After solidifying a very strong reputation in building quality electric guitars, followed by acoustic guitars and amps, Paul Reed Smith and Co. set their sights on the pedal market. Enter the PRS Horsemeat transparent overdrive pedal – a from-scratch circuit designed and assembled in the U.S.A. that, as its name suggests, is a transparent overdrive crafted to improve the guitar’s tone without coloring it.
As Smith aptly puts it, “Horsemeat sounds a lot like a good amp.” What he means by this is that it gives throatiness without sounding too high-pitched or nasal, boosting both the low- and high-end frequencies while offering a tad more headroom – all controlled via a straightforward selection of controls – Gain, Level, Voice, Treble, and Bass – that very much do the job.
Depending on what you want to use it for, with the Gain control down and the Level boosted, the Horsemeat can function as a clean boost. Increase the Gain, and you get the unmistakable tone of overdrive on the brink of distortion.
You can even use it to give your amp’s distortion an extra oomph, which the pedal does by pushing the amp’s front end, all without compressing the tone. As a result, the Horsemeat almost feels responsive in a tube-like way to even slight changes in your picking strength or the guitar’s volume.
Specs-wise, the analog through-and-through pedal comes fully equipped with mono 1/4-inch input and output jacks, a standard-size 9VDC barrel jack mounted on the upper side surface, a heavy-duty footswitch that provides true bypass, and metal control knobs with ridged edges to facilitate grip.
With component quality being a top priority for PRS, each part is connected to the circuit board using through-hole soldering, which is more labor-intensive but allows the team to prioritize performance and “utilize the best-sounding parts.”
To sum it up? “PRS pedals retain the class that we are all used to with PRS guitars and amps,” gushes Deep Purple guitarist Simon McBride. “The pedals are very dynamic and transparent, they sound amazing. I fell in love with them straight away!”
Priced at $249, the Horsemeat is available from PRS partner retailers. For more information, head to PRS.
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