"Crap" or unknown pedals?

stickyfiddle

As titled! How about a list of pedals you like that aren't popular, aren't remembered fondly, or maybe just those you don't want other people to know you even own?

Personally, I really like my Boss DS1, and I won a Roger Mayer Voodoo Blues that I'd never have even considered buying but it's fantastic.

Sporky

The Zoom analogue drive pedals. The Tri-Metal, Hyper-Lead and Ultra-Fuzz in particular.

randomhandclaps

Years ago I had a Guyatone AW-2.  I quite liked it but am not an autowah user.  Everybody else considered it an utter piece of shit and I would be embarrassed to let anyone see it..  They are the crappest enclosures.  I sold it for £12 feeling that I was cleansing my soul to a degree.  Now (maybe Guthrie led) there seems to be so much love for them.

freakboy1610

When I was a lad I had a Tokai Metaldriver TMD-1. Got it purely due to it being just about the cheapest on the market at the time. I think it was about £17.50! It was a well built tube screamer type thing and virtually indestructible (er until it broke). I used it all the time until my bass player gave me a Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal pedal and after that it was consigned to the back of the cupboard. Wish I still had it as I'm sure @handsomerik could have fixed it!

DulcetJones

Years ago I had a "Studio One" volume pedal/phase shifter.  All I wanted was a volume pedal but they sold me on this one because of the phase shifter option.  When you depressed the pedal all the way down it triggered a switch that changed it back and forth between volume pedal and phase shifter, in phase shifter mode the pedal gave you control of the sweep.  It was cheap plastic junk but I had a lot of fun with it for a couple of years.

guitarfishbay

Not unknown, not crap but it looks crap and a lot of people leave it alone thinking it isn't versatile - Dunlop Crybaby From Hell.  From a user standpoint it has great design the only negatives are the camo paint job (the skateboard grip is actually better than rubber IMO) and the Dime association means people think it is metal only.  It will rip your face off with high end if you want that but it is also more than capable of working for blues and funk if you tweak it.  I don't see a point in me owning any other wah's because I feel like the CFH covers everything I can think of.

I also think the SD1 is under rated these days.  Everyone seems to be more interested in variants of green boost pedals, seems like everyone has forgotten about the SD1.  It is cheap and sounds good and more importantly sounds more different to a TS than many TS variants sound from each other.

ThePrettyDamned

I quite like the boss xtortion. It's a unique drive that's fizzy, harsh, a bit tinny but so much fun for mad modern blues and inventing your own styles.

Most people hate it because it's unrefined and doesn't sound like an amp.

benvall

guitarfishbay said:

Not unknown, not crap but it looks crap and a lot of people leave it alone thinking it isn't versatile - Dunlop Crybaby From Hell.  From a user standpoint it has great design the only negatives are the camo paint job (the skateboard grip is actually better than rubber IMO) and the Dime association means people think it is metal only.  It will rip your face off with high end if you want that but it is also more than capable of working for blues and funk if you tweak it.  I don't see a point in me owning any other wah's because I feel like the CFH covers everything I can think of.

I've got a Dime wah too. I think my is an early one as it doesn't have the trim pot on the side of the CFH on the top. I too think it is a good pedal, nice deep tone. I got it in a trade for an old dod delay and $20 when i was in LA.

I did own a Boss Hyper Metal HM-3. that was pretty bad.

fretmeister

Sporky said:

The Zoom analogue drive pedals. The Tri-Metal, Hyper-Lead and Ultra-Fuzz in particular.

The Fuzz is the only one I don't have. I have 2 Tri-metals and 2 Hyper leads and 1 Powerdriver.

But no Ultra-Fuzz

Shark_Eyes

The 80's DOD pedals, some of the pedals were great but the actual switches were awful, and somehow got less responsive the lower the battery got.

I've got a bass compressor of theirs that is brilliant, but it takes me a few taps to get the bloody thing on.

The Ibanez tonelok series were built like a tank, but were just rubbish.

bertie

stickyfiddle said:

those you don't want other people to know you even own?

followed by "holiday snaps of the mrs you dont want anyone to see"

Sporky

fretmeister said:

The Fuzz is the only one I don't have. I have 2 Tri-metals and 2 Hyper leads and 1 Powerdriver.

But no Ultra-Fuzz

Would it help if I said the UF-01 is the best of the four?

EricTheWeary

randomhandclaps;57884" said:

Years ago I had a Guyatone AW-2.  I quite liked it but am not an autowah user.  Everybody else considered it an utter piece of shit and I would be embarrassed to let anyone see it..  They are the crappest enclosures.  I sold it for £12 feeling that I was cleansing my soul to a degree.  Now (maybe Guthrie led) there seems to be so much love for them.

I need to preface this by saying I am crap with money...

but

...bought a used AW2 on a whim for £25. Used it a bit but found it hard to get used to. Gathered dust for a bit then sold it on eBay for, IIRC, £130. So, easily my favorite crap pedal!

I used to have a chorus that I can't recall the name of. Regan? The ones endorsed by Henry Thumb Thomas. Sold it for £5. I would love to try one now having been through a few pedals in the interim to see if I should have sold it or not.

dindude

I have fond memories of my Boss Metalzone from way back when, the parametric EQ kept me occupied for hours.

fretmeister

Sporky said:

fretmeister said:

The Fuzz is the only one I don't have. I have 2 Tri-metals and 2 Hyper leads and 1 Powerdriver.

But no Ultra-Fuzz

Would it help if I said the UF-01 is the best of the four?

I've never even tried one! I'd just like to compete the set. 

I discovered the powerdrive is excellent on bass - first in the chain with the gain down very low - seems to behave very much like an on board 2 band EQ then. Made a passive Jazz sound like a Marcus Miller posh one.

Sporky

You can have mine for £500,000.

fretmeister

As I said to a girl once - I can supply anything you desire... as long as you'll take lots of small instalments...

mike_l

@stickyfiddle ; really a DS-1? I had one, and frankly am glad I got rid, it was one of the worst sounding distortions I've heard. I'll also lump in pretty much every other Boss Distortion (particularly the "metal" ones) I've had/tried (IE most of them). Even from a "metalhead" like myself. I have a Boss "Mega Distortion" which I use when I'm practising muting/picking, as anything not under control gets way beyond noise.

 

However, I have an SD-1 and regularly take it to jam nights, and can't seem to get a bad tone from it. Same with an SD-2. I also really like a Bad Monkey into a valve (Marshall) amp, less so into a S/S amp, as, to my ear, it sounds a little dark and dull into S/S.

 

Easily my favourite wah is the Weeping Demon, and my favourite swirlie a phase 90 (preferably script).

ThePrettyDamned

Shark_Eyes;58178" said:

The Ibanez tonelok series were built like a tank, but were just rubbish.

The delay and the fuzz were ace. The delay is really nice.

There was a flanger that was insane and made no tonal sense at all though...

Flanging_Fred

I'll back up the Zoom Ultra fuzz, fantastic pedal. Fuzz factory-esque without the run away train randomness.

Also I'd add an Arion SOD1 overdrive. I was more excited by the sound of this than I was my Paul Cochrane Tim that I got at the same time. The Arion cost about ten quid.

Marshall regenerator. Nothing stunning about this pedal but covers a lot of modulation ground in a small package with the option of plugging in an expression controller if you wish. Worth the money for a passable Uni-vibe and a really rather good rotary effect ( they call it vintage chorus or something). Good for people who just want the occasional bit of mod here and there.

Nought wrong with a DS1 if used judiciously. The scooped nature of the DS1 works well into a more mid biased amp like my Mesa. They seem to balance each other out EQ wise.

Dano fish n chips. Sonically superior to the boss GE7 for a lot less cash. I keep expecting it to break but it doesn't.

Dano FAB distortion sounds worryingly close to my Mk1 Marshall Guv'nor. Just don't use a crap non isolated power supply with it.

Dave_Mc

mike_l said:

I have a Boss "Mega Distortion" which I use when I'm practising muting/picking, as anything not under control gets way beyond noise.

I actually don't mind the mega distortion- as long as you, er, don't use it like a metal distortion. ) If you roll the gain boost back to zero and keep the distortion control under 12 o'clock it's not bad as a more classic distortion. If you do the opposite with the gain boost it's a not bad standalone od. I'd be the first to admit it's not my favourite pedal ever, though.