NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

[ThisDyingSoul76]

OMG this sounds good! Versatile too!

[YeRedHouseOverYonder]

Re: NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

Congrats! Kinda bummed out I saw the sale too late. A Tchula would've been nice.

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[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

My EPH-3 Tape Echo Simulator is on the way too.

[Mincer]

Re: NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

Having not used a ZenDrive...what's its deal?

[Darg1911]

Re: NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

Zendrives are cool but how many iterations can Hermida/Lovepedal come up with? Not saying they are all exactly the same but ... jeez. That said, the sale was awesome. I didn't buy anything but I was temped.

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

Having not used a ZenDrive...what's its deal?

Velvety smooth, singing low-to-mid-gain OD. Great interaction with guitar's volume knob and to subtleties of pick dynamics. Stays quite true to the individual character of different guitars; they still really sound like themselves. The unusual thing with the Zen is that it adds gain without adding hair. Very refined. Sounds excellent through every amp I've tried it with. Mine's the original silver one; haven't tried any of the other versions.

I also have a Mosferatu, Zendrive's slightly hairier older brother. Similar responsiveness to the volume knob, with some more gain on tap. Full and fairly warm - really sweet with singlecoils and PAF types. Not quite so civilized and elegant as the Zendrive. I have an early version without the Voice control so that may have colored my feelings, but along with the extra gain Mosferatu seems to put a little more of its own imprint on the sound than the Zendrive. It's a great coloration though.

[Mincer]

Re: NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

Velvety smooth, singing low-to-mid-gain OD. Great interaction with guitar's volume knob and to subtleties of pick dynamics. Stays quite true to the individual character of different guitars; they still really sound like themselves. The unusual thing with the Zen is that it adds gain without adding hair. Very refined. Sounds excellent through every amp I've tried it with. Mine's the original silver one; haven't tried any of the other versions.

I also have a Mosferatu, Zendrive's slightly hairier older brother. Similar responsiveness to the volume knob, with some more gain on tap. Full and fairly warm - really sweet with singlecoils and PAF types. Not quite so civilized and elegant as the Zendrive. I have an early version without the Voice control so that may have colored my feelings, but along with the extra gain Mosferatu seems to put a little more of its own imprint on the sound than the Zendrive. It's a great coloration though.

Thanks for the description...it sounds like something I would really like.

[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

Velvety smooth, singing low-to-mid-gain OD. Great interaction with guitar's volume knob and to subtleties of pick dynamics. Stays quite true to the individual character of different guitars; they still really sound like themselves. The unusual thing with the Zen is that it adds gain without adding hair. Very refined. Sounds excellent through every amp I've tried it with. Mine's the original silver one; haven't tried any of the other versions.

I also have a Mosferatu, Zendrive's slightly hairier older brother. Similar responsiveness to the volume knob, with some more gain on tap. Full and fairly warm - really sweet with singlecoils and PAF types. Not quite so civilized and elegant as the Zendrive. I have an early version without the Voice control so that may have colored my feelings, but along with the extra gain Mosferatu seems to put a little more of its own imprint on the sound than the Zendrive. It's a great coloration though.

That's a really good description. I'd also like to add it's an attempt at a Dumble In A Box. That being said, since every Dumble is a custom build and the only way to get 2 identical amps is to order them yourself (they won't build you a duplicate of SRV, Robben Ford or John Schofield's amps); the Dumble sound is quite broad and the ZenDrive is not versatile enough to claim that it does the Dumble sound. But, it does get close to a specific Dumble. The tone Hermida was going for was Robben Ford. And he must have done a good job, because when Robben can't justify lugging his $30,000 amplifier, he uses a ZenDrive into whatever bavkline he's supplied with.

[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

Zendrives are cool but how many iterations can Hermida/Lovepedal come up with? Not saying they are all exactly the same but ... jeez. That said, the sale was awesome. I didn't buy anything but I was temped.

Honestly, the variations are subtle. There are a few with more gain, some may have more or less pronounced mids or the overall tone a bit darker or brighter... but you'd barely know the difference if you didn't gave them side by side.

[Darg1911]

Re: NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

Honestly, the variations are subtle. There are a few with more gain, some may have more or less pronounced mids or the overall tone a bit darker or brighter... but you'd barely know the difference if you didn't gave them side by side.

I have a clone that I built. It's still on my board. I also gave one to a forum member. He liked it and had me build another for a friend of his. I have no idea which iteration of Zendrive they are but I'm guessing, probably, clones of the original.

[Mincer]

Re: NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

I have a clone that I built. It's still on my board. I also gave one to a forum member. He liked it and had me build another for a friend of his. I have no idea which iteration of Zendrive they are but I'm guessing, probably, clones of the original.

Having built clones, what other (famous) pedal would you say it is electronically related to?

[Darg1911]

Re: NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

Having built clones, what other (famous) pedal would you say it is electronically related to?

Haven't given it much thought since I built those from full kits. But, like most OD's it's probably an "evolved" Tube Screamer. But it's voiced differently and smoother OD (compared to the original TS's anyway). I never got much of a "sounds like a Dumble" vibe from mine. But most of the clips comparing them to Dumbles are into clean Fenders. I don't own a Fender and never played the clone (or an actual Zendrive) into a Fender.

[Guitaryellow]

Re: NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

I like my Z, humbuckers love it more than singles although it can get there.

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[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

I can't get over how amazing this pedal sounds. So amp-like. And then stack it into a clone set for a slightly dirty boost....

It's equally at home as both the crunch and lead tones and if you want to take it up a notch further, an SD-1 before it as a slight boost will give you added sustain, slightly more gain and tighten up the low end.

[Mincer]

Re: NPD- ZenDrive II Gold

So what is different in the II version? And is it 'gold' just because of the color, or is something else different about it?