To be clear, I was not on a search for a new overdrive; I wasn’t even in the market for a new pedal. Pause … Who am I kidding?, my eyes are always scanning the horizon for fun new toys (I mean gear) to play with. That said and per my usual engagement on the GearPage.net forums, while actively participating in a few discussions about compressors, I started to notice the ThorpyFX Fat General kept getting mentioned. As my journey with compressors has been like a long and winding road, my curiosity got the best of me even though, at the time, I was not familiar with the ThorpyFX brand or story. As I was quite content with my Effectrode PC-2A compressor and, while the Thorpy’s Fat General looked interesting, it was the Peacekeeper that ultimately peaked my interest. For whatever reason, I had come to neglect my curatorial responsibilities pertaining to to my small collection of gain pedals, giving much more care and attention to other things like delays and modulation. It didn’t take long before I decided to take the plunge into the world of Thorpy and, happy to report, I’ve truly enjoyed the waters ever since!

[The Peacekeeper plays nice and gets the job done]

My days of shredding through chordal progressions and riding waves of distortion are definitely farther and fewer between, having now settled in comfortably on that cusp-of-breakup, a dash of crunch, with the occasional sprinkle of Muff sound. To these characteristics, having an overdrive that finds its home within low gain levels is a nice tool for one to have. Enter the Peacekeeper.

Important to note: at the time of posting this review, I’ve spent several months with the Peacekeeper in use and on my board.

Absolutely top quality build (like a miniature tank), a design aesthetic that is both clean and fun, there are several control mechanics that make the Peacekeeper stand out in the crowded field while, most importantly, providing great adaptability in working with most any other piece of gear ( pedal, amp, and/or guitar) one chooses to use. Some key points to these controls include:

• The [Gain] covers a very nice range, starting with a simple clean boost and, ending with a thick healthy crunch; this, while providing a nice smooth taper on the control pot, making it rather quick and easy to dial in that cusp-of-breakup touch-sensitive tone and response.
• The EQ controls, specifically the [PRES] dial, speaks very much to the idea of how this pedal can work in most any situation and gear combination. The [PRES] control works very much like a combination of both MID & PRESENCE settings, venturing from a mid-scooped [think: Fenderish] voicing to that of providing a mid-focused hump with that bright switch turned on [Think: Voxish], all before the signal is processed by the gain stage. After the gain stage, the active [TREB] and [BASS] controls kick in, allowing a great plethora of adjustments thereof. All three EQ settings are very interactive, providing a variety of possible voices and, flexibility of use.As for a setting I settled into (pictured just below), while I tend to keep the [BASS] around 12pm on the dial, the [PRES] Control anywhere between 10pm ~ 2pm depending on the desired flavor, I then would adjust the [Treb] to taste and/or, to compensate for the initial tone of the guitar (bright vs dark).

[Some additional and final thoughts]

As I would generally use the Peacekeeper for light gain settings, I think it is helpful to share that it stacked well with other drives — often using it in combination with the Buffalo TD-X and/or the Mojo Hand Iron Bell. (Pictured below, although the order has changed over time)

In conclusion, the Peacekeeper is a great overdrive pedal that covers a wide spectrum of gain levels, provides robust EQ controls, is adaptable in general and stacks well with other pedals, all delivered within a high-quality package. The price can be a bit steep compared to other options on the market BUT, when one considers that this could very well cover the ground of a few gain pedals, the end value is that much more appreciated. I was so impressed with the Peacekeeper that I soon thereafter acquired the Fat General (now my main compressor) and, a month or so later, the ThorpyFX Camoflange — all fantastic pedals.