Back in 2012, for Rush's Clockwork Angels recording and touring cycle, Alex Lifeson partnered with Mojotone on a custom-built tube amp head that had all of the sonic characteristics that Lifeson has grown to love over the four-plus decades of his career. Years later, Mojotone debuted a limited run of 100 of the "Lerxst OMEGA" amp heads that have since been sold out.
Now, Lifeson and Mojotone are working together on a larger scale. The two-channel OMEGA head is coming to full production along with a slew of matching cabinets as well as a smaller head/combo option called the Chi. But that's not all. Today, we're focused on the new Lerxst By-Tor Drive pedal.
This limited-run of 500 pedals is available exclusively through the LERXST Reverb Store and includes a collectable By-Tor All Access Pass signed by Alex Lifeson himself.
The Lexrst By-Tor is a compact, pedalboard-friendly version of the OMEGA that promises to replicate the head's same intensity and growl that the tube amp is known for.
The By-Tor is capable of jumping from light and crunchy drive sounds to tube-like overdriven chaos with the touch of a few controls. Its drive section features typical controls: drive (for setting the amount of desired distortion), tone (for adjusting top-end sparkle and treble), and level (for adjusting output).
To help really nail the tonal character of a tube amp, the By-Tor also features an onboard boost section—a JFET-based gain stage, which responds similarly to that of a tube amp's.
It's designed to add some shimmer and chime to the top-end of your tone and can be used independently of the drive section or as an always-on gain stage.
There's a boost knob for adjusting the circuit's output, as well as a special order switch toggle that lets players choose which order to set the circuits in.
Setting the toggle to boost first will push your drive section into further saturation, while the opposite way gives players more of a solo boost with tons of gain potential on tap.
Be sure to check out the video above to learn more about the circuit and hear the pedal in action. The new Lerxst By-Tor Drive is available now while supplies last, right here on Reverb.