Your most disappointing pedal experience versus your most pleasing pedal experience

paulnb57

Most disappointing EQD Erupter, ZVex Fuzzolo, Marshall GV2....

Most pleasing Hudson Sidecar, I now have two my board...

Hattigol

Disappointing, D & M Drive. It was utterly average and uninspiring. 

Pleasing, RevivalTrem. Gorgeous drive, stunning trem.

punchesjudy

Disappointing. Pelican Noiseworks Pelitaur.. just pure shite. 

Pleasing. Hudson Broadcast 24v. EQD Palisades. Mr Black Supermoon. 

abw1989

Disappointing - TC Electronic Dark Matter; I was using a Blackstar HT-5 at the time and the pedal was voiced exactly the same as the overdrive channel on the amp. I could swap between the clean channel with the pedal, and the overdrive channel and there was literally no difference.

Pleasing - Mosky Silver/Golden Horses; I was foolish and blew my Golden Horse with 18V so I bit the bullet and shelled out another £20 for the Silver Horse. I've used them for many applications, always on for a little warmth, clean boost and a volume/gain bump for solos etc. Superb little pedals.

AntonHunter

Disappointing - Hotone Fury Fuzz sounded lifeless. Line 6 DL4 for its reliability issues.

Pleasing - EQD Erupter has so many good sounds in it and ended my fuzz search. Line 6 DL4 for its sounds, was an integral part of my playing for a few years.

GavRichList

Disappointing - Easy this one, TS-808. Dont get it. I obviously dont play the way you need to to make this sound anything other than dull, and neither one thing nor the other. Muddy and mushy you say? - NAILED IT. 

Pleasing - far trickier, as there are so many I've truly loved, so I'll just go for the most recent one rather than the all time greats. Mr. Black Bloodmoon - i've had a Supermoon before and never hesitate to recommend them, so I finally bought another, opting for the slightly re-voiced Bloodmoon. WOW. It's absolutely spectacular and manages to make even the most mundane sound galactic. Utterly beautiful; I think Mr. Black pedals are probably the most underrated of the boutique gentry - I can think of a number of his pedals that sit at the very top end of my favourite pedals of all time. 

Sassafras

Most disappointing - about the half dozen Big Muffs I've had over the years. Just can't get them to work for me. Give me a fuzz face or tonebender every time.

Most pleasing - Pork Loin. Works with everything.
AMT F1 preamp. Fantastic, versatile, clean Fender in a box.

Creed_Clicks

Most disappointing - Boss SD. Just couldn't get it to work for me. Boss distortion pedal. Couldn't get this to work. TC Hall of Fame 1 and 2. Had one, sold it, revisited, sold it. In theory, should have covered all the bases, but something I couldn't quite take to with it. I wouldn't *not* use it again though...

Most pleasing - Boss Blues Driver, Subdecay Spring Theory, EHX Octavia (even though I read some bad comments about it on here! It's perfect for me)

I've been through several reverbs and delays and am currently using Boss delays and reverbs, which I thought would be disappointing based on what you'd read online.

althy

Marshall shredmaster. I wanted to find it good and special but couldn't get a sound I liked out of it. 

The Jackhammer did everything I hoped the Shredmaster to do right away,  for 20 quid.

ICBM

Disappointing - every boutique overdrive pedal I've ever tried. They all just sound bland and boring - apart from all Klon types, which have a characteristic nasty metallic tone. I clearly don't get whatever it is that so many people rave about with any of them...

Pleasing - Boss 40th Anniversary DS-1, the black one. It actually sounds better than the original MIJ one I had, and even better than my DF-2, which was my 'perfect' drive pedal for about twenty years.

Fuengi

Most disappointing -
Maxon OD9 - I don't get it, it's just shades of vanilla.
Boss MO-2 - Literally hated every sound I could find.

Most pleasing - 
Digitech Freqout - changes the way I play. 
Boss Tera Echo - like a dolphin call in space. 
OCD - addictive with any guitar, any chord, any note. 

fretfinder

Most disappointing - Timmy, not particularly impressed by the sound and the tone knobs worked the wrong way round!

Most pleasing - Kingsley Page.

Flanging_Fred

Most pleasing: Zoom Ultrafuzz

I found a NOS one in a small music shop in Bulgaria. I tried it and couldn’t get anything out of it other than gated self oscillating madness. I was going to give it a swerve and for some reason Mrs Fred said I should just get it. Anyway, once I got home I found it was a great sounding and extremely versatile fuzz. It’s been a mainstay on my board ever since. Thx Mrs Fred!

Most disappointing : EHX USA Big Muff

Guitar Village were having their Boss Gone Mad Sale and were selling big muffs cheap. The Black Russian Muff was £29, the USA was £49. I thought I was smart by getting the USA one but it was very gritty and totally disappeared in the mix.  I think I would have been better with the smoother Russian one.

initially underwhelmed but then very happy:

Paul Cochrane Tim
ThorpyFX Veteran Si
Boss dm2w

I thought these were just a bit average when I first got them and played them at home, despite the hype and love for them. Only when I got to play them loud in a live situation did I understand what all the fuss was about. Utterly superb at band volume levels.

Matt_McG

One that is both disappointing and pleasing: I just picked up a clone of the Hudson Broadcast AP. I suspect it's not an absolute part-for-part identical pedal, although it certainly sounds near identical on many settings.

There's a nasty metallic clang and sag when you really dig in hard, and something cocked-wah-ish I don't especially like about the upper mids and top end when the gain is high. I hear the same thing on the genuine thing on videos, so I think it's the circuit design rather than the build.

But .. if you get the knobs just right, it's a near perfect simulation of a tube amp on the edge of melt-down with the guitar volume rolled back. I can go from sparkly clean to fuzz with just right hand attack. I can't decide if it's the best thing ever, or a heroic failure.

stickyfiddle

Pleasing - Revival Drive Compact. Pretty much every setting sounds genuinely amazing. Likewise the Strymon Deco. 

Disappointing - Strymon Timeline. It just sounded like mush to my ears and I didn't like the UI. Also OCD. I've had a clone and a real one (v2) and don't get the hype. I'd much rather have a KOT or TS or JanRay

Both at once - Jan Ray. I frickin railed against this thing from all the marketing bullshit. But it sounds absolutely amazing. I wanted to hate it but I just can't.

timbuk02

Most disappointing:

MI Audio Neo Fuzz - first pedal I bought. Plugged it in, really didn't like it, and disappointed that I sounded nothing like PGS Andy's demo.

Most pleasing:

MI Audio Neo Fuzz - stayed in its box for years, revisited and now that I know how to use it, its my "if I could only have one' pedal.  Addicted to how it works with guitar vol, and how it retains treble  at low gain. Tho I still sound nothing like PGS Andy, obviously.

Vintage-T

Most disappointing KOT - purely down to the price; and the fact that I could match the sound with a Mooer Blues Crab.

Most Pleasing: Probably the Stone Deaf PDF 1X or the MXR Micro Amp, that thing just makes everything sound better.

HAL9000

Bad...
MXR Badass '76 - Had a very distinctive sound that made everything sound like Thin Lizzy.

Marshall BB2 - Pretty much impossible to get a decent drive sound out of it.

Good...
Boss BD-2 - Nice light overdrive, not too middy. Very usable.

Boss SD-1 - Warmer, and rather more middy than the BD-2. Between them the SD-1 and BD-2 give a decent range of overdrive sounds.

MXR Phase 90 - Just adds that little something on certain songs.

earwighoney

Sassafras said:

Most disappointing - about the half dozen Big Muffs I've had over the years. Just can't get them to work for me. Give me a fuzz face or tonebender every time.

Most pleasing - Pork Loin. Works with everything.
AMT F1 preamp. Fantastic, versatile, clean Fender in a box.

I'm kind of with you with the Muff's, I have a similar thing with them myself. I occasionally take mine out for a few riffs and struggle to get a sound sound out of it then put it back in the box and away again.

I bought a Mosky Reverb pedal for not very much, less than £20. It's not spectacular by any stretch of the imagination but it's definitely useful.

monquixote

earwighoney said:

Sassafras said:

Most disappointing - about the half dozen Big Muffs I've had over the years. Just can't get them to work for me. Give me a fuzz face or tonebender every time.

Most pleasing - Pork Loin. Works with everything.
AMT F1 preamp. Fantastic, versatile, clean Fender in a box.

I'm kind of with you with the Muff's, I have a similar thing with them myself. I occasionally take mine out for a few riffs and struggle to get a sound sound out of it then put it back in the box and away again.

I bought a Mosky Reverb pedal for not very much, less than £20. It's not spectacular by any stretch of the imagination but it's definitely useful.

You can try stacking them with a mid boosted overdrive like a TS or Klone