Underrated pedal brands

TTBZ · May 2021

The old Ibanez Tonelok pedals were good, I had the TS7 and I heard a few of the others which were great too.

The more recent DOD pedals were really good if my Carcosa was anything to go by. One of those pedals I probably should have kept, great for stoner rock or as a dirty boost.

MattBanshee · May 2021

TTBZ said:

The old Ibanez Tonelok pedals were good, I had the TS7 and I heard a few of the others which were great too.

The more recent DOD pedals were really good if my Carcosa was anything to go by. One of those pedals I probably should have kept, great for stoner rock or as a dirty boost.

The Tonelok high-gain pedals were pretty nice too. They had a Deftones-y sound and weren't just wasp-in-a-tin-can.

menamestom · May 2021

Sassafras said:

Now that 'booteek' pedals have taken over the world, I'd say Boss have become underrated.

Their £300 limited edition fuzz with NOS components selling for thousands is so underrated it is criminal.

bbill335 · May 2021

menamestom said:

Sassafras said:

Now that 'booteek' pedals have taken over the world, I'd say Boss have become underrated.

Their £300 limited edition fuzz with NOS components selling for thousands is so underrated it is criminal.

nobody knows whether they're underrated or not since they don't wanna lose £1k just for opening the box and switching it on

Grumpyrocker · May 2021

I've been super impressed with my Donner Circle Looper. Packed with features compared to many much more expensive rivals.

KevS · May 2021

It seems to be linking Loco Box and Pearl Here..
The actual cases were very different though... Hmm
https://www.jaimiemuehlhausen.com/guitar

It is saying here Loco Box was owned by Akai...
So maybe Next was owned by Panasonic ? Matsushita..

Greatape · May 2021

tweedphan said:

Wazmeister said:

PTD

Strymon - too many dismiss them as they appear mainstream, but are extremely creative.

Chase Tone - the pre amp thingy is superb.

EHX - some really creative stuff.

Another vote for Chase Tone preamp. I now have two - one for mini board and the other for main board. Fatten up and enhance both clean and overdrive tones.

I think it's a sensational bit of kit. It can improve almost any low-rent amp significantly, and the EQ switch makes it extremely versatile. Moreover, it improves the sound of drive pedals going into it.

KevS · May 2021

It seems to be linking Loco Box and Pearl Here..
The actual cases were very different though... Hmm
https://www.jaimiemuehlhausen.com/guitar

I thought I would go inside my Next Analog Delay to try and fix it
,it seems the tiny switch inside is fecked..

Anyway False Memories...Because of the Purple on the knobs..Fnarr !!
I remembered the electrolytic Caps being Purple and Lilac..
They are not.. There are 3 Chips.....

One is 2 Stacked Chips Matsushita/Panasonic MN 3005 21
Stacked on a Panasonic 301 27

One is a Toshiba C401138P

One in the middle of the board has NE570N 8233

Lots of Green Film Caps but not the usual Dark Green ones..
It looks like they have a touch of the luminous slime green about them and you can see through the coating..

On the underside of the board it has AD 800 on it..

AntonHunter · May 2021

KevS said:

It seems to be linking Loco Box and Pearl Here..
The actual cases were very different though... Hmm
https://www.jaimiemuehlhausen.com/guitar

I thought I would go inside my Next Analog Delay to try and fix it
,it seems the tiny switch inside is fecked..

Anyway False Memories...Because of the Purple on the knobs..Fnarr !!
I remembered the electrolytic Caps being Purple and Lilac..
They are not.. There are 3 Chips.....

One is 2 Stacked Chips Matsushita/Panasonic MN 3005 21
Stacked on a Panasonic 301 27

One is a Toshiba C401138P

One in the middle of the board has NE570N 8233

Lots of Green Film Caps but not the usual Dark Green ones..
It looks like they have a touch of the luminous slime green about them and you can see through the coating..

On the underside of the board it has AD 800 on it..

I think you've posted this on the wrong thread @KevS ;

Gassage · May 2021

Here's a few:

1. Free the Tone- every one is sublime

2. Providence (ditto above)

3. TateFX- the Antares is a masterpiece.

4. Crowther- the Hotcake is spectacular with EL84s

5. Supro- the trem, delay and chorus are superb.

dindude · May 2021

Mad Professor are always there but don’t really get much attention and have certainly faded to background for some newer cooler brands, but I’ve never tried a duff one, they all sound great.

Vintage-T · May 2021

Fredric effects
I have a golden eagle and recently acquired a Green Russian. Both exceptional quality, well built and comparatively cheap as chips.

Kebabkid · May 2021

From the 80s, the Pearl Octaver is one of the best octave pedals I've ever used, especially on bass (my mate still has it) and their Chorus was decent, too.
Guyatone also did some dual pedals e.g. Chorus/Flanger around the same time and they sounded good.

Catalinbread - some good stuff and I really liked their Formula 5FS
JRockett/JRAD - are good, solid pedals but sadly, something about them didn't work for me and I always moved them on

Wampler are one of the more popular brands but I don't see them mentioned as much as I would expect to. Loved The Pinnacle and the EGO and their delays are good but my current hottie, the Plexi Mini Drive, is superb

Not a pedal but a rack effect, the Korg A2 and all those A series units and their Korg Rotary pedal

Voxman · May 2021

This is going to be very controversial for a number of reasons, especially on this board, because of its reputation as copying other pedals.

But I'm going to mention Behringer, because regardless of the above view, it has been a real force to put affordable pedals in the hands of many players who otherwise couldn't have afforded more expensive versions.

I'm aware that Behringer emotes a wide spectrum of views. It's haters will say they just copy other brands, their pedals are noisy, unreliable, and are cheap and nasty. Supporters will say that they make some really good pedals that sound great, are reliable, and are well made at the price point. I'm in the latter camp.

I have two Behringer pedals that I have been delighted with. The EQ700, which is actually a tad quieter than my Boss GE-7, and functions flawlessly and is tonally identical.

The other is a To800 Vintage Tube Overdrive. It cost less than £20 new and it's a great sounding pedal and I maintain is still one of the best TS cloned around with the original 4558 op amps and MA150 distortion diodes. A friend of mine really liked mine but was put off by the Behringer name and plastic case. So he bought a real Ibanez TS808 tubescreamer for £90.

We put them side by side and did a blind test on each other....and we both preferred the Behringer...plus it had more tonal range! So he then bought a To800, and like me it's the one on his pedal board, and the Ibanez just stayed in its box.

I've also heard a Behringer chorus and phaser, and they sounded great too.
So, whatever your views, I just thought Behringer deserved to be mentioned as underrated and sometimes unappreciated pedals, and given some love for a change.

I'll go and get my coat now,... and an umbrella to fend off the rotten tomatoes!

Aornic · May 2021

KHDK

Mojo Hand FX

ICBM · May 2021

Voxman said:

[Behringer]

I agree...

I have to admit to being slightly uncomfortable with them directly copying pedals which are still in production, but I can more or less forgive it since I don't think they are genuinely stealing sales from the original maker - usually Boss - as most people who would buy a Behringer either can't afford or wouldn't want to spend the price of the new Boss pedal, possibly not even a second-hand one.

I particularly like the SF300 Super Fuzz, which is an identical copy of the long-discontinued FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz - which is itself an upgraded copy of the original Shin-Ei FY-6/Univox Superfuzz, so perhaps there's a bit of poetic justice there.

I've also owned the Ultra Metal - a Metal Zone copy, but this time I don't think it sounded identical... slightly warmer and less harsh, which may make it less suitable for its original intended market, but for me an improvement.

The TO800 is in fact identical to an original, hyper-expensive TS-808 - there's a video by JHS pedals where he A/B's them in real time with a loop-switcher and there's no change in the sound at all

.

Voxman · May 2021

ICBM said:

Voxman said:

[Behringer]

I agree...

The TO800 is in fact identical to an original, hyper-expensive TS-808 - there's a video by JHS pedals where he A/B's them in real time with a loop-switcher and there's no change in the sound at all .

Which is the conclusion we came to when we had them side by side and we then realised it was the wider tonal range in the To800 that made it sound better to our ears. The original sounded slightly darker with the gain on higher settings, whereas the To800 tone could go higher and it just sounded a bit brighter.

Interestingly I just found some shoot out vids and several folk commented the same, ie it was slightly brighter, which is why I preferred it.

KevS · May 2021

AntonHunter said:

KevS said:

It seems to be linking Loco Box and Pearl Here..
The actual cases were very different though... Hmm
https://www.jaimiemuehlhausen.com/guitar

I thought I would go inside my Next Analog Delay to try and fix it
,it seems the tiny switch inside is fecked..

Anyway False Memories...Because of the Purple on the knobs..Fnarr !!
I remembered the electrolytic Caps being Purple and Lilac..
They are not.. There are 3 Chips.....

One is 2 Stacked Chips Matsushita/Panasonic MN 3005 21
Stacked on a Panasonic 301 27

One is a Toshiba C401138P

One in the middle of the board has NE570N 8233

Lots of Green Film Caps but not the usual Dark Green ones..
It looks like they have a touch of the luminous slime green about them and you can see through the coating..

On the underside of the board it has AD 800 on it..

I think you've posted this on the wrong thread @KevS ;

Both Pearl and Next Brands have been mentioned in the Thread and I and others have wondered their true origin,,
as many things Japanese were rebranded..

I have since read it Claimed a couple of places that Next was a Brand of Moridaira..
So I know the post sounds like it belongs elsewhere,but it is continuation of the comment on Next pedals..

I also don't know if my Next Switch is sortable and if that would be a financially sensible decision..

AntonHunter · May 2021

My apologies @KevS , I thought it was a continuation of the thread you'd started about Locobox etc.

[Insert embarrassed emoji here]

KevS · May 2021

AntonHunter said:

My apologies @KevS , I thought it was a continuation of the thread you'd started about Locobox etc.

[Insert embarrassed emoji here]

It's fine..I did slip off Topic a bit..I am just interested where things were made..
We all used them,,the same idea as we were actually playing Matsomoku or Fujigen etc Guitars..
So maybe I am a bit obsessed..

I just remembered that there were Fender Branded Pedals in the Early to Mid 80s that were Next Pedals rebranded..
So it's another way to at least the electric circuit of that pedal again if you want one..
The other thing is of course,,the pedals may not be as good as you remember,
or the component values may have changed inside..

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Underrated pedal brands

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