The Origin Effects Halcyon Blue Overdrive is the third release in the British company’s Halcyon series, a line of pedals inspired by evergreen classics utilizing a proprietary system called Adaptive Circuitry that automatically tweaks the effect’s voicing in real-time in response to pick attack and volume changes, improving dynamics and tone consistency. The Blue Overdrive is inspired by the sound of the Marshall Blues Breaker.
With this treatment (Adapt function full on using Adapt position I), this low-to-mid gain pedal delivers more gain and warmth while keeping a more consistent and defined tone during the dynamic peaks and valleys of any performance.
Adapt Position II gives you a more subtle version of it, maintaining some of the original circuit’s tone with less bass and high-end, which works well, among other things, in preventing feedback at high gain settings.
Adapt Position 0, on the other hand, removes the Adaptive Circuitry altogether, delivering an authentic BLues Breaker Tone.
A Voice toggle switch lets you add more bass and gain when in Mod position.
We added this pedal to our article about the best pedals inspired by the Marshall Blues Breaker.
Origin Effects Halcyon Blue Overdrive, Builder’s Notes
A ‘90s classic gets the Adaptive treatment. More gain, warmth and playability.
The Halcyon Blue Overdrive is a low-to-mid gain drive pedal, equipped with our proprietary Adaptive Circuitry.Inspired by the early ‘90s Marshall® Bluesbreaker® pedal, the Halcyon Blue Overdrive’s soft-clipping circuit and broad midrange emphasis deliver the thick, articulate tones that made the Bluesbreaker® famous. Get amp-like edge-of-breakup sounds into a clean amp, or push your amp further into overdrive, without losing definition.
The Adaptive Circuitry in the Halcyon Blue Overdrive allows the pedal’s boosted midrange to gradually fade away as the pedal cleans up, taking you back to a full-range clean tone as you roll back the volume knob. Add in the extra gain and low-end weight from the MOD setting on our VOICE switch, and you have a classic overdrive tone with more nuance and responsiveness than ever before.
