Onkart Gromt TurboTore

Design

Onkart Gromt are a small company from Norway who base most of their pedals around simple, but effectively designed circuits. With a hand-made, high-end audio mentality that puts tone first, the TurboTore attempts a very natural and flexible approach to boosting your tone and fulfills its task as only a good-quality effect can. Boost pedals usually find their niche as the effect that turns a good sounding overdriven valve amp into something very special indeed. The effect simultaneously adds bite and definition, stops your amp getting muddy at high volume and in practical terms can make a real difference to your core sound. The front face is home to a true bypass footswitch, along with a single rotary control labelled ‘gain’ that gives access to a considerable 30db of boost. It can be powered by a 9V adapter plugged in to a socket on the rear side or by a single 9V battery that can be accessed by removing the base plate. You can also adjust the high-end frequencies by +/- 3db via an internal trimpot. The quarter-inch input and output jack sockets can be found at either side of the pedal. It may not be the kind of effect that instantly springs to mind when shopping for a new stompbox, but even the hobby box-style chassis gives the TurboTore a hand-made air that’s quite appealing.

Sounds

Once you step into the world of boutique effects pedals, these simple boxes of components seem to acquire a certain mystique. It’s just got to sound better than something that’s dropped off the end of an automated production line, or the world isn’t working how it should, right? Well, if you are expecting to hear big changes in your sound when activating the TurboTore, then you are probably going to be a little disappointed, but in a live context, you will really hear the benefits. As well as providing a simple way to boost your sound, the TurboTore is great for expanding the range of tones that you can get from just one bass. It provides a very clean-sounding boost that gives a flattering lift without undue side-effects or background noise. Of course, where you set the rotary control will depend on what type of bass and amp you’re using, but for the vintage valve approach it’s hard to go wrong with the sounds that are on tap here. The overdrive capabilities of the pedal at higher gain settings going into a clean amp are very impressive too, adding more dynamic impact and providing some instant tonal variation. It may not be the most exciting effect pedal on the market, but if you need a different type of sound for a couple of songs in your set, the TurboTore could really come in handy.

For more info visit www.onkartgromt.no