Transistors: Mullard OC45/OC72N, OC71
This unit was specially ordered for this run.
The Okines takes it's name from the family of Ernest Okines who was a figure head in Dodges Ferry in the early 1900s. Okines was given the lease on Lagoon Farm in 1923, a farm which was built on land granted to Ralph Dodge in 1864. It was Ralph Dodge who operated a ferry service across The Pittwater from the 1820. Thus our town name, Dodges Ferry.
The Okines family eventually sold the property for the development of the Dodges Ferry Primary School which opened in 1988. The original homestead sadly fell in to ruin and was beyond repair but school children still enjoy playing in the branches of the large blackwood tree near the homestead site that features on the school’s emblem.
The Van Diemens Okines is a blend of two of our most popular pedals, the Thylacine and the Red Ochre.
One of the biggest issues with stacking gain pedals is of course noise. We lovers of the old school stuff know all too well, noise is a part of the deal when working with old transistors and resistors. Here at Van Diemens, we work very hard to minimize noise by selecting the very best transistors and resistors in our builds. With that in mind, it's still pretty hard to tame that when stacking pedals so we made a slight tweak to the Red Ochre side. Firstly, we may use a lower gain transistor on that side if required, and we also reduced the gain, just a hair. It still maintains those classic sounds but helps with reducing some of the noise that is associated with gain stacking using multiple pedals. Rest assured, though, it will still hit the front of your amp hard and push an already breaking up amp into a very sweet place.
