CoolGuitarGear
Well-known member
In a collaboration, Vogart Audio and Liberatoe engineered KEEPIT LEMON, a dual overdrive that offers the flavors of a BluesBreaker and Hot Cake drives, which you also can stack for a big gain-stage result. The front end ‘hot’ drive (Red Channel) has a warm midrange and flowing high ends for that crisp breaking up, harmonically-rich grit. It ranges from a clean boost to a gain boost, all the way up to crunch, then distortion, and eventually a thick fuzz. Adjustments then can be made via a guitar’s tone knob, although tones are darker with more gain and humbuckers with some amps, whereas brighter amps and single-coil pickups tend to maintain tone more consistently.
The ‘breaker’ drive at the rear (Green Channel) is fairly transparent and more of a ripper. As well, it includes a 3-way toggle to emphasize specific mid-range frequencies (middle is flat, whereas 2.4kHz to the left has more bottom end and 7.2kHz to the right has more of a bite). Another feature for this channel is a Presence control, for that added sparkle or sizzle. Under the chassis is an asymmetrical clipping option (adjusted through internal DIP switches), which I did not explore in the video… everything sounded pretty darn good as is.
Even with all that, a key feature with this pedal, and other Vogart/Liberatoe collaborations, is the ability to Stack. As a result, the extent of tones possible with various mixes of the two drives (with different EQ, Gain and Volume levels) is wide-ranging. Even how you integrate the two can vary, e.g., regular crunch for rhythm (from one of the select drives), then stacked for lead. The Channel toggle switch allows for the following combinations:
KEEPIT LEMON is true bypass, and implements high input impedance and low output impedance to ensure effective use of pedals before or after it, and each overdrive/channel has its own stabilization circuit for quiet operation. The robustness of sound likely is supported by internally boosting the input from 9V to 18V, thereby providing high headroom, while maintaining the original signal. As well, the quality of tone flow, while aiming to eliminate tone color in the components, is the result of an electro-mechanical relay signal path, rather than using typical FET or analogue switch components.
I think what makes KEEPIT LEMON so useful and effective, besides it’s great sound production, is its diversity. From clean boost, to cutting edge grind, to thick fuzzy distortion, there are elements and tones suitable across a broad spectrum of music styles. This is not the only Vogart/Liberatoe collaboration pedal I have tried or reviewed, and they are simply impressive, to say the least. KEEPIT LEMON is available as a standalone pedal ($159 USD) or as a module ($89 USD) for a Liberatoe platform system, while drawing 120mA power.
https://www.vogartaudio.com/keepit-lemon
The ‘breaker’ drive at the rear (Green Channel) is fairly transparent and more of a ripper. As well, it includes a 3-way toggle to emphasize specific mid-range frequencies (middle is flat, whereas 2.4kHz to the left has more bottom end and 7.2kHz to the right has more of a bite). Another feature for this channel is a Presence control, for that added sparkle or sizzle. Under the chassis is an asymmetrical clipping option (adjusted through internal DIP switches), which I did not explore in the video… everything sounded pretty darn good as is.
Even with all that, a key feature with this pedal, and other Vogart/Liberatoe collaborations, is the ability to Stack. As a result, the extent of tones possible with various mixes of the two drives (with different EQ, Gain and Volume levels) is wide-ranging. Even how you integrate the two can vary, e.g., regular crunch for rhythm (from one of the select drives), then stacked for lead. The Channel toggle switch allows for the following combinations:
- Toggle Up: Green or Red channel selected
- Toggle Middle: Green or Stacked
- Toggle Down: Red or Stacked
KEEPIT LEMON is true bypass, and implements high input impedance and low output impedance to ensure effective use of pedals before or after it, and each overdrive/channel has its own stabilization circuit for quiet operation. The robustness of sound likely is supported by internally boosting the input from 9V to 18V, thereby providing high headroom, while maintaining the original signal. As well, the quality of tone flow, while aiming to eliminate tone color in the components, is the result of an electro-mechanical relay signal path, rather than using typical FET or analogue switch components.
I think what makes KEEPIT LEMON so useful and effective, besides it’s great sound production, is its diversity. From clean boost, to cutting edge grind, to thick fuzzy distortion, there are elements and tones suitable across a broad spectrum of music styles. This is not the only Vogart/Liberatoe collaboration pedal I have tried or reviewed, and they are simply impressive, to say the least. KEEPIT LEMON is available as a standalone pedal ($159 USD) or as a module ($89 USD) for a Liberatoe platform system, while drawing 120mA power.
https://www.vogartaudio.com/keepit-lemon