“Arguably the most practical single pedal you can put…

“Arguably the most practical single pedal you can put in front of an amp”: Flattley The Outlaw review

Flattley The Outlaw – the red-pink boost/drive twofer is decorated in Mexican Day of the Dead inspired graphics.

What is it?

The Outlaw is a twin-footswitch pedal that combines elements of two of the Lincolnshire, UK-based pedal maker’s previous pedals – the Ace tone booster and the Plexstar overdrive – and is styled after a Marshall JTM45 ‘Plexi’ amp.

What you’re getting are independently footswitched boost and drive sections that can be used individually or combined. A toggle switch determines whether boost is placed before or after the drive.

Specs

PRICE: $379 | £299 | €379
ORIGIN: UK
TYPE: Overdrive pedal
FEATURES: True bypass, 2x channels
CONTROLS: Volume, Gain, Tone, Boost Volume, Boost Tone, effect order toggle switch, Boost footswitch, Bypass footswitch
CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) 50mA
DIMENSIONS: 94 (w) x 119 (d) x 30mm (h)
CONTACT: Flatley Guitar Pedals

Usability and sounds

The boost section features a Volume knob that starts from silence and has unity gain at around 12 o’clock, which means that there’s plenty of boost available beyond that, but it also gives you the scope to use it to attenuate levels or even as a mute switch.

It’s allied to a Tone knob that lets you target the boost in a specific area. Kick the boost in and you’ll find it at its most neutral sounding with the Tone knob somewhere around the midway point.

From here, you can turn the knob anti-clockwise to thicken the sound and bring out more low-end, or turn it clockwise for more top-end sparkle, ranging up to a potent treble boost at its full-on position.

The FET-based drive section has Volume, Gain and Tone knobs and is silent until you advance both Volume and Gain. With lower levels of gain there’s some gritty just-beyond-clean sounds, but advancing the knob soon gets you into increasing amounts of Marshall-flavoured crunch and raunch that responds well to playing dynamics.

All of this can be tempered with a sensibly voiced Tone knob that focuses on upper-mid presence and is a practical asset for getting the drive in the right tonal space to complement your amp.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★½

As individually used entities, both sections shine. But there are tasty performance benefits in combining them. Boost before drive expands the range of your dirt options like pushing the front-end of a valve amp, teasing out extra drive, increased sustain and harmonics for single-note leads.

Placing the boost after the drive offers the alternative action of a volume boost when needed, with or without a tonal shift.

Guitar World verdict: A drive and boost with flexible routing options in a single chassis is arguably the most practical single pedal you can put in front of an amp. The Outlaw ticks all the boxes in that role with two excellent-sounding effects that hold their own individually but really complement each other when combined.