Walrus Audio Ages (Black)

The essentials to know about the Walrus Audio Ages Five-State Overdrive pedal

• 5 gain and clipping modes via a rotary selector: from a smooth and soft boost to a thick and heavily compressed saturation.


• DRY control (blend) to balance the direct signal: clearer attack and "punch" of a pushed amp, or conversely 100% saturated overdrive.


• Truly musical EQ: BASS before the overdrive stage (to tighten the low end or thicken a pickup), TREB to adjust the brightness of the drive.


• Designed for pedalboards: true bypass, excellent compatibility with guitars and amps, and designed for stacking with other overdrives.

A modern overdrive designed as five pedals in one

With the Ages, Walrus Audio does not aim to clone a single "vintage" circuit: the idea is rather to offer five gain states with distinct characters, as if you had multiple flavors of overdrive ready to use. The rotary selector acts on the internal combination of gain and clipping type, which changes not only the saturation but also the feel under the fingers (compression, openness, bass firmness) and how the pedal sits in the mix.

The concept is simple and powerful: choose a mode as a base, then fine-tune with the classic knobs... and especially with the DRY blend, which turns the Ages into a nuance machine. The result: an overdrive capable of being your first gain stage on a daily basis, while remaining flexible enough to serve as a second drive, a textured boost, or a "glue" to thicken a clean tone.

For which guitarists and styles?

The Ages is aimed both at musicians who want a single versatile overdrive and at stacking enthusiasts looking for a pedal that can complement an already extensive setup. In the home studio, it is valuable for quickly finding the right balance between grit and definition, especially when recording rhythms where every attack must remain clear.

Live, it excels at cutting through the band without becoming aggressive: the DRY blend helps maintain articulation, and the EQ allows adapting the pedal to an unpredictable backline. Style-wise, the Ages naturally covers blues, rock, indie, alternative, and hard rock; and in a more modern context, it can also serve as a sculpted gain tool for metal sounds (in tight mode with controlled lows) or more produced textures.

Controls, modes, and useful setting ideas

The pedal offers five controls and a rotary selector: VOL sets the output level (with plenty of headroom to push the amp), GAIN adjusts the saturation, DRY blends the direct signal with the saturated signal (fully left: 0% dry, denser saturation; moving up: more clarity and a "pushed amp" feel). The BASS knob cuts or boosts the lows before the overdrive, perfect for tightening a too-round humbucker or thickening a single coil. Finally, TREB adjusts the amount of highs in the overdrive to tame an overly bright attack or conversely let a more open sound breathe.

The Mode Switch (5-position selector) offers these "states": I (low gain, soft symmetrical silicon clipping, smooth and compressed); II (low gain, soft symmetrical LED clipping, more open and sparkling); III (high gain, soft symmetrical silicon clipping, tighter and saturated); IV (high gain, soft symmetrical LED clipping, big, punchy, and spacious); V (high gain, hard symmetrical silicon clipping, very compressed, thick, and "chewy"). Think of each position as a different pedal: change mode, then readjust VOL to keep a consistent level on stage.

The sound

The Ages has a very "usable" signature: it can remain transparent and snappy when blending in DRY, or become denser and more saturated when removing the direct signal. Dynamics are one of its strengths: in low gain mode, it responds very well to pick attack variations and the guitar's volume knob; in high gain mode, it delivers more pronounced compression, ideal for singing leads and thick rhythms.

According to usage reported by musicians, the Ages can be found on pedalboards of artists like David Ryan Harris, Josh Rand (Stone Sour), Tell Chang (Elephant Gym), Mercedes Arn-Horn (Softcult), and Bad Snacks. This diversity reflects the pedal's goal: a drive capable of fitting as well in rock, alternative, pop universes as in heavier styles, without imposing a single fixed color.

Visually, the "olive green" edition combines white, cream, and black ink with a striking design: a mythical three-trunk warrior elephant ready to charge. A true pedalboard piece, both for the ears and the eyes.

Technical specifications

Effects	Distortion / Overdrive / Fuzz, Overdrive	Type	sector
Technology	Analog	Use	electric guitar
Format	Pedal	Color	Black
EQ	2 channels

Potentiometers	VOL, DRY (blend), GAIN, BASS, TREB	Output impedance	10k ohms
5-position rotary selector	modes I to V (gain and clipping combinations)	Enclosure	olive green
Input	6.35mm Jack (mono)	Illustration	mythical three-trunk warrior elephant
Output	6.35mm Jack (mono)	Required power supply	9V DC center negative
Input impedance	1M ohms	Consumption	minimum 100 mA