I’ll update this periodically. The last update was February 2019.
HINT: CTRL+F will allow you to search a pedal. If I’ve owned it and reviewed it, it’ll pop up for ya!
This section of the site is dedicated to my favorite pedals: overdrives. I enjoy the plethora of flavors available and also the myriad choices we have as guitar players today. There is an enormous amount of quality builders out there!
When I first ventured into boutique-pedal-land around 1999, we had a handful of builders to choose from, many of which are not even on the board anymore (pun intended). But today? Not the case. Heck, we could stick with one boutique manufacturer in some cases and cover all of our overdrive needs (think Walrus, Xotic, Greer, JHS, Cusack, Bondi, etc.). The fact is: throw in a head-spinning amount of quality builders, plus an eye-popping number of reviews, plus a scattering amount of opinions, mix those together with a buhjillion styles of music that each pedal can be used for and you get nowhere fast.
My curiosity of overdrive pedals is insatiable, so no amount of reason will cure my ills. I kid…kind of. But, seriously: hopefully you will benefit from these reviews and my opinions of these pedals in a worship context, allowing you more time to focus on your playing and worshiping and less time swapping pedals and spinning knobs.
1981 Inventions
I have owned: DRV
From clean to scream. Literally. The Cut control is one of the most useful knobs ever created. While I don’t use this on everything, when I do click it on, I have TON of fun. I primarily use this for super-high-gain parts where I need an almost infinite amount of sustain. Think the bridge hook on Won’t Stop Now by Elevation Worship. Super cool looking pedal as well. Very well built.
ARC EFFECTS
I have owned: Klone
Great Klon clone, if that’s your thing. You won’t be disappointed with this pedal. Well built, and comes in many aesthetically pleasing variations. If I had another I would definitely go for the homage-paying gold paint with the maroon knobs: original Klon-style.
ANALOGMAN
I have owned: King of Tone
Thoughts on King of Tone: My first go-round with a Blues Breaker style overdrive was with a KOT Clone I nabbed on eBay for $150 or so. After spending a minute with the pedal, I emailed the seller to ask if it was defective. I am use to running drive knobs between 12 and two at the highest and, at these settings, this thing sounded terrible. To be honest, I never cranked the knobs higher than two; I just had no reason to, because it sounded that bad. I thought: if it sounds bad with the knobs low, turn them up higher and it’s sure to sound worse. Sounds amateur, I know. But I was a little irked, to be honest. In this instance, my emotions got the best of me.
Eventually the seller emailed back and explained that the KOT is that way; that is, it sounds pretty bad with the drive and volume knobs low. I later confirmed this on Analogman’s website. Moving on…
After using the “close your eyes, turn the knobs and judge the sound, not the position of the knobs” approach, I found some amazing tones with the ‘Red’ side on distortion mode (still overdrive, mind you–it doesn’t get into distortion territory at all) and the yellow side on OD mode, with both gain knobs up pretty high–about three o’clock on the red and two, sometimes three o’clock on the yellow. I also set the yellow side up for a slight volume boost. Another oddity was that I ended up turning the tone knobs to about three o’clock as well. I tend to run my clean tone a bit brighter (rolling off the ice-pickiness with the tone knob on the guitar), and run my overdrives a bit softer, darker. But not with the KOT. The sound retains clarity without sounding harsh–very cool, indeed.
My story with an authentic KOT is basically this: the clone was good, the authentic KOT is that much better. Out of all the overdrives I’ve used over the years, this is the one that will always be on my board. It is not my main overdrive sound, but I use it quite frequently, especially when I’m the only guitar player; it’s aggressive and smooth at the same time. Two distinct channels help you tailor the pedal to the context of the room, the atmosphere of worship and the feel of the music. The pedal also “feels” incredible. I know it’s a weird way to describe tone, but an overdrive or amplifier has to feel good as I’m playing it or I won’t bond with it. And I’m sure many of you feel the same, even if you haven’t pegged it as such. I lean toward the spongy stuff, as opposed to the harder, more immediate (dynamically speaking) overdrives. And the KOT cleans up with the guitar’s volume knob so well. Verdict? Never selling. In fact, as I write this, I have a backup on order.
Benson Amps
I have owned: Preamp
The easiest way to sum this pedal up is that it sounds like a Superbolt with two band EQ, making it an incredibly awesome pedal! I owned this for a few months before even trying it. I carved out room on the board for it and I’m incredibly happy I did. I dial it to be a touch brighter than the ‘bolt.
BILL FENNIGAN
I have owned: Silver Klon (no horsie), Klon KTR
Thoughts on Silver Klon: Meh. Klons are an acquired taste, especially at the price they are fetching today. For my purposes, I don’t see what the fuss is all about. Is it a great sounding overdrive? Yep. $1,600 great? Get-outta-here. And it takes up way to much pedalboard real estate.
Thoughts on Klon KTR: Aside from the slightly arrogant disclaimer, this pedal is awesome. Cool looking, better sounding. When I was playing blues, the original Klons were known for their exceptional midrange focused clean boost; therefore, I never made much attention to the overdrive. But now that my playing style has change and I need a different style of drive sound, I am exploring each pedal’s heavier drive capabilities more and more. And I am in love with the gain on this thing! Stacked with a brighter sounding OD, such as a JHS Morning Glory or Xotic Effects RC Booster, this pedal kills. Is it a great sounding overdrive? Yep. $265 great? Yep.
BONDI
I have owned: Sick As, Del Mar
Overall, the Sick As and Del Mar are on the harder side of the spongy-to-hard continuum. Not hard enough to where I don’t like them. But if you are concerned with the sponginess, there you have it.
Thoughts on Sick As: One of the coolest looking pedals out there is also one of the coolest sounding. Two band active EQ, gain that can usably go from light to very crunchy OD, clipping switch for compressed stuff (think TS, but not quite as squashed and a little harder feeling) or more open and the oh-so-amazing soft switches.
More on the soft switches (click-less switching): Ever come out of a huge bridge or instrumental and forgot to click off your OD? I primarily play with New Haven Church’s band at The Fieldhouse. Our sanctuary is a gym, and when the band’s volume has dropped considerably, a click of a 3PDT stomp switch sounds like a clack of thunder. Journey with me to dino-land, if you will. Imagine yourself trying to hide from a T-Rex. You’re walking through the forest, with the T-Rex just around the bend. You’ve done well to be quiet to this point and then, “CLICK”. You stepped on your overdrive pedal…I mean a stick…and the T-Rex angrily looks your way. Yep, you’re a goner. Anyways, the soft switches eliminate the T-Rex effect and allow the emotion of the song to remain without the annoying click of an OD pedal…or allow you to remain the not-center of attention; crucial in a worship context.
One caveat: If you are a Strymon Timeline user, you may hate this pedal. I had to take it off my board due to the charge pump, which is innate to Klon-style pedals, and causes noise problems. After some research, it seems that certain delay engines on the TL and Klon pedals do not get along, unless the chip is swapped in the Klon-style pedal. The problem was intermittent, but it was still inconvenient.Bummer, indeed…
Overall, I loved this pedal for single note lines, high inversions and diads/triads. Didn’t love it for chord work. LOVED it with single coils; liked it with humbuckers. Video demo below:
Thoughts on Del Mar: Blues Breaker style pedal? Check. Tubescreamer style pedal? Check. Two band EQ? Check. Soft switch? Check. On my board? Wait…While this pedal has it going on, I don’t feel it beats out any of my other primary overdrives in terms of sound quality, and that’s what we’re after. This will likely be a pedal I have lying around for a while, but I don’t see it etching a permanent place on my primary board. I highly recommend it though, as it’s a great pedal with great features and a great sound. Now, if Bondi made this pedal with the BB and the TS separated but in one enclosure? I’d have to reconsider…
As you will find: I love two stage overdrives. Appropriately, when I am presented with an overdrive that does two very different things–in this case, a BB and a TS in one–but both cannot be accessed on-the-fly, I am saddened. The Del Mar does both well enough where a pedal designed to allow both to shine in a live context would be a welcomed addition to the arsenal. For now, the little switch is too small to flip with the foot. Even it was large enough, I’d want the ability to have them both on at the same time. Maybe one day…
Video demo below:
Brown Amplification
I have owned: Protein
This pedal is SO good. Bluesbreaker on the left; Nobles ODR-1 on the right. Tone knobs are extremely useful. This is on the same level as the KOT, no question. Great looking, great sounding, great owner.
CUSACK
I have owned: Scream Mini
Thoughts on Scream Mini: Awesome Tubescreamer style pedal with the now-ever-available three clipping options. No complaints with this one. I sold because this particular model was designed for use with true bypass loopers. When I went away from that setup, the Scream wasn’t a viable option.
FIRE CUSTOM SHOP
I have owned: Carpe Diem
Very cool JTM45-style pedal. Sounds exactly as it should. Has two gain channels: bass and treble, just like jumping the channels on an old Marshall. Also has a presence knob, which is useful, because if you dime both the bass and treble, thanks can get a bit wooly on the bottom end. The presence knob helps dial back in treble. I had this on the board for a couple of weeks and turned it on once. Just didn’t feel like I needed that sound it made. I did, however, use it in the tutorial I made of Phil Wickham’s At Your Name. Check it out below!
I do have a complaint in that the pedal is too small. I have 9.5 size feet, and I was till knocking things around. Had to buy those Tallboy Barefoot Buttons to help with that.
JTM45-style pedals just aren’t my thing, although I keep buying them to try. Makes no sense.
PAUL COCHRANE
I have owned: Tim, Timmy
Thoughts on Tim: I had the Tim when Paul Cochrane first introduced his now-legendary overdrive pedal. That, and my original Klon, Landgraff and Chicago Iron Octavian, are a few of the many boutique pedals I wish I would have held on to. Mainly so I could sell them all and take care of one year’s Roth IRA contribution. But who would’ve known? The addition of a boost is awesome. But one has to like the basic sound of the Tim/Timmy before the boost can seal the deal. See below for my thoughts.
Thoughts on Timmy: For the price, this pedal is awesome. I mean, it’s awesome in it’s own right, but the price makes it even more awesome-er. The cut style bass and treble knobs are ingenious. I hope, and continue to hope, and continue to hope…and continue to…and continue…and…you get the point. Anyways, I continue to hope that more builders follow suit, as this style EQ is extremely useful. On the whole, if you are hoping for a more crystal-like sound–i.e., more treble–it is sometimes worth-while to trim the bass. Naturally, this will allow more treble to shine through. The opposite also applies. At times, we become obsessed with adding, adding, adding, that we forget that, occasionally, the best way to add is to subtract. And that’s how the Tim/Timmy’s EQ is designed. Genuis.
Back to the verdict. Overall, the clipping on the Tim/Timmy wasn’t to my liking. And I never could hear or feel a whole lot of difference in the various clipping modes. This is one of those pedals that I tried many times to love, to the point where I even had two of them on my board. However, I finally sold my last one to a buddy and haven’t looked back…yet.
EARTHQUAKER DEVICES
I have owned: Palisades
This thing…wow. What a pedal, and a BIG one at that. This pedal takes up a lot of real estate, but the tradeoff is it offers a tremendous amount of tones, flexibility and awesomeness. Here’s the overview: Voice knob offers fives variations of clipping, with a voicing for a normal 808 sound; Bandwidth offers five settings for open, pristine, cleanish overdrive, all the way to fat, hairy, sloppy overdrive. There’s also a dedicated boost accessed via footswitch. Additionally, there is two stages of gain: Channel A and B. Here’s something neat: B does not stack onto A; instead, when engaged, A is turned off and replaced by B–pretty cool! Add a normal/bright switch and a buffer/true bypass switch and you have the ultimate 808 (and, sometimes, not 808…lol) pedal.
Here’s the thing: This pedal lets you dial out those weird things about overdrives, the ones that make you almost love a pedal, but instead, just ends up being the proverbial deal breaker. For example, I like the Klon, but it is a little congested at times, especially with humbuckers. Let’s pretend the Klon had Voice and Bandwidth knobs (oh, how amazing that would be). In this fictitious, example, the “Klon” lives on Voice 4, but we feel it’s a little congested. Aside from the traditional tone knob and bright/normal switch offered by the Palisades, we can also adjust the “openness” or, alternatively, the amount of compression, by adjusting the bandwidth knob, thus allowing for character adjustments that other pedals lack. This keeps you from having to turn the tone knob to an extreme setting, which allows you to avoid pitfalls associated with this method, such as losing and extreme amount of bass or treble. Basically, we get “almost there” via the Voice and Bandwidth, and fine tune with the tone knob, which takes you “there”. So cool.
JACKSON AUDIO
I have owned: Prism
First, aesthetically, this pedal is one of the coolest looking and feeling pedals in the business. The LED changes color (gradually) as the gain is increased, which is pretty awesome. Necessary? Nope. Cool? You betcha.
There are a ton of sounds in this box as well. For the studio musician, it’s a Swiss army knife. Extremely easy to dial in, because everything is accessible on the outside of the unit. From a live standpoint, it’s not as versatile, because of the lack of preset availability. HOWEVER, you can dial in that ONE sound that will be worth it on your board. I have mine set to mimic how I set a Klon (low gain, lots of boost), but with more adjustability. I set it for lots of treble and roll of the body (bass). I love the way it sounds…so cool.
Drawbacks? The switch. The switch has a pause the pedal is engaged where the sound actually mutes for a second. This is not an issue if the player uses midi switching or has a looper, but if not, it can be annoying when recording. Live, it’s not such a huge deal. However, Juan and Brad are kind enough to send updated modules to try and solve this “issue”. I put that in quotes because it’s not an issue for everyone. Either way, that’s awesome customer service, folks.
Fun fact: It weighs a ton.
JHS
I have owned: Morning Glory, Double Barrel, Superbolt, Moonshine, Prestige, Sweet Tea, Mini Foot Fuzz, The Kilt
Thoughts on Morning Glory: The Morning Glory is now a legendary take on the Blues Breaker circuit. I Bought it once, sold it. Missed it. Bought the Double Barrel and eventually another Morning Glory. The Morning Glory has a very cool glassy sound with the bright-cut switch down (enabling more high end). And the sponginess; oh the sponginess. This has the most marvelous sponge-factor out of most of the pedals I have ever tried. It feels great underneath my fingers, to the point where it makes me want to dig in and just play. I can’t quite explain it, but I absolutely love the tone of this pedal. I don’t really care if it’s in the overdone bucket; it’s overdone for a reason! I run the gain around 1:00, tone at 11:00, volume to taste and the bright-cut switch down. I kick this guy on the “we’re building, but not quite there yet” or the “I need just a little more” parts. A great characteristic of the Morning Glory is it’s ability to play well with other pedals, especially Tubescreamer style circuits, as they seem to complement one another in a special way. Hence my love for the Double Barrel…
Thoughts on Double Barrel: See above. I already have an affinity for half of this pedal. Add a great Tubescreamer style overdrive and the ability to select which one comes first in the chain and we are talking about one of the most logical, sweet sounding pedals on the planet. I’m not sure why this one is not talked about more. Could be the price, but these are two distinct circuits in one pedal, so it’s basically $150-ish per pedal–not bad! I have gone through sets where I have used only this pedal and it delivered in spades.
Thoughts on Superbolt: Don’t kill me, because I know this pedal is über popular. But…I didn’t get it. I had it on my board for a month or so and found it to be very useful for one song: the intro to Mighty Warrior. The pedal, when used for lower gain stuff, holds together very well–i.e., it’s not flabby. The flab-factor increased as the gain is cranked, but that’s a Supro for ya. I think this is a comfort thing though: I love TS and BB style pedals, and this one is not either, so it was a little out of my comfort zone.
Edit: After playing the Superbolt through my Kemper, and after starting to play a bunch more Bethel stuff, I fell in love with this pedal. It’s now one of my favorites.
Thoughts on Moonshine: Great TS style pedal. It’s not the same as the 808 in the Double Barrel; the custom shop at JHS confirmed this for me. Because of my love affair with the Double Barrel, I didn’t have an ultimate use for the Moonshine. But a great pedal, nonetheless.
Thoughts on Prestige: Cool little boost/buffer with a tremendous amount of volume available. I placed it last in the chain for a volume boost. This gets rotated in and out depending on my needs.
Thoughts on Sweet Tea: JTM45 overdrives are too woofy for me, and one side of the Sweet Tea is a JTM45 style OD. The other side is the 808, which I like. I didn’t keep this one too long. However, if you like JTM45 style ODs (think ZVex BOR) and are in need of a good, versatile TS style pedal as well, this one fits the bill nicely.
Thoughts on Mini Foot Fuzz: It’s a fuzz. It’s small. It’s pretty good. I don’t use fuzz frequently, which is why I went for a small footprint. I’ve owned some decent fuzz pedals over the years–Analogman NKT Sunface, Fulltone Stuff–and this one stacks up pretty well. Not as versatile, but for my purposes, this fits the bill.
Thoughts on The Kilt: I’ve never listened to Stu G, but I bought this pedal to nail some high gain tones. And it does. It has more gain than I know what to do with, and it sounds sooooo good. Think creamy Bethel stuff. Some of those parts are just HUGE, and this pedal helps achieve those tones. It also does low gain very well, which is surprising. All in all, with the boost, order switching and the variety of tones available, this pedal was a huge surprise to me! Keeper for sure.
FOXPEDAL
I have owned: Kingdom
Thoughts on Kingdom: I was eyeballing this pedal for a while. Loved the look and concept. Klon-style pedals are cool, especially when they’re priced right. But none of the video reviews did anything for me; it just sounded…blah. Well, a friend of mine picked one up and was gracious enough to let me give it a go. I was really impressed! The Klon sound was there, of course, but the size…this thing is small! Small pedals that sound good are awesome. The clipping and OD options don’t do much to the sound, in my opinion. I just run it Klon mode. Volume in boost territory, gain all the way down, tone up around 1:00. Sounds like a Klon-style pedal should. Stacks well with others, which is a must. Highly recommended!
MERCY SEAT EFFECTS
I have owned: Custom Holy Dove/Tree of Life
First, Austin is amazing to work with. I own this pedal and a heavily modded Ernie Ball VP Jr. He doesn’t charge for shipping from Germany (!), and offers amazing service and communication. Cool guy, to boot! We worked together on the graphics and color scheme for a few days, and he never seemed bothered when I had more questions; in fact, he was really pleasant. I also asked if he would write “While we were still sinners…” (Romans 5:8) on the front of the pedal. He accommodated this happily. Now I can be reminded every time I play of the immensity of God’s love towards us in that, while we were still sinners, he died for us. We don’t have to clean up first; he meets us where we are, tells us the truth about ourselves and makes a way to be reconciled to and adopted by God as family. Amazing!
Thoughts on Holy Dove side: Simple. Sounds like a Klon. Has a bass-cut switch, which I think every three knob OD should have. This affords the versatility to adapt to single coils, P90s and humbuckers equally well. Like many Klon users, I run the gain at zero when using humbuckers or P90s, and up just a tad when using single coils. Tone somewhere past noon and volume in boost territory. Sounds awesome, and cleans up really well with the volume knob.
This pedal, like the JHS Double Barrel, has an order toggle switch, which allows the user to choose the order the overdrives are stacked–so important!
Thoughts on Tree of Life side: This is a Tubescreamer with two really cool tone shaping adjustments. The Cut (‘C’ on mine) knob allows the user to dial out the midrange hump, making this a Tubescreamer that be used with all kinds of guitars. In my experience, I dial in more mids with certain guitars than others; the Cut knob makes this extremely easy! The ‘H‘ (Shimmer is what Austin calls it, I think) allows the user to dial in highs as needed. Again, great for shaping tone for different guitars. These two shaping controls essentially solve the chief complaint among many Tubescreamer users; namely, the tone knob doesn’t do enough to dial in or out the tonal qualities of the pedal that are less-than-desired or desired. I feel the Cut knob and the ‘H’ knob basically dissect the traditional tone knob and turn it into two, making adjustments extremely intuitive and, personal, really. Love it!
Bottom line: Wow. Austin knows was he is doing.
My tutorial of the Dave Collins original, Christ Is Risen, shows this dual overdrive in action. Check it out!
MOJO HAND FX
I have owned: Rook
Thoughts on Rook: This thing is really, really good, and priced extremely well. Two band EQ, which I’m a huge fan of. Three position toggle for 808 sounds, loud LED clipping sounds and heavier OD sounds. Extremely versatile OD, because the two band EQ actually does what it’s supposed to. LOTS of boost and overdrive available. I actually spent about 10 minutes A/B-ing this against my JHS Morning Glory. I was able to duplicate my favorite setting on the Morning Glory with the Rook. That’s pretty cool! I picked this up for just over $100 used. Price usually isn’t something I concern myself with, but for $100? C’Mon! That’s awesome. Do yourself a favor, buy one of these.
NICK GREER
I have owned: Lightspeed, Burning Goat (never actually played it…haha)
Thoughts on Lightspeed: Awesome, awesome OD. It can be dialed in to sound like your amp, but a little meaner. I use this when I do not want the glassy sound of the Morning Glory. Depending on the context, I may use it as an always-on pedal set at unity but with a little hair to give my Gretsch a little more muscle (this was before I sold the Gretsch and before I purchased the Kemper).
NOC3 EFFECTS
I have owned: Pure Drive.
These are no longer made, but I found a clean one for a great price. I’ll keep it short. Do you want a Walrus Audio Mayflower, only infinitely quieter, with three clipping options and the ability to dial in some of your clean signal? If you like the Mayflower, you answered Yes to that question. Buy one. You won’t be disappointed.
ODDFELLOW
I have owned: Caveman V1, Caveman V2
Thoughts Caveman V1: See my thoughts on the ZVex BOR. Not sure what the hype on this one was about; it sounds a lot like the ZVex. Truth be told, this one was more usable. If I had to choose, I choose the Caveman.
Thoughts Caveman V2: Very cool pedal. Oddfellow did a wonderful job building on the V1 circuit and adding some additional features. This pedal sounds good anywhere the Tone knob is placed. There is an insane amount of overdrive available. The boost can be placed pre- or post-OD, which is very cool. If I had the need for a high gainer, this would be the keeper.
PETTYJOHN
I have owned: PettyDrive
I don’t have much to say about this pedal. It sounded good, but not good enough to kick anything else off my board. And it is HUGE and HEAVY. There are lots of switches and knobs on this big boy; however, in my setup, I didn’t notice a change in tone throughout the sweep of the tone knobs or flick of the bass-cut switches that was significant enough to justify the size of the pedal.
SELAH EFFECTS
I have owned: Scarlett V3
This was on my watch list for a while. Finally snagged one after a decent wait. I hate to say it, but I was a bit disappointed; however, my disappointment wasn’t in the sound quality. In fact, the pedal sounded great. And the ability to control the mids is a fantastic addition. Each mode sounded very nice, and I can see how, in a midi-enabled rig or a true bypass loop rig, this pedal could be the bees knees. But alas, I don’t have a midi-enabled rig. So my issue is this: The switch is weird. The pedal doesn’t actually activate until one’s foot is removed from the switch. 99.99% of pedals engage when the switch is depressed fully. This created a huge problem with timing the overdrive, because many times we depress the switch on the downbeat, right? Basically rendered the pedal unusable. So, incredibly cool concept, great looking pedal and excellent tone-shaping ability, but they missed the mark with the switch, unless you have a midi-enabled or true bypass loop rig. Dang…pretty bummed on that.
Update as of 12/21/2016! Just chatted with the guys at Selah via Instagram. They fixed the switch issue with their most recent batch. So if you buy a NEW one that was shipped to a dealer around this time, you should be good to go. In fact, I bought it again.
SNOUSE ELECTRONICS
I have owned: Blue Line Overdrive
I bought this on Reverb.com when it was on sale, new, for $150. Let me tell you: it was completely worth it. I consider it a Morning Glory on steroids. Both are based on the fabled Marshall Bluesbreaker circuit, of course, but the Blueline has a ton of options available. Users can shape their sound pre-clipping or post clipping; there’s a presence and a tone knob; three option clipping switch; bright/smooth switch (similar to the bright-cut switch on the MG); and, to top it all of, there’s a lead boost switch with a dedicated volume control. The pedal also looks cool, to boot! Is it worth the $250 everyday price? Depends on what the market demands for a used piece if you want to sell it later; however, it’s worth every bit of $150. If you see this deal, snag one.
STRYMON
I have owned: Riverside, Sunset
When I find I company I like, I’ll stick by them, sing their praises and happily use their products. I’m not ashamed at all to admit I’m a Strymon fanboy. The BigSky is my favorite pedal of all time. I currently have the Timeline, BigSky, El Capistan, Flint, Mobius and Riverside on my board. Their customer service is amazing, their pedals are simply the best I’ve played and they are innovative (Strymon Nixie, anyone?).
Anyways, the Riverside. Go buy one. I can make this pedal sound like any overdrive on my board, and I can make it sound unlike any overdrive on my board. Favorite switch, onboard adjustable noise reduction, three band EQ, mid switch (normal or mid pushed), saturation switch (low or high gain), presence switch, soft switches…wow. This pedal truly is amazing.
Thoughts on the Sunset. I love the left side of this puppy! The GE and Texas clipping modes are right up my alley. Tons of gain and volume available, so no limitations there. And the the knob is extremely effective, unlike many of the lesser quality overdrives out there. This makes the overdrives all the more usable. I took this off and set the Riverside in the closet for a bit and I’m happy. Will the Riverside make it back on the board? More than likely. There’s a good chance I’ll swap these two from time to time.
The right side…well, I haven’t quite figured it out yet. It is extremely bright and aggressive, so I’m not quite sure I’ll have a need for it. If I do, I’ll likely use the JFET mode for a boost, or the 2 Stage mode with the tone and gain backed WAY down. I don’t see the Hard mode getting much use, if any at all. If I can figure out a good setup for the right side, this pedal will be unstoppable. Add in the soft switches and super-effective noise gate; all in all, another awesome pedal by Strymon that is well worth the coin.
It would have been pretty cool if they made all six options available on both sides. If I could stack the GE and Texas modes, it would be bliss!
TELETRONIX
I have owned: Mulholland Drive
Sounds a lot like the Klon KTR but with a little less treble available. Great looking and excellent sounding pedal. When comparing the Mulholland with it’s inspiration, the Klon KTR has better resale value, and has the ability to switch the bypass mode from true Bypass to buffered, so if you’re considering either, I think the Klon is the better choice. But if you’re comparing simply on the tonality, I’d be plenty happy with either. One thing to consider: The Mulholland doesn’t have the wacky knob setup and snarky verbiage on the front. Score one for the Aussies! Video demo below:
VERTEX
I have owned: Dynamic Distortion, Steel String
Thoughts on Dynamic Distortion: Very similar to the 1981 DRV. It was a little bright for my tastes; couldn’t quite dial it out. TONS OF GAIN available.
Thought on the Steel String: Really cool looking pedal. Sound left a lot to be desired, IMO. Their version of a tone knob on this thing was basically useless. #sueme
WALRUS AUDIO
I have owned: Mayflower, Voyager, 385, Emissary Parallel Boost, Warhorn Overdrive
Thoughts on Mayflower: A very underrated overdrive. It’s like a Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive in that as the gain is increased, a portion of your clean tone is also blended with it (but the mix of clean/overdriven cannot be controlled like the Sparkle Drive). This helps the pedal retain clarity. Add a two band EQ and you have a great, versatile, clear (for an 808 style pedal) sounding pedal that lives in the Tubescreamer camp. The price on this pedal is also extremely reasonable for the quality (built very well), sound and look (aesthetically, Walrus Audio pedals are my favorite!). Only drawback: It’s noisy when compared with its peers.
Thoughts on Voyager: Ugh. I wanted to love this pedal. I had a limited edition black one, and the stock, awesome looking Sea Foam green one. First, the amount of volume boost on this pedal is unbelievable. Unity gain for my setup was below 9:00. Yes, 9:00. The tone knob isn’t very useful. As the gain is increased, the pedal lost all clarity. I never thought I would say this, but as the gain was turned up, the tone became too spongy for me. Now, it is logical to think that as more gain is introduced to the signal, the clarity will diminish; however, it was exponentially so with the Voyager. I wanted to love this pedal, but after two dates–and one was a month long–I ended up cutting ties with it.
Thoughts on the 385: I dig this pedal! Very versatile and unique sounding overdrive. It’s not a Tubescreamer and, while it sits in the bluesbreaker territory, it’s not all the way there either. A great overdrive for sure. Two band EQ, lots of gain available, but sounds great at low gain settings as well. Nice job, Walrus!
Thoughts on the Emissary Parallel Boost: This is a really unique take on a boost pedal. Lots of flexibility. You can get into Klon-territory with some settings, which is pretty dang cool. Sounds great, looks great. Price is right. Grab one!
Thoughts on the Warhorn Overdrive: Two band EQ on a Tubescreamer. Sounds good. A lot like the Mayflower!
WAMPLER
I have owned: Tumnus
The best Klone I’ve ever played. This pedal just melts into whatever I have going on…becomes a part of it instead of an addition to it–kind of like the Morning Glory does. Klon-type pedals add a great upper-mid push that can take any tone to the next level when needed. Sounds awesome on its own or stacked. I usually run the gain all the way down, or cracked just a touch. Volume noon or more, treble noon or more. Just depends on the guitar, song and Kemper profile I’m using.
XOTIC
I have owned: RC Booster
Thoughts on RC Booster: This pedal was a mainstay back in my blues days. Plenty of volume on tap for boosts, two band EQ (with notches that indicate flat EQ), and a tiny amount of gain. Like the Greer Lightspeed, I enjoy the limited amount of gain available; otherwise, I’d be temped to move it into heavier overdrive territory. Thus, this pedal stays in the boost/add a little hair realm, and it is perfect for this. Find one of these used for $130 and don’t look back.
ZVEX
I have owned: Box of Rock (Vexter Series)
Thoughts Box of Rock: I see this on a lot of boards. The EQ is a little too woofy for me. But I believe that to be a characteristic of the JTM45 style pedals. Not necessarily bad, just never worked for me. These can be found for ~$120 on the used market. Great value for a really nice overdrive pedal with a controllable boost. And if you haven’t noticed, I love two stage overdrives!