CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

[STRATDELUXER97]

Yep.....Like It And You Will Too!

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Sounds nice and thick now,but not too thick..LOL..

You no longer will feel like you lose all your lows when you stomp down on your pedal now...I read alot of reviews and complaints about this over on Harmony Central....

The pedal has alot of gain also,but it lacks the mid hump of an actual Tube Screamer...The reason is this...The TS uses a 220 ohm tone set "eq resistor"...Your pedal uses a 470 ohm and this lowers the mids just a bit so you don't hear that mid hump..

I Like the "clean" knob alot and how you can gradually mix the clean and drive settings together..The pedal never loses it's lows regardless of where your settings are,but you still have plenty of highend if you need it...

At full drive setting and with the clean knob off,the pedal has alot of singing sustain and compression..The compression seems to be a bit more than an actual Tube Screamer,but I think it's just that I perceive more gain with this pedal?

I replaced the one chip they used in your pedal with an actual TS chip(The JRC4558D)...This might be adding that extra compression I hear....I Mounted a chip holder and you can try the stock chip by just popping the JRC chip out if you like?

The green led is cool because it tells you that there is in fact alot of Tube Screamer things going on inside of your pedal....Very cool...I Like this pedal more than a TS9 now....I'll have to pick one up for myself...I'm sending it out today..Please A/B it with your TS9 we just did...Let me know the differences....

Thanks again..
John

 

[FretFire]

Re: CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

Uh oh, Capo will be salivating after reading this!

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

Uh oh, Capo will be salivating after reading this!

LOL...This is a copy of the PM I sent him...He gets a double dose of it.. :burnout:

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

oh and believe me, I'm more than anxious to get my hands on it now......I'm practically wetting myself in anticipation I can't wait!!!

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

oh and believe me, I'm more than anxious to get my hands on it now......I'm practically wetting myself in anticipation I can't wait!!!

It's a great pedal brother....Alot like a Tube Screamer circuitwise,but the added "clean" pot is a great idea...Another great Tube Screamer Sleeper Clone....I saw alot of the exact same values in your pedal that I see in all Tube Screamers...Even the way the overdrive is generated is identical.. :smack:

John

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

and like you said john, now there's ANOTHER pedal you can modify for the guitar playing community...so for you people who thought that you could only send your pedal to Keeley for quality modifications, now we know that's wrong!

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

and like you said john, now there's ANOTHER pedal you can modify for the guitar playing community...so for you people who thought that you could only send your pedal to Keeley for quality modifications, now we know that's wrong!

Keeley is a heckuva nice guy and he makes his living doing pedals(I don't)....His prices are higher of course...

John

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

oh of course!! I've never heard anything but great things about Robert Keeley, as a pedal modifier or as a human being...from what I understand, he's an absolutely wonderful guy...just always good to have alternatives I wouldn't discourage anyone from going to Keeley for their mods, I just like them to know there are other places that do mods as well

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

oh of course!! I've never heard anything but great things about Robert Keeley, as a pedal modifier or as a human being...from what I understand, he's an absolutely wonderful guy...just always good to have alternatives I wouldn't discourage anyone from going to Keeley for their mods, I just like them to know there are other places that do mods as well

Understood.... :dance:

 

[Quencho092]

Re: CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

you should hire a few friends and start up an assembly line for TS9 and DS1 modding.
I mean, the tone is just such a huge improvement IMO.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

you should hire a few friends and start up an assembly line for TS9 and DS1 modding.
I mean, the tone is just such a huge improvement IMO.

I can't....I have to finish out 1 career before I dive into another....For now,I'm having some fun,making a few friends and a few dollars and that's all I need out of it...For now anyway? :13:

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

hehe, well strat, if you do start up, i want to apprentice under ya ...man it'd be great to learn this stuff...especially if you start learning how to mod more complicated effects! I bad want to build my own effects boxes, but just can't seem to get started...it's a monetary issue, not a drive/desire issue

 

[Stratcat]

Re: CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

Where can I try out one of these pedals?

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

a sparkle drive? it's a voodoo lab product....probably their best in my opinion...many dealers across the nation, I'm sure their website has more info

Voodoo Lab

and here's a pic!!

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: CapoFirstFret's Modded Sparkle Drive Pedal

Where can I try out one of these pedals?

SC....Are you talking about the Sparkle Drive you want to try out? Maybe one of the guys would let you borrow their's for a few days or so? If and when I get one,you're welcome to try mine...

It's like a good Tube Screamer,but it has this cool "clean" knob on there that allows you to have a great "clean" jangly boost or,you can mix the clean and the drive tones together...And then of course you get full Tube Screamer tones if you dial the clean knob off and dial the drive knob up...It's a cool pedal but it is still and overdrive....I liked it alot..It lacks bass and balls when you step on the stock pedal though,hence the reason for the mods...We put more lows and more gain into the pedal at high drive settings,but we didn't mess with the mid eq....

John