I Never Really Got... Great Pedals You Couldn't Get On With

randomhandclaps

I was sorting out a cupboard in the studio today an I came across my Zen Drive.  I've owned it for years, every now and then I get it out yet although I would agree it is a great pedal it just doesn't do it for me.  That said, I keep it in the hope that one day we will click.

Is there a 'great' pedal that you just couldn't get on with?

Not that you thought it crap, over-rated or plain old snake oil.  A pedal that you understand the love for and have seen other use beautifully but it was never going to be a Scott and Charlene type love between you.

 

John_P

Strangely I feel pretty much the same about my zendrive - I can't bring myself to get rid of it though for some reason...

I used to think the suhr riot was very over rated but once I tweaked the loop levels on the g system is came to life and sounds great.

I can think of two pedals that I failed to get on with in the past - Ibanez SD9 and a keeley ds1 - both were purchases based on their reputation and both sounded bland to me - I assume it's the way I was using them but they didn't last very long.

mike_l

Most Boss Distortion pedals, they don't sound right to me. They always sounded too harsh (Metal zone etc) I have a Boss Mega distortion which does the job, but is still a little harsh. I only use this for practise making sure I can keep strings quiet, and picking clean under a huge amount of background noise. 

 

I am starting to like their O/D pedals now though - SD-1 and SD-2 both sound good to me.

spacecadet

Well if either of you want to sell your Zendrive I'm here!


Can't think of a pedal I never bonded with. I can usually get "something" out of everything. Thats probably why I have so many!

digitalscream

Bogner Ecstasy Red pedal - bloody fantastic bit of kit, but I'm just so used to getting all my basic dirt tones from the amp that I couldn't really deal with it in a meaningful way. Thankfully, I didn't actually pay anything for it

ICBM

Any compressor

Boss CE-2

SansAmp GT2

Zodiac51

My Freekish Blues Alpha drive - great pedal, but for some reason it just doesn't sound any better then say, my Joyo Ultimate Drive, funny one that

[Deleted User]

Electric Mistress flanger.

not_the_dj

The Timmy/Tim. I've had both (the Timmy twice) but they've just never become a go-to pedal or had a permanent place in my set-up. 

Weirdly the Lovepedal OD11, which some say is a Timmy clone, has clicked with me and it's one of my favourite drive pedals. 

Similar story with the Subdecay Liquid Sunshine. I've had two (V2 and V3) and again it's just never managed to work it's way into my set-up. 

 I'm sure it's me though, but also they're pedals that are pretty easy to move on, so when I've been after something new they've be the obvious ones that'll sell.

IanSavage

Ibanez TS9 - couldn't make it do anything in my rig that my SD1 couldn't do better. Would still try another one, but not at 3x the cost of the Boss...

randomhandclaps

not_the_dj said:

The Timmy/Tim. I've had both (the Timmy twice) but they've just never become a go-to pedal or had a permanent place in my set-up. 

Weirdly the Lovepedal OD11, which some say is a Timmy clone, has clicked with me and it's one of my favourite drive pedals. 

 

Although it amounts to sacrilege I preferred the sound Lovepedal Amp 11 to the Timmy or Tim.  They are virtually identical (bar small variance in the tone stack) but I think it is down to the 4558 chip vs the 4559 in the Timmy.  In like for like circuits I have always preferred the 4558.

ICBM said:

Any compressor

Boss CE-2

SansAmp GT2

I have such a fierce hate of guitar compressors.  When I was a youngster I used to think 'I love Gilmour's tones so I need a compressor'.  I tried so many and detested them all.  I was a source of great frustration.  Now I listen to the Gilmour cleans or light drives using a compressor and realise that I don't really dig that tone.

monquixote

I also didn't really gel with the Zen Drive though I didn't hate it either.

I don't think I've had many pedals I totally hated, just ones that didn't really do what I needed them for. 

The Crunchbox was completely brilliant, but totally wrong for what I wanted. 

bluechargeboy

Cry Baby...um, no thanks. Got a CAE MC-404 now and I like it more, although it is ostensibly the same kind of thing. Of course, I never use it...

IvisonGuitars

Boss Blues Driver. Just found it fuzzy and lacking.

I had a Lazy J Cruiser and was very underwhelmed with it to begin with, but after spending some time with it and really dailing it in, I love it.

Dave_Mc

Zodiac51 said:

My Freekish Blues Alpha drive - great pedal, but for some reason it just doesn't sound any better then say, my Joyo Ultimate Drive, funny one that

LOL

I can't think of any of the classics offhand that I don't at least like, for certain things.

Kebabkid

Line6 stuff, namely POD 1 & 2 and M series. They just don't seem to work for me with my favourite pedals but I also tire very easily of the sounds after a very short time.
Fulltone Clyde Wah Deluxe too

octatonic

Fuzz Factory.

Impossible to set and forget.

martinw

Klones.

Meh.

ICBM

octatonic said:

Fuzz Factory.

Impossible to set and forget.

I just set mine to all knobs (apart from volume) at 12 o'clock when I'm playing live. Seems to work with more or less anything I play.

I'll also add - Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive. I know some people love this because you can blend clean sound back into the 'Tube Screamer' to make it sound less boxy and compressed. To me it just sounded broken, like the overdrive was sitting on top of the clean, and separate from it. Easily the worst (for me) 'TS-type' pedal I've tried.

swlabr

Had a love hate relationship with fulltone ods (both FD & OCD). Thought they sounded well, but never found the right moment to use them.

Drew_TNBD

I have a Digitech Whammy DT and I think tech-wise it is pretty amazing. But I have to confess, I only really like Whammy on Bass. I think it sounds a bit crap on guitar, and so I never use it!