The Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone is a state-of-the-art analog compressor / sustainer, providing endless clean sustain. With variable Sustain (threshold), Blend (ratio) and Treble controls, the Philosophers Tone offers a huge range of compression sounds for the discerning musician. The Philosopher's Tone also contains a smooth diode clipping distortion with a blend control for clean or dirty compression sounds and any mixture of the two. While the Philosopher's Tone distortion rocks on its own, it is designed to play well with other dirt pedals in order to create your ultimate distortion tone that sustains forever. 

The Philosopher's Tone is an ideal front end to any guitar pedal rig and a perfect companion to the Pigtronix Mothership Guitar Synthesizer or any other pitch-tracking musical equipment, resulting in even more accurate tracking and increased note duration. Unlike the many compressor clones and their variations that have become so popular in the past 10 years, the Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone is not based on a CA3080 chip. Our pedal has more sustain and less noise than any of those outdated, over-hyped devices. The dynamic range, touch sensitivity, overall transparency and outright sustain of the Philosopher's Tone is un-paralleled in the crowded world of compressor pedals. 

Practitioners of the mystical and ancient art of alchemy long sought an element called the Philosopher's Tone, believing that, if found, it could turn lead into gold and bestow immortality upon the man who wielded it. For such a tiny pedal to create so much sustain, we feel that this device represents a musical equivalent to this mythical substance in the world of guitar pedals. 

People have been trying to get clean sustain from a pedal for decades, and the alchemists at Pigtronix seems to have found the secret to make it happen.

Art Thompson, Guitar Player Magazine