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Your most disappointing pedal experience versus your most pleasing pedal experience

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  • mark_jwedgemark_jwedge Frets: 315
    Disappointing: Stomp Under Foot Pi - I was down a Fuzz rabbit hole at the time and was loving fuzz faces with my Strat and Tonebenders and treble boosters with my Les Paul. Thought I would try a big muff type and found it just wasn’t for me. It’s probably a great big muff type pedal but after the excitement of discovering fuzz faces, tonebenders and treble boosters I was a bit deflated by this.

    Pleasing: Notable mentions here go to the Fredric Klone, ThorpyFX Peacekeepr and Gunshot (stacked they are magic!) and the Origin Revival Drive Compact. However the winner has to be the HX Stomp. I was very dismissive to digital/modelling stuff previously and never liked any previous Line6 products but this thing won me over and is now the fulcrum of my whole rig.
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  • TTBZTTBZ Frets: 2873
    Most disappointing- every fuzz ever. They just don't do what I want them to do. I want it to sound like a big fuzzy fat amp that's about to melt down. Usually a fuzz just ends up completely dropping my sound out of the mix, sounding like a tin of wasps or just a really shit distortion pedal. The Zvex Distortron actually does more what I'm after, a fuzzy high gain JTM45 kind of thing. 
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  • slackerslacker Frets: 2216
    ICBM said:
    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.
    Disappointing-Klon plugged in at home and it had a nasal midrange. Really uninspiring.

    Pleasing-Took the aforementioned Klon to a band rehearsal. The nasal mids cut through a band mix like no other pedal.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71959
    slacker said:

    Disappointing-Klon plugged in at home and it had a nasal midrange. Really uninspiring.

    Pleasing-Took the aforementioned Klon to a band rehearsal. The nasal mids cut through a band mix like no other pedal.
    This is probably why I don't get pedals like that - I don't want to 'cut through a band mix', I want the sound to fit into the mix.

    I've actually never come across a pedal, amp or guitar that sounds bad at home but good at gig volume. Some do sound better loud, but only if they sound OK at low volume too. I don't think any of the Klon-type pedals I've tried sounded uninspiring, I think they sound bad :).

    But then I love the DS-1 ;).

    I suppose the SD-1 I just got probably counts as disappointing too - it's not terrible at all, but it doesn't sound as good as I remember them doing. On the other hand it seems to have less bypass bleed than they usually do, so it's not all bad...

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • BeexterBeexter Frets: 597
    Most disappointing? Two stand out that I was expecting to be perfect but fell woefully short for me: Wampler Dual Fusion - sounded really muddy to me and couldn't get a sound I liked at all. The other was the VFE Rocket - seemed like the perfect boost/ eq and reviews were universally positive so when VFE announced they were shutting, I excitedly ordered a brand new custom finished one from them directly in the US. Literally had it less than 24hrs as it hissed like a nest of vipers. Returned it as faulty but got a report back saying there was nothing wrong with it. 

    Most pleasing? Not sure if the AX8 counts but still think its ace. HX Stomp too. As for regular pedals, an SD1 with Monte Allums GT Mod - shouldn't have sold it. Boss DD200 - first delay that I gelled with having tried a few.
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  • thecolourboxthecolourbox Frets: 9654
    Most disappointing: Line 6 HX FX. In the setups I had available the drives sounded mushy and in general had issues with noise and the power supply barrel seemed fiddly.

    Most pleasing: Joyo Sweet Baby into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe or Pro Jnr
    Please note my communication is not very good, so please be patient with me
    soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
    youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
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  • fretmeisterfretmeister Frets: 23941
    Disappointing - OCD. Didn't like it at all. Don't get the hype.
    DOD FX25B filter. Was supposed to be an upgrade on the FX25. It wasn't.

    Pleasing: Boss OD-1X; Source Audio Spectrum filter; Guitarsystems Fuzztool Jnr.

    The Fuzztool is just amazing. Best FF type I've ever heard. Always brings a smile to my face.


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  • CarpeDiemCarpeDiem Frets: 275
    I can't really name a pedal as bad, as I've had similar experiences to @lasermonkey - a pedal that sounds bad with one amp can sound really good with another. Other variables such as type of guitar, stacking with other pedals and how well or badly I've dialled in the settings have all made a difference.

    Good pedal - Empress Heavy, which has worked consistently well with all amps I've tried it with, and is highly tweakable.

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  • TTBZTTBZ Frets: 2873
    edited June 2020
    Klon type (mine was a soul food) was a pleasing one for me.. to me they're a good/better alternative to a tubescreamer for boosting and tightening an already dirty amp imo. Does the same sort of thing but less compressed, not as nasally and retains more low end. And it cleans up well so can be left as an always on. Just as awful as a tubescreamer into a clean amp though. Not really sure why I sold it.
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  • shaunmshaunm Frets: 1591
    Most disappointing - Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay. To me it didn’t sound any better than a DD3. Now that could be that I like a DD3 but I expected more from the DBD. 

    Strymon Flint. The trem is great but the reverbs are not. They get a lot of love but to my ears I didn’t get it. 

    Most pleasing. 

    OCD 1.3 - I just love it, I haven’t had an amp it doesn’t work brilliantly with. I use mine with the gain at 9 o’clock or lower into an amp working pretty hard so I don’t rely on it for lots of gain.

    Phil Robinson Phuzz. A new one. 
    I thought I’d tried almost all of the fuzzface types out there. The Phuzz absolutely blew all of them away. It sounds like an old FF but without any of the massive drawbacks.
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  • lasermonkeylasermonkey Frets: 1940
    edited June 2020
    shaunm said:
    Most disappointing - Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay. To me it didn’t sound any better than a DD3. Now that could be that I like a DD3 but I expected more from the DBD. 

    I built myself a clone of the DBD after reading several glowing report and found it mediocre. After several days of playing around with modifications I got it sounding a lot better but I think it's fair to say that I'm not a fan of PT2399-based delays. They just sound like the cheap and nasty analogue delays you couldn't give away in the mid 80s.

    Give me a 12 bit DDL any day.
    My wife asked me to stop singing Wonderwall.
    I said maybe.....
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  • thomasw88thomasw88 Frets: 2316
    edited June 2020
    Buffalo 1-tdx i think.  It was shit. Sounded amazing in every demo and i was very excited about getting it.  But... i hated playing it 

    Ocd v2. Played a 1.4 for a few years and always liked it. Hated the v2 as just went from nothing to mush immediately.
    Tc nova drive.  Just very bland.
    Wampler euphoria.  Its not bad at all but compared to the hype is decidedly average.
    Thorpy warthog and also gunshot.  They are good but i dont think they're amazing at anything.  I hated the swoosh sound when moving the knobs.


    On the other hand barber gain changer and also the burn unit.  Two of the best drive pedals I've ever had and I've been through over 100.

    Ibanez ph7 my favourite phaser pedal ever.

    Proco rat. It sounds huge and is versatile once you work out the relationship between the filter and drive knobs.

    Bbe sonic stomp.. always on pedal and just makes everything sound better.


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  • PhiltrePhiltre Frets: 4164
    Disappointing - TC Hall of Fame 2

    Pleasing - Strymon Big Sky

    Strange that. ;)
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  • builttospillbuilttospill Frets: 456
    Most disappointing: Zvex Double Rock, cost me nearly £300. Beautiful hand painted image of J Mascis on the enclosure but this pedal was a complete arse to dial in a useable tone. loved the SHO boost though. A Vintage TS-808 sounded bloody awful.

    Most pleasing: Boss SD-2, HX Stomp, EP Booster & Dunlop Echoplex. Boss DSD-2, Boss PS-3, Boss CE-5
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  • DominicDominic Frets: 16012
    Thumbs down - KOT and Wampler Hot Wired
      Thumbs up     -Tumnus ,Mad Prof Golden Cello , Nobels OD1 , Wampler Pantheon, Trombetta bone machine

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  • Most disappointing.  (Understatement) Way Huge Angry Troll

    Most Pleasing. Boss CS 3 & Boss DD20 delay
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  • BlueingreenBlueingreen Frets: 2582
    I've never been much of a pedals guy but the main thought prompted by this thread is that I don't think any of the ones I've bought hugely disappointed and I don't think any of them blew me away. 

    But if pushed:

    Disappointing - Boss DS-1 - I'm not saying it's bad, but it's not a sound I ever enjoyed or wanted to use

    Pleasing - not sure it qualifies as a pedal, but WEM Copicat.  More unreliability and faff than I'd be prepared to tolerate nowadays but it did sound glorious, like the best low gain drive pedal and tape delay pedal in one unit.


    “To a man with a hammer every problem looks like a nail.”
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  • LewyLewy Frets: 4126
    Most disappointing - SansAmp Tri-OD...literally couldn't get a single good sound out of it.

    Most pleasing - Mk1 Bluesbreaker 
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  • blobbblobb Frets: 2914
    Most pleasing sound = Ibanez AD202 Delay.
    Most pleasing pedal = MOOD
    Disappointing = S-Drum. Not worthy of wearing the same trousers as Trio+
    Feelin' Reelin' & Squeelin'
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  • Winny_PoohWinny_Pooh Frets: 7732
    thomasw88 said:
    Buffalo 1-tdx i think.  It was shit. Sounded amazing in every demo and i was very excited about getting it.  But... i hated playing it 

    Ocd v2. Played a 1.4 for a few years and always liked it. Hated the v2 as just went from nothing to mush immediately.
    Tc nova drive.  Just very bland.
    Wampler euphoria.  Its not bad at all but compared to the hype is decidedly average.
    Thorpy warthog and also gunshot.  They are good but i dont think they're amazing at anything.  I hated the swoosh sound when moving the knobs.


    On the other hand barber gain changer and also the burn unit.  Two of the best drive pedals I've ever had and I've been through over 100.

    Ibanez ph7 my favourite phaser pedal ever.

    Proco rat. It sounds huge and is versatile once you work out the relationship between the filter and drive knobs.

    Bbe sonic stomp.. always on pedal and just makes everything sound better.


    It just goes to show you.

    I feel the TD-X is brilliant for lead tones, I use it with bass and treble at 9oclock (cut basically) which effectively bumps up the mids.

    OCD 1.7 meh

    Thorpy warthog - absolute quality into a midrange heavy amp

    Thorpy gunshot - awesome marshall style distortion, If I had to pick only one drive pedal for everything it could be this one. 

    Proco rat - fizzy & processed sounding
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