I was not that fond of the Zendrive with my Strat as well, but it kicked ass with my Hamer loaded with Seth Lovers.
I’ve heard same complaint from loads of other strat players and simple solution for that is additional gain stage on Zen with another footswitch – period. _________________ www.customcabcom.com www.drika.biz
I have yet to try the Zendrive with my P90 and HB guitars, perhaps that will revise my opinion some.
As for the Xotic overdrives, I opted to keep the transparent RC Booster, but to sell the AC Booster, which I found a bit rough around the edges with somewhat too emphasized odd overtones in conjunction with my single coil pup guitars. The same goes for the BB Preamp in my opinion, it's like the AC with more of everything. The Xotics are good stompboxes, and I have heard players getting a fantastic sound using them, but for me, I needed something a tryful smoother, with a little more emphasis on the even overtones.
MatsD - you need to check out the Fulltone OCD - loads of people I know (including several Strat slingers) are using it and it never gets a bad rap. I like my BB Preamp more than the Zendrive which definitely suited 'buckers more.
Another pedal I had and gave away was the Barber LTD - quite a transparent pedal and very smooth - not kicking enough for some but actually a very good value and solid stomper - also worht checking out. Barber do a few other rated pedals that Strat/Tele players alike seem to relate to.
Millibobs: If you browse back to the previous page you'll see that I mentioned the OCD in a previous post. In fact the OCD I now own is my third. I like the OCD very much, but I use it more for chordal stuff and comping when I need that nice breakup but still with nice string separation and not too much odd overtone interference between chord tones. It's OK for solo work too, but I sometimes find it a little too soft in the midrange and the attack to cut through well.
I can't actually recall if I tried the Barber Ltd. I know I liked the Barber Tonepress compressor though.
Another overdrive that is quite good is the Voodoolab Sparkle Drive. For me however, who are using it into a totally clean set Fender amp, I thought it delivered a tryful too little distortion. But if you already have some preamp gain pushing your sound, I guess it's perfect.
Also, I never was much of a TS-808 fan before, bur recently I bought the re-issue and I really like it. It doesn't cut as much low end as I remember from the old days and as many clones I'e tested, neither is it all that midrangey. I still think my Reverend Drivetrain II does a better job, but that pedal is discontinued since several years.
Yet another nice overdrive is the Carl Martin Hot Drive n Boost. There is some debate however which revision - the original, the MkII or the MkIII - is the preferable. The initial version is rather soft, the MkII meaner (if you're into Joe Bonamassa's sound you probably want this one) and the MkIII is a nudge back to the softer/slicker sound but not as soft as the first version.
As for a Dumble sound the Ethos Overdrive is said to be top of the line. I'm on the waiting list. I hope it's not all hype, because it isn't exactly inexpensive, although what you get is more than just a simple stomp box.
I'm expecting a Lovepedal Eternity Burst any day now, I'll let you know my impressions when I get it...
The thing with that Lovepedal guy is that he seems to be putting out a lot more inofficial models than you can find on his website, and even the stock stomps seem to differ in design and features within a timespan. Also I don't like the omission of power supply connection on certain models and the omission of brand name, model name or any other text info on others.
Of the Lovepedal overdrives I've tested, I like the STP best, it's transparent and pushes the sound just enough over the distortion edge. The one I'm curious about is the COT 50, it sounds nice in the mp3 samples I'e heard. But on the othe hand I have a FAB 50 (that seems to be another one of those odd ones) that is said to be close to the COT 50 but it didn't impress me much. It altered the overall frquency response too much, althoguh the distortion in itself had some nice qualities to it.
I also had a Lovepedal Lo Driver (apparently also an odd model) that was kind of nice, but in my opinion it needed a somewhat harder driven amp than my clean set Fender 5E3 clone to deliver its best, so I sold it.
I have a COT50 as well, which I like quite a bit. I mainly use it as a boost for my Strat, with an already "on the edge" tone. That works quite well...It can also be used with a clean tone, to add some grit, like a pushed amp.
I have yet to try the Zendrive with my P90 and HB guitars, perhaps that will revise my opinion some.
As for the Xotic overdrives, I opted to keep the transparent RC Booster, but to sell the AC Booster, which I found a bit rough around the edges with somewhat too emphasized odd overtones in conjunction with my single coil pup guitars. The same goes for the BB Preamp in my opinion, it's like the AC with more of everything. The Xotics are good stompboxes, and I have heard players getting a fantastic sound using them, but for me, I needed something a tryful smoother, with a little more emphasis on the even overtones.
For my taste nothing, NOTHING comes closer to real FOUR tube, FIVE channel pedal/amp KOCH pedaltone if one knows how to set it up properly. Also does not matter if it is switched in tube, transistor or PA amp, it always sounds similar – just great! BTW I have nothing to do with KOCH company, I just have one modified by me.
bluesman: I have not tried the new bigger (and better?) Xotic stomps. But I remember hearing Allen Hinds demoing the classic lineup of the AC, RC and BB and getting one hec of a good sound out of them. On the other hand, he's an accomplished player and can probably get most stuff to sound good.
As for the Koch Pedaltone, I owned one of those for a while. I agree that it sounds good, but it's a monster compared to any stompbox, and also I thought it was a little too much on the hi-gain side, plus I had problems with bad quality channel switches that just stopped working, so eventually I sold it. But if you have a real good clean amp, like a Fender and want something that really distorts well and don't want to get another amp, the Koch Pedaltone gets the job done, and it's also good for direct recording and to line directly into the PA board, since it has one of the better speaker simulators on the market (goes for the entire Koch amp lineup in fact).
Joined: 12 Jan 2004 Posts: 92 Location: Ing-Ger-Lund!
Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 9:15 am Post subject:
I have a Zendrive 2 and an Ethos Boutique Overdrive, both of which are superb. As far as pedals are concerned, my tone quest is over.
Amps and guitars are a different matter however. _________________ I first started to play guitar 35 years ago... Trouble is, I had 20 years off in the middle.
Joined: 06 Dec 2006 Posts: 246 Location: San Mateo, CA
Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:28 pm Post subject:
My Zendrive 2 finally came up on the list and arrived on Saturday morning. I A/B'd is with the Jetter Gain Stage Red for a short while. I thought the Jetter was sonically very very close to the Zendrive. The differences are basically too subtle for me, at least without more time. Now I have to figure out if it's stupid to keep both pedals and if so, which one to sell :-(
On the issue of Zendrives being better for humbucking pickup-equipped guitars than for single-coils, last night at a jam I played through a regular Zendrive with my old Gibson L6-S, and later with the owner's Suhr Tele (a superb guitar, by the way) and it sounded absolutely wonderful with the Tele as well as with the L6-S.
well my zendrive finally came up on the list 10 days ago
But I ordered 2 pedals (also one for my teacher), but I'm not sure if Alf got that..Asked him about it but he is not a fast mailer I guess..Cause haven't heard from him yet.
At least I'm on top of the list now
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