GEAR REVIEW
SUHR SHIBA DRIVE RELOADED MINI | Michael Hodge
Suhr is helping lead the way to make more pedals are named after his dogs. Shiba Inu
room on your pedal board. The Shiba Drive is a beautiful Japanese breed and the pedal
Reloaded Mini is their second pedal in the namesake. The Shiba Drive Reloaded is a
mini-series following the successful Riot Mini. modified version of the original Shiba overdrive
These pedals include all the features you love pedal. It was originally released in 2009, and
at a much smaller footprint. They’re perfect reloaded in 2013. The Reloaded version has a
• True Bypass for Fly Rigs with their small size & weight, tighter bottom end, that you’ll notice especially
• Super versatile yet still keeping with the original specs. John if you are using it with a neck pickup. There is
Suhr is an avid animal lover and many of his an increase in available gain, and the smooth
KEY FEATURES
• Full Featured Shiba Drive Reloaded
• Compact, Pedal Board Friendly Size
• 2- Position Smooth Switch (Hi-Cut)
switch was re-voiced to make each setting
more noticeable.
OUT OF THE BOX
The Shiba Drive Reloaded Mini weighs in at
just under 6 oz. and is housed in a custom
3.8” (l) x 1.83” (w) x 1.27”(h) blue metallic metal
enclosure. On top are three knobs. Two small
black ones: Tone and Level up top, and one
large clear Drive knob. There is a heavy-duty
True Bypass footswitch and a mini 2-position
Smooth (Hi-Cut) switch up top between the
small knobs.
In and Outs are on the sides
with a standard 9Vdc type power jack on the
top back. Suhr has a tag line with this new line
that says, “Your pedal board just got bigger”.
Pedal board real estate is a never-ending issue
for guitar players. There always seems to be at
least one pedal you can’t fit on.
IN USE
I like the simplicity of the layout. I also like how
sturdy the pedal is. I yanked on all the knobs
and they aren’t budging. I found this great
sounding pedal has three possible functions on
any given board.
BOOST
With the Drive turned down, Tone at 2:00,
Volume maxed, and the smooth switch to the
right, it is a great clean boost. As the volume
goes up there is a nice barely noticeable
compression as it hits the amp slightly harder.
It’s not like a Klon boost, or a vanilla MXR type
boost, but has a definite character to it that I
like. I would probably leave it on all the time
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July 2018
WorshipMusician.com