The Wrought Iron Effects Skipjack is a military-grade-looking device by a Wisconsin-based company that likes to stand out from the crowd of pedal builders with intriguing products.
Named after a nuclear-powered Cold War Attack Submarine, the Skipjack is a low to medium-gain overdrive that’s extremely responsive to the player’s dynamics and also to the guitar’s volume, just like some Germanium-based circuits – although there’s no trace of that chemical element in this device.
The two knobs, Reactor and Propulsion set the two gain stages, with the former amplifying the signal from the power transistors (which happen to be by Westinghouse, the same brand of the nuclear reactor featured in the Skipjack submarine!!!), while the latter set the level of the output stage, which uses a NOS military spec Jfet transistor.
Also, here’s some advice from the builder about placement:
So that it can interact with your guitar volume, Skipjack needs to be placed before any buffers in your signal chain. The closer it is to first in the chain, the more interaction it will have with your guitar volume knob. Placed after a buffer, it will become more of a super bright treble booster and will lose its responsive characteristics.
Here’s the first video of it.
Wrought Iron Effects Skipjack, Builder’s Notes
Named for a revolutionary nuclear-powered Cold War Attack Submarine, this low to medium gain overdrive serves as a great foundation to your tone. It gives you greater control of your drive sound at the tips of your fingers and allows for great flexibility in tone.
Like its namesake, the Skipjack Reactive Overdrive is an attack-based device: it responds to your guitar volume knob with sensitivity reminiscent of a germanium transistor but without the temperature sensitivity. With your guitar volume at 10, you can set the Propulsion and Reactor levels for your full-on drive sound, then simply roll off the guitar volume knob to 8 for instant sparkling clean-up.
Controls:
Reactor: this control takes the amplified signal from the power transistor and sends it to the Jfet output stage (Gain). The USS Skipjack featured a revolutionary Westinghouse S5W nuclear reactor. I was able to source some NOS Westinghouse power transistors to serve as the power plant for this pedal (check it out in the pictures).Propulsion: this is the output stage of the circuit. This stage uses an NOS military spec Jfet transitor and adds some some tube-like breakup. The circuit is tuned so that you can run this pedal with the volume between 8-10 and still have a low to mid overdrive sound with amazing volume knob clean-up.
So that it can interact with your guitar volume, Skipjack needs to be placed before any buffers in your signal chain. The closer it is to first in the chain, the more interaction it will have with your guitar volume knob. Placed after a buffer, it will become more of a super bright treble booster and will lose its responsive characteristics.
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Features:
- Laser cut custom enclosure, folded in the Wrought Iron Shop
- DeMont premium footswitch
- Acid etched and hand-polished graphics
- Top-mounted Switchcraft audio jacks (made in USA)
- Davies Daka Ware knobs (made in USA)
- NOS panel meter that responds to playing dynamics (made in USA)
- High Quality through-hole PCB construction for easy repair/modification (made in USA)
- NOS Westinghouse power transistor
- NOS Jfet transistor
- Alpha potentiometers
- Vintage ‘Weathered’ look
- Wrought Iron Satisfaction Guarantee
Each pedal has been built by hand, through many processes. Each one is unique in its final appearance. Some will have a little more weathering than others. If variability and imperfection in finish is not your thing, this probably isn’t the pedal for you.
Here’s a little history of where the name comes from:
In May of 1958, a number of innovations came together to mark a shift in Cold War espionage and defense when the USS Skipjack (SSN 585) was launched. Skipjack was the first in a new class of fast attack nuclear submarines whose remarkable speed and maneuverability would revolutionize the way submarine espionage was conducted in the years to come
The new Westinghouse S5W nuclear reactor allowed Skipjack to stay submerged almost indefinitely, and the incorporation of a sleek tear drop shaped hull made Skipjack the fastest and most maneuverable submarine ever constructed up to that point. Along with its other performance enhancements, Skipjack was also amazingly quiet. It could follow and observe Soviet submarines without being detected, collecting crucial intelligence and keeping an eye on the Soviet fleet, all while remaining ready to attack at a moment’s notice.
