Bachman worked closely with Tech 21 to design a single pedal he could use with any amp. After having captured the sound of an entire chain of Bachman's '59 Les Paul¨ going through amps, mikes, compressors and tape compression in one preset of the SansAmp PSA-1, the electronics had to be reconfigured into an overdrive pedal. It is a little known fact that Bachman originally coined the term "overdrive" when naming his next band, Bachman Turner Overdrive. Since then, the word has been incorporated into our everyday vocabulary of tone.

With just the right balance of odd and even harmonics, the American Woman recreates the cascading effect of two different amplifiers, including pre-amp and power amp stages. This effect is typically only achieved by running two guitar amplifiers into each other. For versatility, the American Woman pedal can also be cleaned up for semi-dirty and warm blues sounds.

Controls include:

• Drive for the amount of overdrive
• Gate to reduce hiss and noise when you're not playing
• Tone shifts the high cut from 10kH to 1kH, allowing you to remove the high end without losing mids or getting muddy
• Level, which is capable of extremely high output --up to 10dB

Other features include:

• 1 meg Ohm high impedance 1/4" input (same as traditional tube amps use)
• 1k Ohm low impedance 1/4" output (drives long cables without loss of signal integrity)
• Smooth, silent-switching custom actuator
• Heavy duty, all metal housing
• Removable battery compartment door
• Utilizes standard 9V alkaline battery (not included) or optional power supply (Tech 21 Model #DC2)
• LED is highly efficient and low power consuming. It will fade as the battery runs low (<6.5V), although the American Woman will continue to operate.
• Actual size: 3.5"l x 1.5"w x 4.5"h