Origin Effects Revival Drive Compact - Review & Initial Thoughts...

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WazmeisterWazmeister Frets: 9445
edited August 2019 in FX
Too fickle and tempted to let it pass, I ordered the Revival Drive Compact from Andertons and it arrived today.

It will be a week before I can trial this in a band rehearsal setting, so these ramblings are concerned with home use and volumes. And, these thoughts are initial, honeymoon and thus in that initial period of excitement. 

Background

I mainly play clean-light break up - The Jam/Tom Petty/Clash are as heavy as it gets for me.

I owned both the Standard and Custom 'big box' Revival Drive, and was very impressed with it. At the time, I was using a Redplate amp, which itself really doesnt need any additional pedals; the footswitch boost and drive offered all I needed.
If I'm being honest, I never really got my head around the knobs and options on the big box. Here's hoping my mind can learn, understand and implement this smaller version !

Now, I find myself rehearsing and gigging with the excellent Carr Mercury V; this amp only needs a good boost/OD for solos, as I use the vastly underrated JHS Clover for pre-amp warmth and loveliness.

I'm currently feeding the GAS by experimenting with a two-amp set up; this will take the form of the Kemper Stage into a Seymour Duncan PS170 (man, how GOOD are these ?!?!) into a Zilla 1x12 equipped with the Celestion Neo G12. Noice.

The test was done with just the 4 pedals shown below, and the SD 170 into the Zilla.

Guitars used - Suhr Alt T Pro (Thornbuckers), Fender Masterbuilt '63 Jason Smith Strat. 



Initial Thoughts


The usual lovely Origin Effects build quality, and excellent packaging. Again, like all the Origin stuff, this pedal is heavy, and feels extremely well engineered, crafted and loved. A lot of care and thought seems to go into all their stuff.

I do like pedals with 'blend knobs'. The old T Rex Muller used to have one, and one of the big advantages of the Helix, Kemper etc is the ability to blend and mix each pedal. For me, it means a raucous drive can be tamed, or a slight warm always-on feel can be livened up a bit. 

The Quick Start booklet which comes with the pedal is extremely useful, and I started with these recommended 3 settings.

1.) Pushed Plexi

Not my normal sound, but nonetheless really enjoyable. I love how you can back off your guitar volume to clean it up, and likewise, back off the blend knob to produce similar results. If you play old school 'on-the-pots', you're gonna love this pedal ! The OD can somehow stay clean in the initial attack (to my ears), yet somehow have all those dynamics and harmonic undertones. 

There is almost unlimited control of your sound; if its in your head, its most likely in this pedal too. In ALL modes, the pedal is VERY touch sensitive and easily adjusts to your pick attack. The less powerful Abbys in the Strat loved this option. Neck pick up cleaned up lovely, for those slight break-up Mayer-esq licks.


2.) Tweed Twin

Hmmm, me likey. This setting can be adjusted to get more Blackface tones, which is where my heart really lies. Turn down the lows, and we strat to get those sparkly, chimey tones. Single Coil heaven here, imho. Very versatile setting, and by now I'm understanding the EQ1 and EQ2 settings a wee bit more, and could then instinctively tweak the sounds as I changed to the Suhr.

Those 'Rebel Rebel' tones come easily here !


3.) Parallel Path

So, this moves us into Vox territory a bit more. A bit of tweaking, and the Suhr burst into Jam-style 'Set The House A Blaze' riffs. Chimey with lots of harmonics ringing out - sounds really loud and full, at very low home volumes. 

Another great setting for the Strat. A couple more tweaks, soft playing with overtones, and then raise my neck volumes for some dig-in and break up ! Lush.


AND I HAVENT EVEN PLUGGED IT INTO THE CARR or KEMPER YET !!!


To summarise ?

Very musical - an overused term and I mean it to say, it makes me play better, more inspired and more varied styles.

I actually understand this one ! We are going to see a LOT of these on boards me thinks.

Very versatile. Highly recommended.
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Comments

  • stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 26749
    Well I was already sold but now I’m definitely sold!
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • Right, I can’t resist it any more, I’m getting one!!
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  • mburekengemburekenge Frets: 1054
    Max one week before this is up for grabs in the classifieds ;)
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  • soma1975soma1975 Frets: 6627
    edited August 2019
    Ok so shall I wait till it's in the classifieds or just tell you now I'll take it in a month's time? 
    My Trade Feedback Thread is here

    Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
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  • WazmeisterWazmeister Frets: 9445
    Max one week before this is up for grabs in the classifieds ;)
    Ha !

    The real test is next Monday in the band setting. If it excels there, and I cant see no reason why not, it's a keeper.

    If not, back to those lovely people at Andertons :)
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  • breezytelebreezytele Frets: 273
    I can add my own experience. I too have both the Compact and the RD custom.
    As Wazmeister says, it has all the quality feel of an Origin pedal

    the RD compact is it’s own thing, not ‘half a big box’.
    The ‘rectifier voice’ is set ‘half way’ between the Silicon and valve side.

    The high and low controls seem to act differently to the larger box. I’d recommend reading the online manual . They are not like the usual eq knobs
    .
    Output control seems to be set differently too, requiring a far higher setting to achieve unity volume

    the ADJ control works on both EQ1 and EQ2 and is clear and simple to use
    (on the custom, it only works on EQ2 , and even then has a smaller effect I think..)

    It sounds  great , even though I would say that.  It will work for those who were put off by the large version.  The one thing it lacks is the ghost noting, but I gather it wouldn’t have been technically feasible to fit it in the compact size. 

    On that latter subject, it just occurred to me that a huge part of what I loved with the Foxrox Octron pedal ( an octave pedal ) were those octave notes that mimicked the ghosting notes on the big version


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  • hotpickupshotpickups Frets: 1813
    God damnit I’m not sure still but there’s only one way to find out. As you say one can always send it back but admittedly I don’t usually like to get in the habit of doing that but a pedal st that price I might make the exception lol
    Link to my trading feedback:  http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/59452/
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  • dindudedindude Frets: 8534
    “ this period is heavy“

    Blimey, I know it’s versatile, but I didn’t think it would do that! 
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  • WazmeisterWazmeister Frets: 9445
    dindude said:
    “ this period is heavy“

    Blimey, I know it’s versatile, but I didn’t think it would do that! 
    :) :) :)

    Duly amended, although it shows how powerful they are !!
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  • hotpickupshotpickups Frets: 1813
    All the demoes sound really great. One thing that I find a bit annoying though especially in my rig set up is when they say on the demoes that if your amp goes down at a gig you can plug this in to the PA to get you through. However, you'd need an amp sim to be able to do that and I can't imagine many bands who use valve amps actually having that on stage to hand etc?
    Link to my trading feedback:  http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/59452/
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  • WazmeisterWazmeister Frets: 9445
    All the demoes sound really great. One thing that I find a bit annoying though especially in my rig set up is when they say on the demoes that if your amp goes down at a gig you can plug this in to the PA to get you through. However, you'd need an amp sim to be able to do that and I can't imagine many bands who use valve amps actually having that on stage to hand etc?
    It is an interesting thought... last year, 2 big gigs on the trot I had amps fail. Unreal.

    Its the one thought behind getting the RD Compact, to run with the SD 170 and a real cab. Oh, and the Kemper as well !
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  • SeziertischSeziertisch Frets: 1276
    You also have a Benson Preamp? How does it compare?
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  • WazmeisterWazmeister Frets: 9445
    You also have a Benson Preamp? How does it compare?
    Well, the RD is much more versatile. The Benson is very good, but probably has one sound across a range. The RD can be a few different sounding amps.
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  • hotpickupshotpickups Frets: 1813
    All the demoes sound really great. One thing that I find a bit annoying though especially in my rig set up is when they say on the demoes that if your amp goes down at a gig you can plug this in to the PA to get you through. However, you'd need an amp sim to be able to do that and I can't imagine many bands who use valve amps actually having that on stage to hand etc?
    It is an interesting thought... last year, 2 big gigs on the trot I had amps fail. Unreal.

    Its the one thought behind getting the RD Compact, to run with the SD 170 and a real cab. Oh, and the Kemper as well !
    I wonder what could be a cheaper alternative to the expensive SD 170 I that situation ?
    Link to my trading feedback:  http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/59452/
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  • KeefyKeefy Frets: 2272
    edited August 2019
    All the demoes sound really great. One thing that I find a bit annoying though especially in my rig set up is when they say on the demoes that if your amp goes down at a gig you can plug this in to the PA to get you through. However, you'd need an amp sim to be able to do that and I can't imagine many bands who use valve amps actually having that on stage to hand etc?
    What you need to run the RD into a PA is a speaker sim. I tried some analog speaker sim boxes but they were less than stellar. There are several IR-based amp sim pedals on the market that would fit the bill, including the tiny Mooer  Radar.
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  • What a bloody belting write up.

    Thanks a lot Warren.

    The big box one still remains top of my list however, for no other reason than I like big boxes.




    Behave.............
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  • Jay123Jay123 Frets: 3
    Hey. How are the mids on it, as I see it doesn't have the mid boost or anything? 
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  • hotpickupshotpickups Frets: 1813
    I can add my own experience. I too have both the Compact and the RD custom.
    As Wazmeister says, it has all the quality feel of an Origin pedal

    the RD compact is it’s own thing, not ‘half a big box’.
    The ‘rectifier voice’ is set ‘half way’ between the Silicon and valve side.

    The high and low controls seem to act differently to the larger box. I’d recommend reading the online manual . They are not like the usual eq knobs
    .
    Output control seems to be set differently too, requiring a far higher setting to achieve unity volume

    the ADJ control works on both EQ1 and EQ2 and is clear and simple to use
    (on the custom, it only works on EQ2 , and even then has a smaller effect I think..)

    It sounds  great , even though I would say that.  It will work for those who were put off by the large version.  The one thing it lacks is the ghost noting, but I gather it wouldn’t have been technically feasible to fit it in the compact size. 

    On that latter subject, it just occurred to me that a huge part of what I loved with the Foxrox Octron pedal ( an octave pedal ) were those octave notes that mimicked the ghosting notes on the big version


    I must admit its the 'Ghost' feature I like on the big box version myself too. Just a shame it's double the price nearly :( Not a deal breaker though for the luxury. Audience would never know the difference. At least mine wouldn't  ;)
    Link to my trading feedback:  http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/59452/
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  • soma1975soma1975 Frets: 6627
    if you have a valve amp anyway do you need the ghost note feature?
    My Trade Feedback Thread is here

    Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
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