NAMM 2023: Walrus Audio has confirmed prices and details of its new Fundamental effects pedal series; by far the most affordable pedals the US company has been able to offer players.
"For this series, Walrus challenged themselves to design a set of pedals with the tonal integrity that’s required to live on a professional’s pedalboard," says the company, "but with simplified controls friendly enough for even the newest effect pedal users."
Each pedal has three sliders for core control parameters and a three-way switch for changing modes. While the input and output jacks are top-mounted, the 9V power input is on the left-hand side of each pedal.
We think it's great to see another premium US pedal band actively reaching out to new players, while offering the rest of us another excuse for an effects purchase. The streamlined control and mode approach could also be a big hook for players who need to make fast changes between songs onstage. All these pedals are assembled in the USA too.
Let's take a look at each one…
Fundamental Drive (£95 / $99 / €109)
This overdrive has Smooth, Crunch and Bright modes with slider controls for Gain, Tone and Volume.
Fundamental Distortion (£95 / $99 /€109)
Walrus says this can cover everything from "dark and doom through sharp cutting leads" and there's Dark, Silicon and LED modes to get you there. Again, slider controls are for Gain, Tone and Volume.
Fundamental Fuzz (£95 / $99 / €109)
Same deal for the controls here too on this "aggressive fuzz pedal with a wide tonal range" with Gate, Classic and Mid+ modes. Walrus is encouraging players to experiment with positioning before and after drives in your signal chain with this one.
Fundamental Tremolo (£123 / $129 / €145)
A classic optical tremolo for "iconic chewy movement" – sounds tasty! There's three wave forms to choose from with Sine, Rectangle and Random. We're expecting that latter one to get pretty glitchy. Slider controls here are for Rate, Depth and Volume.
Fundamental Chorus (£125 / $129 €145)
If you're like us and swore off chorus for a long time, only to fully embrace it with enthusiasm, a new chorus pedal to try is always good news! This is a digital emulation of "classic" Bucket Brigade territory here with Light, Medium and Heavy modes keeping things simple. The controls here are Rate, Depth and Mix.
Fundamental Phaser (£125 / $129 / €145)
"A versatile digital emulation of a classic phaser," says Walrus. There's three types of phaser algorithms to choose from to make the versatility easy to tap into with Light, Medium and Heavy modes, just like the Chorus. Slider controls are Rate, Depth and Feedback.
Fundamental Delay (£125 / $129 / €145)
Three algorithms here that could actually make it the only delay pedal you'll need, in theory anyway. Digital, Analog and Reverse modes will help you cover a wide territory of trails with Time, Feedback and Mix controls cover the essential parameters, and there's tap tempo too. We're really intrigued to try this compact option.
Fundamental Reverb (£125 / $129 / €145)
Last but certainly not least is the reverb pedal of the series with Hall, Spring and Plate algorithms hopefully fulfilling all classic needs. This should make a nice companion to some of Walrus's more ambient offerings such as the Slötvå and Lore.
Parateres here should come as no surprise: Decay, Tone and Mix.
- The Fundamental Series pedals are available to buy now from Andertonsand Sweetwater. More info at Walrus Audio
