“A new and unique take on the classic Bluesbreaker tone”: Origin Effects’ Halcyon Blue recreates John Mayer’s favorite Marshall drive pedal – but it’s much more than just a clone
Origin Effects has launched its latest Halcyon overdrive pedal, the Halcyon Blue, which is inspired by Marshall’s famed Bluesbreaker stompbox of the 1990s.
But whereas many other Klon clones and Tube Screamer clones offer like-for-like reproductions of these famous circuits, Origin’s M.O. for the Halcyon family is rather different.
Instead, Origin looks to add its own flair to the selected source material, making its Halcyon overdrive pedals so much more than just mere clones.
Now, Origin has turned its attention to the Bluesbreaker – an iconic overdrive inspired by Marshall's amp of the same name, which has been championed by the likes of John Mayer during his lauded Continuum era.
How has this Origin innovation materialized in the case of the Halcyon Blue? Well, just like the previous installments, this pedal uses Origin’s Adaptive Circuitry to change the pedal’s tone in response to volume knob changes and playing dynamics.
In practice, a fully dialed volume will give you a faithful Bluesbreaker tone, while rolling back the output – or playing softly – will tame the mid hump and make way for “deep, sparkling clean tone”.
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(Image credit: Origin Effects)
As was the case with the Green and Gold Halcyon, this puts the Bluesbreaker’s best tones into one signal pedal setting, resulting in what sounds like an especially responsive and expressive BB clone.
Furthermore, the Halcyon Blue has two distinct voices, the standard BB voice and the MOD mode, which adds more gain and another clipping characteristic for extra versatility. This lends itself to “some extra warmth in the low mids” that could help make the most of thinner single-coils.
Other appointments include a Dry control – which adjusts the dry signal and increases definition when boosting an edge-of-breakup tone – and regular Level, Drive and Tone parameters.
As far as Bluesbreaker clones go, it certainly looks a good ’un, but all those internal tweaks come at a price: the Halcyon Blue sits at $299, making it a tad more expensive than some other more established BB repros.
Then again, those others don’t quite offer what Origin is promising to deliver here, and when you consider the Halcyon range’s previous successes in taking famed overdrives to new heights, the Halcyon Blue could be a serious player in the BB clone market. We wonder what Mayer thinks of this one…
Matt is a Senior Staff Writer, writing for Guitar World, Guitarist and Total Guitar. He has a Masters in the guitar, a degree in history, and has spent the last 16 years playing everything from blues and jazz to indie and pop. When he’s not combining his passion for writing and music during his day job, Matt records for a number of UK-based bands and songwriters as a session musician.
