Root
Root; dual frequency distortion/overdrive.
Overdrive, distortion, fuzz. What’s the difference? Oh, overdrive is warm and subtle and picking dynamics and ‘note bloom’, and distortion is for metalheads and fuzz is just noise unless it’s Page or Hendrix. Perhaps? Nah, all different flavours of the same thing. Root doesn’t really care for the pigeonholes, it’s good at what it turns its hand to and that’s distorting/overdriving your guitar (or bass for that matter) without robbing the guitar of the tonal qualities that made you shell out for it on the first place. Transparent? Hmmm, another one of those words, but if you mean “won’t make all my guitars sound the same” then yes, that.
Root is built on a simple idea; regular dirt pedals distort all of your signal. Root splits the signal in two, allowing you separate control over the high and low frequencies, you can add different degrees of drive to each. This means that you can take the fizz out of the highs without losing the oomph of the lows or tighten up the bass without losing attack. It’s also really good with lower tunings, in fact one of the design goals with Root was to get great heavy sounds without mooshy or flabby bass if you’re playing a down-tuned guitar or a baritone. The ‘Girth’ control lets you dial in where the lower frequencies begin to distort. How heavy is up to you, you can also use Root to hit an already breaking-up valve amp to kick it into proper-heavy territory or back off your guitar’s volume to clean up and sweeten your rhythm sound.