We ran into Greg Walton (our neighbor from nearby Deer Park, Texas) at the Nashville Amp Expo this past weekend where he had a few new pedals to show – including a new production model of the Atomic Overdrive. The Atomic Overdrive is a cascading JFET-fueled distortion pedal that can get you some of those early era Van Halen tones. The pedal boasts Level and Gain controls as well as a three-band EQ to allow player to dial in tones to taste. A three position mini-toggle injects three levels (Lo, Hi, Mid) of Mids into the mix. Greg has the boards ready to go and is awaiting the finished enclosures. The Atomic Overdrive should be available soon!

Greg Walton from Texas-based XAct Tone Solutions has been busy giving his popular boutique overdrives a facelift. Gone is the raw metal enclosure with decals look and in is a bold black and gold combination complete with a Texas armadillo… at least in the case of the Precision Drive. Greg has more in store soon with the full introduction of new pedals into the line. The upcoming the Pegasus Boost is a single know stomp with about 17dB of boost, while the new Tejas Boost is a three-knob boost with Gain, Treble and Bass controls. The Atomic Overdrive is a hot-rodded Marshall-in-a-box aiming to capture early-era Van Halen tones. Stay tuned!

When we fired up WTDP? earlier this year I found that lot of music equipment vendors call my neck of the woods home. Promark drumsticks is here, Diamond Amplification, Red Star cabinets, ElectroniX Effects… and XTS Custom Pedals. I met Greg Walton at the recent Austin Pedalfest and came to find out that XTS calls Deer Park, Texas home… about a 30 minute drive from WTDP? world headquarters in Houston. A cool fact? You bet… but not near as cool as the stomps Greg creates. The XTS pedals were some of the most popular test drives at the Fest. We had to know more, and Greg obliged. Check out The Five after the jump…