T
TheArchitect
Guest
The Contestants:
Reverend Drivetrain
Ibanez TubeScreamer circa 2000
Fulltone Fulldrive 2 yellow Flat mid model
Original Marshall Guv'nor
2 BOSS DS-1's
PRS Cu22 w/ Dragon 1 pickups and Marshall Superlead (vol 4.5) w/ greenback loaded 4x12 cab and a hotplate w/ 8db reduction were used.
Caveats: I have no idea what batteries were in them or how much juice they had left. Wasn't planning a review at the time.
Findings:
The two DS-1's are probably 2-3 years apart in age but sounded virtually identical. Minor differences. Big bang for the buck but in an absolute sense they could be better. Probably mod time.
The Guv'nor was seriously kick ass. Probably not a NuMetal pedal but for slammin' old school Marshall its on the money.
The Fulldrive 2 is in the Tubescreamer domain and was pretty cool but was a bit thinner in the low end than I would have prefered.
The Drivetrain was smokin' good. It had the low end I was looking for from the FD2
The tubescreamer surprised me. It had more bass than I remembered and was actually not as mid heavy as I remembered.
Results:
In the higher gain tone category I pick the Guv'nor over the stock DS-1's. Ds-1's are untouchable in the bang for buck department though.
In the lower gain tone category I think the Drivetrain is the winner followed by the stock TS. Fulldrive 2 is third. Bang for the buck goes to the Drivetrain as well but unfortunately they aren't making it anymore.
From experience I know that if I did this test with a Fender the results would be different. Fulldrive for example likes Fender amps and from all evidence was voiced for them. The drivetrain is a little wolfy w/ fenders etc. The DS-1 are not as good with my fenders at least. The reverb circuit brings out what I think are upper harmonics on all overdrive pedals but the DS-1's have so much "stuff" in the highs in stock for that they get really ugly with the Fenders for my money.
So there you have it. My completely unscientific review ramblings of a few pedals.
Reverend Drivetrain
Ibanez TubeScreamer circa 2000
Fulltone Fulldrive 2 yellow Flat mid model
Original Marshall Guv'nor
2 BOSS DS-1's
PRS Cu22 w/ Dragon 1 pickups and Marshall Superlead (vol 4.5) w/ greenback loaded 4x12 cab and a hotplate w/ 8db reduction were used.
Caveats: I have no idea what batteries were in them or how much juice they had left. Wasn't planning a review at the time.
Findings:
The two DS-1's are probably 2-3 years apart in age but sounded virtually identical. Minor differences. Big bang for the buck but in an absolute sense they could be better. Probably mod time.
The Guv'nor was seriously kick ass. Probably not a NuMetal pedal but for slammin' old school Marshall its on the money.
The Fulldrive 2 is in the Tubescreamer domain and was pretty cool but was a bit thinner in the low end than I would have prefered.
The Drivetrain was smokin' good. It had the low end I was looking for from the FD2
The tubescreamer surprised me. It had more bass than I remembered and was actually not as mid heavy as I remembered.
Results:
In the higher gain tone category I pick the Guv'nor over the stock DS-1's. Ds-1's are untouchable in the bang for buck department though.
In the lower gain tone category I think the Drivetrain is the winner followed by the stock TS. Fulldrive 2 is third. Bang for the buck goes to the Drivetrain as well but unfortunately they aren't making it anymore.
From experience I know that if I did this test with a Fender the results would be different. Fulldrive for example likes Fender amps and from all evidence was voiced for them. The drivetrain is a little wolfy w/ fenders etc. The DS-1 are not as good with my fenders at least. The reverb circuit brings out what I think are upper harmonics on all overdrive pedals but the DS-1's have so much "stuff" in the highs in stock for that they get really ugly with the Fenders for my money.
So there you have it. My completely unscientific review ramblings of a few pedals.
