Monquixote's Mega Drive Pedal Review Thread

monquixote

Over the past two or three years I've gone from someone who has hardly owned any drive pedals to having had dozens of them. Buying and flipping them has become somewhat of a hobby of mine. 

One thing I've noticed is that there are very few "Bad" drive pedals only really ones that don't suit the application, guitar, amp, etc. 

With that in mind my quest has been to find the best drive pedals that work with Fender amps (though I've often tried them with other amps as well and I'll mention if I have). Fenders are an interesting case in the OD world as they often "don't play nice" with drive boxes. I think the reasons for this are twofold: Firstly Fenders tend to have a lot of high treble content which exposes the brittle top end that a lot of pedals introduce and secondly larger Fender combos have a lot of low end which can be chopped by many traditional OD pedals like the Tube Screamer. 

mike_l

If you fancy an evening playing with my drive pedals (as I did with @photek) ; in a shoot-out situation, then I'm sure we can arrange something. It'd be interesting to see whether what worked (best) with the Blackstar (and Marshall DSL) would work with a Fender.

ChrisMusic

Could you flesh out the "only really ones that don't suit the application, guitar, amp, etc." comment for me.

Can you quantify or verbalise some of the parameters of how things work together.

Not sure if that makes sense, but you probably get what I mean?  

Having recently returned to playing after a long absence, I am trying to get my head around a lot of stuff.

I've got a lot of catching up to do, and this would definitely help, if you could.

Lixarto

I've used an old BOSS DF-2 into my Blues Jr with success.

Also good is my ValveSporker (a twisted TS in essence) ...

monquixote

Review 1 - Fulltone Fulldrive II MOSFET

http://cdn1.gbase.com/usercontent/gear/2640307/p1_upvh22zjq_so.jpg

This pedal is a bit of an all time classic and I think the pedal that made Mike Fullers reputation as a pedal maker. Like all Fulltone pedals it's an absolute joy to own. They aren't cheap, but the chunky powder coated chassis just screams quality. It's the kind of pedal you would have absolute confidence to take on the road and rely on night after night. 

At it's heart it's nothing more than a TS circuit, but it has a number of additional features that make it far more versatile. It has a presence control which seems to deal with the real high end content only meaning it avoids the classic tone control choice between "Icepick" and "Blanket over amp" some drive pedals give you.

The first of it's two switches let you choose between a TS like mid humped "Vintage" mode and a "Flat Mids" mode which works better as a rhythm drive. The final "Comp Cut" mode removes the clipping and makes it into a straight "clean boost" I was using a Pro Reverb with stupid headroom at the time so it wasn't something I actively explored. 

On the second switch you have the ability to switch the standard diode clipping for MOSFET clipping which ups the volume and gain quite a bit and removes the slight bass cut associated with TS types whilst avoiding getting flubby. 

The booster section has it's own knob that adds volume and gain as you wind it up. It's the preselect type and so can't be used separately like you can with the GT500 or Box of Rock. I know some people dislike this arrangement, but I like the lack of tap dancing and it's very useful when using something high headroom like a Twin as when using a boost pushing a drive hard it's easy to switch of the drive first and then have a massive spike of unwanted volume at the end of a solo. 

In terms of sound it is as you would expect not a hundred miles away from the classic Ibanez sound, but more refined. It's quite low gain and into a spanky clean it's only going to get you into blues territory, but into something slightly dirty (Tested with an HT-40) it can easily push it into singing drive with loads of sustain. 

TLDR: This is a pedal full of usable features and great sounds I would happily own again.

monquixote

mike_l said:

If you fancy an evening playing with my drive pedals (as I did with @photek) ; in a shoot-out situation, then I'm sure we can arrange something. It'd be interesting to see whether what worked (best) with the Blackstar (and Marshall DSL) would work with a Fender.

That sounds like a plan. You going to gearfest East?

monquixote

ChrisMusic said:

Could you flesh out the "only really ones that don't suit the application, guitar, amp, etc." comment for me.

Can you quantify or verbalise some of the parameters of how things work together.

Not sure if that makes sense, but you probably get what I mean?  

Having recently returned to playing after a long absence, I am trying to get my head around a lot of stuff.

I've got a lot of catching up to do, and this would definitely help, if you could.

I'll do my best. 

Fenders and amps that are very clean and sparkly can sound fizzy with distortions and fuzz pedals. ODs make them bluesey and if you want big rock tones you need an "amp in a box" type thing like a Crunchbox. 

Solid state amps like a JC120 don't really work well with pedals that rely on pushing a valve front end so again you are better off with the more "amp in a box" pedals. 

Drivey amps that tend to muddyness can sound very woolley or indistinct as they wind up so pedals like the TS which push the midrange are popular for "tightening up" Marshalls and Voxy amps often get used with Treble boosters which make them open up and sound a lot brighter. 

Ultimately it's all very personal and their are no absolute rules so you have to experiement.

HTH. 

mike_l

monquixote said:

 

 

That sounds like a plan. You going to gearfest East?

Aye.. I can bring the lot, or I'm not that far from you if you fancy an evening, or Saturday pm messing with them

ChrisMusic

Thanks for that, the answer was so much clearer than the question.

Very eloquently explained. Have a well earned wisdom too.

That does make a lot of sense to me, and a good starting point for comparisons.  Thanks again    

ICBM

Lixarto said:

I've used an old BOSS DF-2 into my Blues Jr with success.

That's probably my all-time favourite drive pedal, possibly beating even the mighty RAT. Fantastic thing, even if you don't use the feedbacker - which is an acquired taste/technique thing, but really very useful when you get the hang of it.

monquixote said:

Review 1 - Fulltone Fulldrive II MOSFET

This pedal is a bit of an all time classic and I think the pedal that made Mike Fullers reputation as a pedal maker. Like all Fulltone pedals it's an absolute joy to own. They aren't cheap, but the chunky powder coated chassis just screams quality. It's the kind of pedal you would have absolute confidence to take on the road and rely on night after night.

Until the switches break, which they do with annoying regularity. I've owned several Fulltones - three with switches that failed - and came away with the distinct impression of style and hype over substance and real quality to be honest.

The Fulldrive is not much more than a tweaked SD-1 with a few clipping options and crap switches, at five times the price.

In my opinion.

monquixote

ICBM said:

Until the switches break, which they do with annoying regularity. I've owned several Fulltones - three with switches that failed - and came away with the distinct impression of style and hype over substance and real quality to be honest.

The Fulldrive is not much more than a tweaked SD-1 with a few clipping options and crap switches, at five times the price.

In my opinion.

I've owned a lot of Fulltone stuff and never had a problem, but I expect you are dealing with a much larger sample size than I am. 

There is also something nice about owning something which is a pleasing object which makes me want to own them over the clones. 

It's quite a bit more expensive than an SD1, but then again Fulltone pedals are quite reasonable compared to other things in the boutique spectrum and the MOSFET mode justified the difference to me. 

ICBM

monquixote said:

ICBM said:

Until the switches break, which they do with annoying regularity. I've owned several Fulltones - three with switches that failed - and came away with the distinct impression of style and hype over substance and real quality to be honest.

The Fulldrive is not much more than a tweaked SD-1 with a few clipping options and crap switches, at five times the price.

In my opinion.

I've owned a lot of Fulltone stuff and never had a problem, but I expect you are dealing with a much larger sample size than I am.

No - I owned four, and three of them broke. I've only seen two or three others professionally, and one of those had a dodgy switch as well. This is not a good reliability record - especially as on one of mine, the switch was soldered and then the terminals covered in resin so it could not be easily replaced, and the wires made so short that snipping them and connecting to a new switch was not an option either. I had to get a new switch, carefully dismantle both, and repair the dead switch using parts of the new one without removing it from the pedal. A complete and utter pain in the arse, and I'll never own another one.

monquixote

ICBM said:

No - I owned four, and three of them broke. I've only seen two or three others professionally, and one of those had a dodgy switch as well. This is not a good reliability record - especially as on one of mine, the switch was soldered and then the terminals covered in resin so it could not be easily replaced, and the wires made so short that snipping them and connecting to a new switch was not an option either. I had to get a new switch, carefully dismantle both, and repair the dead switch using parts of the new one without removing it from the pedal. A complete and utter pain in the arse, and I'll never own another one.

That's a shame. 

Certainly from outer appearances you would think they were very well made. I definitely appreciate the nice touches like thumbwheel access to the battery compartment and I had assumed from things like the fact that they designed  and make their own 3PDT switches and pots that they would be taking reliability very seriously. I suspect I haven't had problems because I'm not really a "tweaker" I tend to buy a pedal because of a need, use it to get the sound I want and then leave it set like that from then on. 

ChristophEar

I did not know that the MegaDrive supported pedals. That would have made OutRun a lot more realistic.