Carl Martin Panama British Hot Modded OD review

Carl Martin is known for some pretty decent overdrive pedals, in particular the Plexitone. The Panama’s Brit tones probably owe a lot to that pedal, as well as to the classic amp that inspired it, of course. 

You get the standard Gain, Level and Tone knobs here, but the unique feature of this pedal is the Damping knob, which is designed to tighten up the sound. 

Basically, it works on the bottom-end, and turning it from its fully counterclockwise position will start to reduce any woofiness for an altogether leaner, more aggressive sound. 

There’s a wide range of tones available here, from a clean boost through all levels of amp-like drive to high-gain with plenty of sustain. 

The Tone knob is very effective in matching the pedal’s tone to your own amp and would make a fine complementary extra channel for a clean or driven amp, depending on where you set the Gain knob.  

Specs

• PRICE: $199/£111
• ORIGIN: China
• TYPE: Drive pedal
• FEATURES: Buffered bypass
• CONTROLS: Gain, Level, Damping, Tone, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied), 100mA 
• DIMENSIONS: 60 (w) x 115 (d) x 50mm (h) 
• CONTACT: Carl Martin