Thoughts? The East River is basically a direct clone of the od808, but it's true bypass. They sound nearly identical. The 805 is close, but uses a different op amp. Which one for tightening high gain stuff?
Re: Electro-Harmonix East River Drive vs Seymour Duncan 805
If you are up for it, I would also concider building your own pedal. For example get a TS808-clone kit, solder in an IC-socket so you can just try different op-amps in it without any soldering, it's just plug and play without soldering if you put a socket into it! You can also try different clipping diodes and see what you like best, with a simple switch you can also add both symetrical and asymetrical clipping and so on... Fun way to discover the tones you are after, and to learn a great deal about OD's.
Re: Electro-Harmonix East River Drive vs Seymour Duncan 805
I will always go for the one with the 3 band active EQ. The 805 sounds more open, and has more of a gain range, too, so I'd think it would be better at working with a bigger variety of amps.