Hailing from Greece, the Tsakalis Audioworks Six serves up a strictly analog buffet of dirt circuitry, with six different selectable modes inspired by such revered gain devices as the Analogman KOT, Marshall Bluesbreaker, Paul C Timmy and more.
The knobs are pretty straightforward, with the only exception of the Mood knob, which is simply a post placed overall tone control of the circuit.
Here’s the full list of modes:
1. Booster (BS)
2. Overdrive 1 (OD1)
3. Overdrive 2 (OD2)
4. Distortion 1 (DS1)
5. Distortion 2 (DS2)
6. Overdrive 1 into Distortion 2 (OD1 + DS2)
A successful, “out of the box” experiment led to an unconventional circuit without any coupling capacitors, which gave more transparent results, and Tsakalis is in fact presenting the Six as the first “cap-less” pedal:
By applying what we call cap-less technology®, you can really hear the character of your instrument and consequently your own hands!
A nifty toggle switch lets you change the circuit’s voltage from 9 to 18 volts for extra headroom.
At 18V, the pedal behaves more like an amplifier with tons of headroom and a slight difference in the Overdrive and Distortion modes, which tend to have more clarity. At 9V it sounds “dirtier” even at lower volume and in Booster mode it starts to break up more easily.
The company presented the Six B.O.D. at the NAMM 2019 show, and the company’s rep Nikos came to our Stompbox Booth to shoot the video below, check it out at the bottom of the list of videos! – Nicholas Kula
See more of our pedal demo shot at NAMM 2019 with 60 Cycle Hum here. We also have a list organized by kind of effect in two pages here and here.
Tsakalis AudioWorks Six, Builder’s Notes
For many years we have wanted to create a truly mind blowing overdrive – distortion pedal that would be small and practical yet would offer huge powerful tones, natural feel and flexibility. And of course to do that we needed reference. So we decided to combine all the good stuff found in the legendary pedals Timmy™, Blues Breaker™ and KOT™, and try to come up with that extra something that would take things even further.
After a long period of modifying and prototyping and countless hours of testing and swapping ICs, capacitors and diodes, we finally had something really good in our hands. But it wasn’t enough…
Not willing to stop experimenting until we had a pedal that would really speak to us in the studio and on stage, we decided to completely nerd out and try some unconventional methods. It was during this process that we discovered something really innovative!
Looking for that magic ingredient, we decided to think out of the box and removed all the capacitors from the audio path (coupling capacitors), which resulted in a more natural feel than ever before and respect to the original tone of the guitar without any added compression or color that would be coming from the capacitors.
By applying what we call cap-less technology®, you can really hear the character of your instrument and consequently your own hands! We are very proud to introduce the first cap-less® pedal called Six!
The name of the pedal comes from its six different modes, select-able by the 6 position rotary switch:
1. Booster (BS)
2. Overdrive 1 (OD1)
3. Overdrive 2 (OD2)
4. Distortion 1 (DS1)
5. Distortion 2 (DS2)
6. Overdrive 1 into Distortion 2 (OD1 + DS2)The Six BOD is powered by a 9V supply (center-), and features an advanced internal power supply with voltage doubler. There is a voltage switch that allows you to select between 9V or 18V, even though you’ll always be using an external 9V supplier. Just like with tube amps, increasing the voltage means more headroom. At 18V, the pedal behaves more like an amplifier with tons of headroom and a slight difference in the Overdrive and Distortion modes, which tend to have more clarity. At 9V it sounds “dirtier” even at lower volume and in Booster mode it starts to break up more easily.
Specs
Handmade in Athens, Greece
True Bypass
6 modes select-able by a rotary switch
Toggle switch for 9V – 18V
1 Heavy Duty On/Off Foot-switch
Power supply : regulated 9V (center -)
Max power consumption: 10mA @ 9V DC
Heavy duty & light weight aluminum box
Dimensions : 60mm(Width) x 112mm(Length) x 50mm(Height)
