel and untouched. For the people who care about this stuff: this is the most thought-out and sophisticated Morning Glory we've ever built.

ENDLESS HEADROOM, ANY VOLUME.

Endless headroom. Those massive clean guitar sounds that you love on recordings — most were made at volumes that would get you evicted. The Morning Glory Clean gives you the stiffness and authority of a high-wattage amp at the edge of breakup — without the earplugs.

Think of the Clean control as adding back in wattage, clarity, and punch.

IT GOES ON EVERYTHING.

Stack a distortion in front and the sustain opens up instead of closing off. Run it after delay for new territories of series/parallel textures. First-stage overdrive? This is the best we've ever built. Period.

It breathes in front of amp modelers too. The overdrive and presence of the classic Morning Glory, with your attack and low-end content dialed back in — magic in front of a Kemper, Quad Cortex, UAD, or Helix.

Bass players: the original Morning Glory rolls off low end just like a final mix. That's why you love it — that's why it's become a standard on so many pro bassists' boards. The clean blend dials that low end back on command for your different bass and amplifier needs. This might be the best bass overdrive we've ever made.

Who this isn't for.

This pedal isn't for everyone and we're confident in saying that. If you want the dopamine hit of a wild new sound, look elsewhere. If you want tons of controls, tweakability, bells and whistles — this is not that. This pedal does less while giving you more. No bad sounds. Immediate gratification. Leave it on and forget it's there.

CONTROLS

Volume — Adjusts the overall volume in conjunction with the drive and clean.

Clean — Full left: original Morning Glory. Full right: pure clean signal. Start with Clean and Drive maxed, dial Clean back (counter clockwise) until you find your perfect balance.

Drive — Saturation. Crank it and use the Clean control as your balance. This pedal is designed to be used this way.

Tone — Classic Morning Glory tone stack. Affects only the drive path. Back for warmth, forward for clarity.

Clean Boost Pro Tip – Morning Glory Clean can be used as a stand-alone clean boost. Set the Clean to 100% (fully clockwise) and increase the Drive. In this configuration, the Drive will not produce any overdrive clipping - only clean volume boosting.

SPECIFICATIONS

- ±9V Dual Supply (massive headroom)

- Top-mounted jacks

- 9V DC Center Negative

- Silent Buffered Bypass Switching

THIS PEDAL MEASURES 2.6” X 4.8” X 1.6” AND CONSUMES 60mA. DO NOT USE MORE THAN 9VDC. DAMAGE MAY OCCUR AND YOUR WARRANTY WILL BE VOIDED.

JHS