Played a few drive pedals today...

[stevie_bees]

I had a short opportunity to try out a few drive pedals in the local music store. I took my G&L Legacy in, with the Everything Axe set, and was going to take my JTM45 head in too but just didn't work out logistically.

I played everything through a Blackstar HT40 1x12 amp, which I'd have tweaked a little more if I had the time. It was set for a nice, fairly flat eq, clean sound.

I tried the Carl Martin DC drive, Blackstar HT Drive, Digitech Hardwire CM-2 Tube Overdrive, Digitech Bad Monkey, and a Vox Ice9 Overdrive.

I played the DC Drive first, and was very impressed with how full, clear and articulate this pedal was. It didn't mush up at all, and had a fat switch to really add girth to the tone. Very versatile pedal, that cleaned up nicely, and had me churning out a couple of Whitesnake riffs at the end!

I then tried the Blackstar and found more of the same, although slightly less versatility, but slightly more 'air' in the tone. This pedal has a valve in it, and is built like a tank, and even I had pinched harmonics dancing off my fretboard, and I'm hopeless at those!!

The CM-2 was a nice pedal, with less drive than the previous 2, and it sounded a little flat in this company, but still a lot of good tones in there but just lacking the extra dimension to the sound.

I tried the Bad Monkey out of curiosity, having read some good things online, and I have to say I was a little disappointed. Again, following the Carl Martin and the Blackstar was always going to be difficult, and it is a different beast to those 2, but I found it pretty flat and lifeless. Not to say that if I had more time I might have tweaked both pedal and amp more to find the best combination of tones.

The Vox ICE9 sounded dreadful to me. Very muffly and flat, and very limited tones. I was very disappointed that I couldn't seem to find a usable tone (for me anyway)

I would definitely like to try the other Blackstar pedals in the range, and wasn't in the least bit surprised that the Carl Martin DC Drive was so good too.
All in all, a fun 45 mins or so, and there are worse ways to spend a Wednesday morning!!

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Played a few drive pedals today...

Cool fun times.
Was it the new square box?
Hmm I was hopeful with tyr ice9

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Played a few drive pedals today...

No, it was the older one mate.

Yeah, I was disappointed with the Ice9 too. I could've played with the amp to get them working together, but after the tones of the DC Drive and Blackstar were so immediate, it seemed strange that the tone of the Vox could be so different.

 

[macki]

Re: Played a few drive pedals today...

Sounds like a good Wednesday morning.....I have been using the Blackstar OD for awhile now and really like it. Not sure why they have not caught on as other brands - though I wish they would change their knobs - very hard to see the "location of the knob". They have a great thick OD sound in my mind and very easy to dial in from simple breakup to nice thick grit.

I have always thought its kind of funny in that other ODs use FETs or clipper diodes to "simulate" a tube so why not use a tube (though a tube design does have some different design considerations - i.e., high voltages and power supplies etc...)

 

[Top Jimmy]

Re: Played a few drive pedals today...

Yeah, I bought a Bad Monkey because of user reviews, was not impressed, even at the price point.

 

[d1dsj]

Re: Played a few drive pedals today...

Sounds like an ideal mid week distraction Stevie. How come this wasn't a Fuzz test though?

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Played a few drive pedals today...

I use a Twin Tube Classic as the basis of my sound, so I'm more than happy to have some tubes on the floor!! I could definitely see the HT Drive on my board, although the DC Drive wouldn't be out of place either!

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Played a few drive pedals today...

Sounds like an ideal mid week distraction Stevie. How come this wasn't a Fuzz test though?

I guess I listened to quite a few fuzz demo's over the past few days, and I'm not entirely sure a fuzz would suit my playing or the songs we're doing. I'm not sure I'm much closer to finding the elusive 'missing' piece of my jigsaw, but it was a lot of fun, and those 2 pedals were head and shoulders above the rest, and I could see me getting a lot of use out of them.

 

[d1dsj]

Re: Played a few drive pedals today...

Yeah I know what you mean and that's why I got the Keeley FuzzHead to be honest. It's not a Fuzz and yet not a distortion (to my ears at least) and yet when we gig I find I like to use it when we're doing stuff like Whole Lotta Love, Good Lovin' Gone bad and a few others. I have however played whole sets with it and not been disappointed with my sound!

 

[richard parker]

Re: Played a few drive pedals today...

I've had the Blackstar Drive for a couple of years now. Not using it at the moment because I'm getting all the sounds I need from my Cornford Roadhouse. I won't get rid of it though because it's a great sounding pedal. I used it at a rehearsal not so long ago where I had to use the studio backline. I was playing through a Slash Marshall Jubilee head and was having trouble getting a decent sound out of it. I eventually set it up for a crunch rhythm sound and used the Blackstar for solos - it pi**ed all over the lead sound from the Marshall. The studio owner wandered in to see what was happening because he said he'd never heard his amp sound so good. A VERY good pedal for not much cash. I also recently played at a jam using a Blackstar Dual into a Fender Twin and that sounded awesome as well. Definitely the best o/ds I've ever come across.