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I have a love/hate relationship with bass-overdrive pedals. I’ve often preferred the sound of hot tubes and 10" speakers being pushed to the limit to any stompbox, but some of my bass colleagues here in Nashville are obsessed with overdrive and fuzz pedals. So much so that if they come out to one of my gigs where I’m playing through a vintage SVT and later ask me what dirt pedal I was using, it’s much to their surprise when my answer is usually “none.” That said, I think the market in recent years has been infused with several worthy contenders for bass-specific overdrive that provide good low-end retention and an alternative means to the vintage-tube growl I love. So yes, I might be a tough customer, but I was looking forward to checking out the Abyss overdrive from KHDK, the relatively new pedal outfit founded by Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and industry vet David Karon.

The Abyss communicates boutique straight out of the box, with its included velvet pouch, and my very first impression was that of a lightweight yet solid-feeling, high-end pedal. The footswitch is sturdy and requires a good amount of pressure to click and engage the pedal. Once engaged, there’s not only one but two LEDs to indicate operation—an original visual touch I didn’t mind at all. The Abyss can be powered by either 9V battery or DC power supply (not included).

Four vintage-style, cream-white knobs marked with black position-indicator lines sit against the deep-ocean-themed graphics. Along with the blue hue of the enclosure, it all makes for an easy-to-read pedal for dimly lit stages.

The clean knob controls the volume of the direct signal. Next is the gain dial for setting the distortion level, and to its right resides the dirty knob for controlling the output volume of the overdriven signal. The treble dial is a cut only control, which means it doesn’t boost the high end when turned all the way clockwise, but instead simply gives you the full spectrum of your bass’ normal sound. The final control is a rocker switch that’s tied directly to the gain dial and is tucked in the middle of the four knobs to maneuver between the “lo” and “hi” settings.

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