The Most Underwhelming 'Boutique' Overdrive Purchase You've Ever Made?

builttospill

Again this discussion has probably been done to death, but what was your most underwhelming 'boutique' overdrive purchase? I'm talking boutique here so discounting mass produced stuff like Boss or TC Electronics etc.

Here's mine...

1. Zvex Double Rock £269 (Hand Painted J Mascis Model) Just downright frustrating and so touch sensitive and useless to me in a live setting I tried so hard and failed to get a sound I was happy with.

2. Walrus Audio Mayflower OD, bought new and played with it for about 30 mins before listing it on here. just didn't get it.   

FastEddie

Klon Centaur, silver horsie. Bought from Vintage and Rare in 2000. 

not_the_dj

The Wampler Dual Fusion left me very unimpressed.

JDE

King of Tone. I am aware that I am alone in this. 

Majorscale

The two pedals that stood out to me for the wrong reasons were the Mad Professor Little Green Wonder - it sounded like I'd dropped a blanket over my amp - and the DopeFX Black Lotus which is a take on a Zendrive. I kept the Zendrive!

I'm sure in other rigs and for other players they are great pedals, just not for me.

punchesjudy

A fuzz I know, but the Pelican Noiseworks Pelitaur.. Meh. Wasn't awful, wasn't anything special. 

ICBM

Actual purchase - Fulltone Fulldrive II.

Tried and couldn't understand what the fuss was about - King Of Tone.

Brad

Gotta say, I didn’t get the big deal about the King Of Tone either.

heavyrocker

Brad said:

Gotta say, I didn’t get the big deal about the King Of Tone either.

Me neither.

crunchman

I've not done too badly.  I normally try them in a shop before buying, so I've not had anything horrible.

Having said that, I'd have to agree with @ICBM that the Fulldrive II tops the list for me.  It's not a bad pedal, and I quite liked the drive side of it, but I never used the boost side, and you can get something similar to the drive side at a much lower price.

Winny_Pooh

KOT - Fizzy on the top end and bland
Klon - extremely middly, perhaps only useful on a Fender amp tonestack

relic245

the wampler pinacle delux that my son spent so much hard-saved pocket money on.

There is nothing wrong with it, it's just that to me it doesn't sound any better, and not that dissimilar, to my marshal bluesbreaker 2 that I paid £20 for. 

sgosden

Zen drive. Maybe I wasn't using it right. Just very meh.

thatguyoverthere

I was super underwhelmed with the King of Tone too when I first got it. Gave it a few months and played lots in band contexts, now it's an essential part of my board. 

TateFX

OCD - was just meh

Wazmeister

Great thread.

So, so, many...

- Eventide H9 - sounded just SO digital to my ears

- Spaceman Reverb thingy - bag of noisy shit

- Van Weeldon Royal - very noisy, too noisy (and I know Im alone in this)

- Red Panda Tensor (today !!!) - just could not get a sound out of it


There must be loads more

tone1

Wampler Velvet Fuzz, KOT, Effectrode Blackbird, Hamstead overdrive thingy, Chase bliss brothers (but I do want to try another one incase it was my old amp), Empress Multi-Drive

NorthernStomps

I just can’t decide how I feel about my Immerse. Like it sounds amazing but there just isn’t enough of it, it’s toooooo subtle! And the spring setting is trash 

Adam_MD

Stu_tate said:

OCD - was just meh

Which version did you try and were you using a buffer in the signal chain?

Version 4 imo is pants I much preferred v3 and I found mine didn’t like a buffer in the chain it became very trebly and lost all the punch.  

xscaramanga

JDE said:

King of Tone. I am aware that I am alone in this. 

I have a clone. I do like it, but I'm bloody glad I didn't spend £400 on it or wait three years.

prlgmnr

I didn't massively love the Fairfield Barbershop but "luckily" my brother immediately took it for his live board before I had chance to change my mind.

RYRA Klon hasn't grown on me yet but I can see why people with lots of pedals like a Klon as the buffer is extremely present/bright/sharp (or, I've gone mental and think I can hear a buffer).