Popular pedals that you hate.

ICBM

Almost forgot - Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive. Unless the clean blend is turned off it sounds like your amp is faulty, and if it is then it sounds like a mediocre Tube Screamer. The worst overdrive pedal I’ve ever tried.

(And it has one of those crap switches, anyway.)

lasermonkey

There's very few pedals that I've hated, but there's two that spring to mind.

First is the Boss BD-2. I found it to be harsh, unpleasant and had a nasty note decay.

The Jam Pedals Delay Llama Supreme was by far the worst delay I've encountered. It sounded like it was based on a faulty PT2399 chip, it was that bad.

Lastly, the Crowther Hotcake through a Fender Twin. Shrill, glassy and has a most unpleasant note decay. Put it through a Vox AC30 or Orange AD30TC and you'd never know it was the same pedal. It sounds amazing through those amps!

schrodinger1612

RV500 - Sounds bland. although less versatile I much prefer the RV5 & 6

Echorec...Horrid little tone sucker with an annoying crackly noise issue that’s present in a lot of units.

Timeline - Jack of all trades, master of none. 

Bigsky - Bloom and Cloud sound incredible. everything else not so much and therefore not worth the money to me. 

El Capistan - Like an arsehole, everyone’s got one. Never bonded with it. infact apart from the Deco, I’m not a fan of the Strymon sound. 

octatonic

Devi Ever pedals.
I’ve never understood why people like them.
They usually sound broken, even when not broken, although so poorly made that they are often broken.

TTBZ

TC Electronic pedals in general. They sound fine but I hate the vague feeling soft touch footswitch, I could never tell if it was on or off without checking the LED. Doesn't inspire confidence.

Tubescreamer into a clean or just breaking up amp. Just awful. But great for tightening for metal.

Big Muff style pedals in general. I like the idea of them but in practice I hate that scooped yet nasal kind of tone. Thin but still muddy. Rats do fuzz better for my taste - thick but defined.

Grocer_Jack

lasermonkey said:

Lastly, the Crowther Hotcake through a Fender Twin. Shrill, glassy and has a most unpleasant note decay. Put it through a Vox AC30 or Orange AD30TC and you'd never know it was the same pedal. It sounds amazing through those amps!

I thought this was just me - I've persisted with a Hotcake through 3 different Fender amps and hated the slightly strangled note decay you get a low/medium gain settings. Could never get it to sit in a mix at higher gains either. 

I agree with the Dynacomp comments above - utterly useless. 

monquixote

From what I remember the bluesberry mode was supposed to work better with fender amps.

I also found it a tricky pedal to dial in.

ICBM

octatonic said:

Devi Ever pedals.
I’ve never understood why people like them.
They usually sound broken, even when not broken, although so poorly made that they are often broken.

I’ve been asked to fix two of them - both the same model, the Disaster fuzz. I have no idea whether either or both of them were actually broken or if one of them was meant to sound like that, but they sounded totally different. They’re the worst-made electronic anything I’ve ever seen... and I once worked in a school with a Technology department. 14-year-olds who know nothing about electronics do a better job.

I refuse to work on them. They’re just too much of a mess to be bothered wasting time on.

TheMarlin

lasermonkey said:

There's very few pedals that I've hated, but there's two that spring to mind.

First is the Boss BD-2. I found it to be harsh, unpleasant and had a nasty note decay.

The Jam Pedals Delay Llama Supreme was by far the worst delay I've encountered. It sounded like it was based on a faulty PT2399 chip, it was that bad.

Lastly, the Crowther Hotcake through a Fender Twin. Shrill, glassy and has a most unpleasant note decay. Put it through a Vox AC30 or Orange AD30TC and you'd never know it was the same pedal. It sounds amazing through those amps!

I find that a lot of OD pedals are platform specific. For example, the Mad Professor Sweet Honey works well on Fender amps, but sounds as dull as dishwater on my EL84 amps. 

Maybe it’s just me. 

roberty

ICBM said:

octatonic said:

Devi Ever pedals.
I’ve never understood why people like them.
They usually sound broken, even when not broken, although so poorly made that they are often broken.

I’ve been asked to fix two of them - both the same model, the Disaster fuzz. I have no idea whether either or both of them were actually broken or if one of them was meant to sound like that, but they sounded totally different. They’re the worst-made electronic anything I’ve ever seen... and I once worked in a school with a Technology department. 14-year-olds who know nothing about electronics do a better job.

I refuse to work on them. They’re just too much of a mess to be bothered wasting time on.

There's a few devi ever clones on fuzz dog, sounds like a safer bet

PolarityMan

crybaby of any kind

schrodinger1612

We're all just a bunch of cork sniffers really...."Hmmm, Chianti, 1997 - much too tinny.....I rather prefer the Delorenzo variety, circa 1982." 

Rocker

Pedals that bore me: Chorus and Delay

impmann

Hate - nasty word, that. But not as nasty as a Boss DS1, CE2, or  that piss-awful purple Boss Flanger

Winny_Pooh

Lots. 

But especially BOSS cos they're ugly

(I still own an RE-20)

TheMarlin

I lament my choice of words. Probably should have called it ‘Popular pedals that piss you off’?

Lebarque

Got to be Tubescreamers for me. I've tried to like them, but to no avail. They just sound hard and lacking bass.

Lebarque

Overdrive pedals. Valve amp saturation sounds so much better. Oohh.

57Deluxe

anything with Fuzz in the name...

dogload

Top of the list - Ibanez Tube Screamer. Just does nothing for me.
Boss CE-2 - don't like it's wobbliness, and Boss BF-2 which just sounds... well, like a BF-2 I suppose!