Re: Zendrive
Grabbed one of these to try. I'm quite impressed. Keeping the 5F6A 4x10 Bassman I built at non ear bleeding volumes, this baby really gets a beautiful power tube distortion sound going. This is the best OD I've tried for my ears so far. But this is but another stop on the journey.
Nice pedal brother Scott. I use one, I personally would also recommend the Free The Tone SOV, Providence SOV, Van Weeldon Royal OD, Ethos OD, Ethos Fusion, Wiz Pedal D, Menatone Howie and GS Red if you dig the ZD feel and want to pursue that OD style. I use those also and a few other D Style pedals. They are all different, all touch sensitive, cool with different guitars and make for a super fun tonal exploration. I had the GS124 for a month or so but it was too chewy and chubby, even with single coils. The ZD changes feel depending on what guitar/amp you run it through
for certain but it will always work in some capacity for me, even stacking. Have fun.
Pretty interesting what you can do modifying a Tube Screamer, isn't it?
I understand what you mean globally and 'internet-ly' but speaking only from my own experience, the ZD has a unique component layout, different clipping diode arrangment, MOSFETS, passive tone control, passive 'cut' control, and certainly a unique feel and sound different than the TS. The only real similarity and any 'claim' to a TS design is that both are op-amp based circuits. I use about 10 D-Style OD's pretty consistently, and I have tried at least 10 more. Some have been direct TS style circuits with a feedback loop (back to back silicone diodes, active tone control) with an added capicitor in the circuit to cut top end via a potentiomenter, but I can always tell immediatey when I plug in and get that hard mid bump grind. Dumbloid and Big Bloom are two TS clones that had no relation to other D-Style pedals. Zendrive, not so much. Alf designed something cool IMO. Cheers, RG
