BROWNE AMPLIFICATION Protein V3 Dual Overdrive – Black Browne Amplification

The Protein 2 in 1 Overdrive is a collaboration between David Brown and guitarist/producer Adam Sniegowski. After years on the road and in the studio using backline amps that could be very inconsistent, Adam came to Dave wanting to create a dual overdrive that would sound great with any backline he encountered. They started with two drives they loved, stacked well together, but had a few inherent issues. Dave set out to fix those issues without losing the soul of the originals.

The Blue Side is based on the classic OD used by the likes of John Mayer on the  “Continuum” album. Dave addressed issues like the lack of output, tweaked the tone control, and experimented to find what we think is our favorite version of this type of circuit while still being true to its roots.

The Green side was inspired by the classic “Nashville” overdrive.  This pedal has been used on the pedals boards of session greats from Tim Pierce to Jerry McPherson. We lowered the amount of gain (distortion) to make it usable through the entire sweep of the pedal, added some of the mids back to make it not quite so scooped, and eliminated some of the woofiness in the low end. This allows it to add some low mid “beef” back into your tone without becoming muddy.

The secret “third” channel of this pedal might be our favorite. When running the green side into the blue of this pedal, you get added gain and fullness without sacrificing note clarity or getting that “mushiness” that can happen while stacking some overdrives.

V3 updates include top-mounted jacks, soft switching and a single internal switch for split mode. The same sound, the same reliability, the same Protein – only better.

Protein Ver. 3

To use with a loop switcher like the RJM Mastermind ect.

The TRS plug on the input is going to act as the loop for the green side.

The TRS plug on the output is going to act as the loop for the blue side.

Tip is the input/send from your Loop 

Ring is the output/return to your Loop. 

There is a switch inside the pedal that needs to be flipped to the “split” position to use it this way. Remove the four screws from the back panel and flip the switch to the split position.

Q and A

Q. Which side goes into which on the Protein?

A. The right side (green side) is first and cascades into the left side (blue side). The blue side has tons of headroom and also compresses really nice so it stacks really well with other drives before it. This is why I always recommend putting the protein last in your chain of drives.

Q. Is there a way to have both channels turn on simultaneously via a single switch?

A. You could put the protein pedal in a loop leave both sides on and then simultaneously turn both on/off that way.

Q. Is the blue side of the Protein a Bluesbreaker or BD-2 circuit?

A. It’s a Bluesbreaker circuit with modifications and an added output section.

Q. I have a question about the capability of the independent sides of the Protein going into separate loops. It’s mentioned on the website that the RJM Mastermind works with the Protein like this. I’m curious to know if this function will work with my BOSS ES-5

A. It absolutely will!

Q. Does the green side of the pedal pair well with a Tube Screamer or does it make my beloved TS kind of redundant and replaces it?

A. Since the green side isn’t really a Tube Screamer (it’s more like a nobles ODR-1) it’s a different flavor than your TS. But I love a Tube Screamer paired with the blue side of the protein! I don’t think you’d find redundancy in having both pedals on your board.

Q. I’m finding the green side very quiet. It’s not really punching my amp until around 3pm on the volume dial. Just wondering if this is normal?

A. The green side is very dependent on the gain knob for its level – if I set it up 2/3rds up on the gain I have the level below half for unity gain – but if I run the gain low 1/3 or so I have to bring the level up to 2/3 or 3/4 for unity gain.