Meet the Ortega Stompbox Series

Plenty of solo guitarists and artists want to back up their live gigs with a beat, but simply tapping your foot in time simply doesn’t cut it. You could set up a cajon and kick pedal, but for most musicians, this might feel a bit unnatural and start hindering the show. To solve this problem, Ortega offers a new and innovative solution in the form of their Stomp Box Series: a range of gadgets that you can slot beneath a tapping foot so that, with every tap, you’re greeted by a pre-selected high-quality drum sound, giving you the backbeat you’ve always wanted but without all the extra gear you would usually need – and the best bit – it’s all triggered by something you were doing anyway.

In this blog, we take a look at the differences between the various Stomp Box Effect Series pedals, including the Horse Kicks and the extensive Quantumloop, so you can pick out the model that best suits your setup.

What Exactly is an Ortega Stomp Box?
The Ortega ANNAlog
The Ortega Horse Kick V2
The Ortega Horse Kick Pro
The Ortega QUANTUMloop
Accessory: ORTEGA QUANTUMloop Expression Trigger Pedal
See also…

What Exactly is an Ortega Stomp Box?

Ortega Stomp Boxes are ‘effect’ pedals with a difference. These boxes can be slotted between your other effect pedals or directly hooked up to your amplifier so that, every time you tap the box, a signal is activated by an internal piezo pickup and this signal is then converted into the sound of, say, a kick drum. The design of these Stomp Boxes is also such that any possible feedback is dampened before it can happen, leaving you with a crisp and clear drum sound.

Here’s a neat summary of every Stomp Box Series model:

The Ortega ANNAlog

Meet the Ortega Stompbox Series
The ANNAlog is the simplest member of the series. The housing is made from solid cherry wood and the base has been finished with an anti-slip layer to make sure it won’t shift around during the show, no matter how hard you stomp. Every time you stomp, the piezo pickup inside the pedal registers the sound and adds some extra bass, giving you a nice and thick bass drum style sound, the intensity of which can be tweaked by how hard you hit, since the ANNAlog is velocity sensitive. By playing around with how you tap and stomp out your beat, by adjusting the fitted volume control as needed, and even by sticking the ANNAlog through other effects, you can carve out your own custom bass drum sound.

The Ortega Horse Kick V2

Meet the Ortega Stompbox Series

The Horse Kick V2 has an ash wood body, and just like the ANNAlog, has a volume control and the base has been finished with an anti-slip layer. The biggest difference between the two models is that with the Horse Kick, the signal from the internal pickup is converted into a sampled cajon-kick sound, so can be stomped to unleash a virtually real cajon-kick sound with a thudding, woody character. This model is also velocity sensitive, so you can adjust the sensitivity by how hard you stomp, and combine it with external effects to add some atmosphere to your beats.

The Ortega Horse Kick Pro

Meet the Ortega Stompbox Series

While the Horse Kick V2 can only produce the sound of a cajon-kick, the Horse Kick Pro takes things a few steps further. This box is home to five different, high-quality drum samples, so you can set it up to trigger a tambourine, a cabasa, a cow bell, and the same cajon-kick sound as the V2. And just like every model in the Stomp Box Series, it features a volume control pot and has a velocity sensitive design.

The Ortega QUANTUMloop

Meet the Ortega Stompbox Series

For musicians that want to set themselves up with full, self-made backing tracks, there’s the QUANTUMloop, which doesn’t just feature even more samples than the Hose Kick V2, but comes with a looper built in. As well as a ‘stomping surface’ for tapping out your beats, this model features a footswitch section with two banks that can be assigned samples so they can be triggered by footswitch A or B, and the beauty here is that even more samples (including your own custom samples) can be loaded in via the fitted USB port.

The third footswitch triggers your looper. Hit the switch to record loops and rather than just back yourself up with a beat, create entire, layered songs on the spot. This function doesn’t just give your performances a boost, but can serve as a highly creative writing tool. To find out exactly how the QUANTUMloop works, see the full demonstration in the clip included below.

Accessory: ORTEGA QUANTUMloop Expression Trigger Pedal

Meet the Ortega Stompbox Series

In the clip covering the ins and outs of the QUANTUMloop, you probably noticed the extra pedal being used on the side. This is the QUANTUMloop Expression Trigger Pedal, and when coupled with the QUANTUMloop, it allows musicians to trigger two different samples at the same time so you can get even more creative, thicken up the beat and build loops faster. Simply hook the Expression Trigger up via the trigger-input of the QUANTUMloop and you’re set up.

Note: The QUANTUMloop Expression Trigger Pedal is only compatible with the QUANTUMloop and can’t be coupled with the ANNAlog, Horse Kick V2 or Horse Kick Pro.

Hopefully, you now have a much clearer idea of what the Ortega Stomp Boxes can do and found a little inspiration for backing up your guitar-work with some beats.