Vemuram Spiritone

There are several overdrive pedals Char has loved for many years. Among them, Vemuram has thoroughly researched his personal Klon Centaur, which he especially selected and used for a long period of time. In addition, Vemuram researched their multiple Klon Centaur’s which one of the units was said to be the “best” sounding unit. Vemuram also focused on the boost/gain of the Roland CE-1 and the Watkins Copicat which Char has been using for many years and became his iconic signature sound. Combining the boost/gain with his overdrive, they proceeded with the development of this pedal to reflect those sound nuances. Char and Vemuram tested, redesigned, and tweaked several prototypes while hearing his feedback using them on his live gigging scenes. As a result, a new versatile medium-gain drive sound evolved.

While in development, Vemuram were able to utilize Char’s personal gear and equipment that he has cherished for many years. Including various legendary amps, his current pedal boards, Watkins Copicat, as well as Char’s iconic guitars. From his famed Mustangs, 59′ Burgundy Mist Stratocaster, SG’s and to top it off with his Gold Top Les Paul equipped with P90s. Vemuram has kept and utilized his equipment as much as possible and repeated the development and verification process using his renowned gear and equipment.

Of the many prototypes created during the year-long development process, there were two prototypes which Char was particularly focusing. The circuits of these two are slightly different but almost similar. However, due to the differences in tuning/tweaking of the components and constants used, the “tone” and “nuances” were very different. Char himself could not decide which prototype was better until the very end. He wanted both sounds in his actual live and gigging situation, as a result, we decided to integrate two sounds/tone into one luxurious unit. The first sound/tone has a vintage tone and feel, while the second channel, the B-channel (bright channel), is brighter, aggressive, and powerful with a punchier attack. Each has its own Level (volume) controls and allows you to go back and forth between the two with the foot switch controls.

Besides the main controls of the Spiritone, the Sat (saturation) trimmer function allows fine-tuning of the saturation-like sound generated by the power tubes of the tube amplifiers. An On/Off toggle switch for the input buffer circuit. The Sat (saturation) can be finely adjusted according to the combination of the equipment/gear used and adapting to the live venue.

Vemurams well-known custom components, such as custom-ordered foot switches, input/output jacks, and capacitors, as well as rare N.O.S. components, are applied to the Spiritone. This product has been specially designed to reach the “joy of ownership” of many guitar players, not only focusing on the sound/tone but also by applying the custom-made color (ash white) Bakelite knobs.