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OKKO FX Diablo Dual

Oct 26, 2023

The OKKO FX Diablo Dual makes you smile the moment you plug in. It’s a low to mid gain overdrive handmade in Leipzig, Germany, and it sounds like your amp on a very good day: clear, chimey, dynamically alive. Guitar works beautifully with it, and so does bass.

What separates this from a standard dirt box is the tonal shaping on offer. Four global knobs shape both channels at once, each channel has its own Drive and Level, and two mini toggles dial in sensitivity and midrange character. It sounds complex on paper. In practice, it just sounds right.

Controls

The top row runs left to right: DYN, FEED, BODY, TONE. DYN adjusts the internal voltage from roughly 6 to 18 volts. Low DYN compresses and softens the attack; high DYN opens up headroom, tightens the bass, and adds punch. It’s the most dramatic control on the pedal. FEED determines how much low-end enters the circuit. Roll it back for a leaner, cutting tone; push it and the drive gets bigger and rawer, eventually approaching fuzz-like density. BODY adjusts the lows and low-mids. TONE shapes the upper mids.

Between the channel controls sit two mini toggles. The Input toggle (normal/low gain/top boost) sets the sensitivity of the input gain stage for your guitar. The Mids toggle shifts the frequency the Tone control acts on, letting you match the pedal to your amp.

The lower row gives each channel its own Drive and Level: channel one on the left pair, channel two on the right. You switch between them with the footswitch.

In the demo above I’ve set up sweeps for Drive, Dyn, Feed, Body, Tone, Input, and Mids so you can hear each control do its thing in isolation.

How It Sounds

The Diablo Dual lives between clean boost and medium gain crunch. The DYN control is voltage headroom on demand, and it’s what makes this thing feel so amp-like.

Cozy Saturation sits DYN at midpoint and Feed high: compression holds everything together with warm, smooth bloom. Edge of Breakup opens DYN up and pulls Feed back, so single notes ring out clean and chords grind just enough. Crunch with Attitude pushes Drive higher and drops DYN; the compression squashes harder and the breakup gets raunchier. Articulate Fuzz drops DYN to zero while maxing Feed and Drive together, getting thick and chewy. That’s the outer limit of the circuit, not the typical use case.

The two-channel setup earns its keep live. One channel as your base tone, the other as a pushed lead, or different sensitivity settings for two guitars.

Diablo Dual vs Morning Glory V4

The JHS Morning Glory V4 is the natural cross-shop. Both are low-to-mid gain, amp-like overdrives that work well with a clean amp. The Morning Glory has a fixed, focused character: that slightly mid-humped Bluesbreaker voice with a bass cut and a gain toggle. What you hear is largely what you get, and that’s a strength if you know you like that voice.

The Diablo Dual asks more of you but gives more back. DYN, Feed, Body, and Tone let you shape the circuit’s personality deeply, the two toggles add another layer of rig matching, and dual channels mean two distinct sounds with one footswitch. The Morning Glory wins on simplicity. The Diablo Dual wins when you want to dial something in precisely.

Who It’s For

This suits players who want one overdrive to cover clean boost, edge-of-breakup, and medium crunch without swapping pedals. Live use is where the dual-channel footswitch really earns its place. Bass players get a genuinely usable option too.

If you want something you can set once and leave, a simpler one-knob boost will serve you better. The Diablo Dual has a learning curve. Once you’ve spent time with it, though, it’s hard to find something it can’t do in the low-to-mid gain range.

Specs

  • Circuit: boutique overdrive with internal voltage control (approx. 6 to 18V via DYN)
  • Controls: DYN, FEED, BODY, TONE (global), Drive and Level per channel (2 channels), Input toggle (normal/low gain/top boost), Mids toggle
  • Two channels switchable via footswitch; channel pre-selectable in bypass
  • True bypass
  • Power: 9V DC, negative center pin, 2.1mm jack
  • Handmade in Leipzig, Germany since 2003
  • Works with guitar and bass

Signal Chain

Get detailed specs on OKKO FX's website

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