Your most disappointing pedal experience versus your most pleasing pedal experience

Mr_H

Disappointing

D&M - decidedly average
KoT - it was ok but I couldn't really see what the fuss was about

Best

big box EHX Memory Man Deluxe - every time I switch it on people say 'what effects have you got on' - the look on their faces when I say it's just the MM......

And recently the Reeves 2n2face fuzz - unbelievably good sounds and stunning point to point wiring

Mr_H

UnclePsychosis said:

The inconsistent application of MIDI across gear drives me mental. 

I also get really irate by how few bits of gear offer midi thru, lots of bits of kit don't even offer it as a software option. very annoying. 

Yep I totally agree.  Addition of USB to MIDI for the Tensor, additional MIDI box for Enzo - just stick a 5 pin DIN on.  And one I'll add - the inconsistency of thru meaning thru and not 'I'll pass some info but not all'

BintyTwanger77

Disappointing:

Source Audio Ventris - apart from the True Spring, just didn’t do it for me. Found it tricky to dial in a good wet/dry mix, and sounded very mid-heavy when I tried to set a big reverb. Very disappointing for the ££.

Helix - I tried, I really did, just don’t like any of the sounds it makes at all.

Tubescreamer - yes, it’s one of the most popular pedals of all time, but even when I had a DRRI I never owned one, never liked it.

Meris Enzo - only for the huge volume jumps and really having to buy a MIDI switcher/the preset switch to get the best out of it. It’s an incredible sounding unit, and was so hyped up when it came out, but these two factors were such a letdown.

Best:

Meris Mercury 7 - if I wasn’t happy already with my Big Sky, I’d have one of these, sounds absolutely stunning

Origin Revival Drive - not really able to crank my amp at home often, so trying one of these in a shop into a loud amp and it blew my socks off, the most incredible drive sounds and ridiculously versatile.

Polytune Mini 3 - I’d been messing around with front-of-chain tone enhancing/maintaining pedals for years, but the Bonafide buffer built into this thing proved to be the answer (after all the £££ I’ve spent!), works perfectly.

Jam Pedals Delay Llama Xtreme - have to add my most recent addition, completely lived up to all the positive reviews on hear, beautiful warm analogue repeats, what I was looking for in an analogue delay (and in many way prefer it to the Thermae, particularly the fact that it's £200 cheaper), and the pitchshifting mode is a dream.

(NB. I’m with @WiresDreamDisasters on the Timeline, don’t get the dislike, it does many delay jobs beautifully and the UI is a breeze)

joetele

Most disappointing - Meris Enzo again. Volume jumps, finicky tracking, overcomplicated controls and needing to fork out another £100 to be able to save presets. Also didn't really love the tone of the synth itself. 

Most pleasing - in terms of long term appreciation, probably the Digitech Digidelay, as I can't fault the tone, the clarity of the delay, the reverse delay and the handy loop/glitch function.

In terms of a pleasant surprise, probably the Fender Marine Layer reverb. Better modulated setting than the RV-5, tasteful shimmer, and long decays. 

Having said that I recently acquired a Magnetic Effects Dual Drive and that thing is stunning. Works well with every pedal too. 

johnmontana

Disappointing: Vemuram TSV 808 - The most expensive piece of..nothing special. The Ibanez TS mini is just as good, for about £400 less.

Pleasing: Ibanez TS mini, Boss BD 2 - could do any type of gig any style, just pairing up these two.

DrJazzTap

Most disappointing- arion compressor. Sounded like crap, i thought "mij, it must be amazing....nah"

Most impressive-  the ibanez csl chorus i scored for a tenner from ebay. Sounded ace, sold and then lost by royal mail.

StruanRobertson

Most disappointing for me was the Stone Deaf PDF 2 - I couldn’t find any useable tones. On reflection, I think it needed stacking with other ODs...

Most impressive is the Crazy Tube Circuits White Whale. Proper spring reverb, just so natural and lush. Obviously much less versatile than the Strymon Flint, but so much more fun.

richman6100

BintyTwanger77 said:

Disappointing:

Source Audio Ventris - apart from the True Spring, just didn’t do it for me. Found it tricky to dial in a good wet/dry mix, and sounded very mid-heavy when I tried to set a big reverb. Very disappointing for the ££.

Genuinely surprised at this. I had the excellent Neunaber Immerse before the Ventris and I found the latter even better, which is saying something because the Immerse is very good indeed. I did tweak the Ventris in the Neuro desktop editor a bit, but not much. I found the wet/dry mix really good and it's one of the digital pedals that I'm most satisfied with. I understand that this is all very personal and subjective, but I'm really pleased with mine.

Teetonetal

Most disappointing the obne procession. I think I had a sound I thought it was going to be and it was way off the mark.

Best... Well the one I enjoy the most is the mercury 7. The one I used the most was the soul food.

WiresDreamDisasters

Gotta fly the flag for the Strymon Big Sky tonight. Been so impressed with it over the weekend!

Lesgrandepotato

I’ve just bought a Hog 2, I have a distinct feeling it’s going to be either brilliant or deeply deeply terrible. Paired with a flanger hoax I reckon I’ve got miscellaneous hooting and squalking noises covered. 

Majorscale

Worst pedal I bought overall : Keeley Monterey (great idea, terrible tones)

By effect type:

Drive
Disappointing - Keeley D&M Drive
Best - Hudson Sidecar

Fuzz
Disappointing - Vick Audio 73 Rams Head
Best - Fulltone Octafuzz

Reverb
Disappointing - Red Panda Context
Best - Mr. Black Supermoon (black version)

Delay
Disappointing - MXR Carbon Copy Bright
Best - Providence Chrono

Modulation
Disappointing - Longamp Roxanne Flanger
Best - Analogman Chorus

Dopesick

Most disappointing 

EQD Afterneath - Not sure what all the fuss is about. The Tera Echo does kinda the same thing but much better. Plus it made some horrendous squealing noises.
OCD - Just a white box of ‘meh’. Sounded average on it’s own but made all my other drives/amp sound like shit.

Most impressive

Wampler Terraform - A recent purchase, almost every algorithm is utterly fantastic. I almost gave up on multi modulation pedals after the DD-200 but this is worth every penny.
EQD Levitation - I was not a reverb person for a long time and never knew I needed one, until I got this about a year ago. It sounds like heaven in a box. 

joetele

Dopesick said:

Most disappointing 

EQD Afterneath - Not sure what all the fuss is about. The Tera Echo does kinda the same thing but much better. Plus it made some horrendous squealing noises.
OCD - Just a white box of ‘meh’. Sounded average on it’s own but made all my other drives/amp sound like shit.

Most impressive

Wampler Terraform - A recent purchase, almost every algorithm is utterly fantastic. I almost gave up on multi modulation pedals after the DD-200 but this is worth every penny.
EQD Levitation - I was not a reverb person for a long time and never knew I needed one, until I got this about a year ago. It sounds like heaven in a box. 

I was disappointed in the Afterneath too - more because I just don't think it's the reverb sound I'd been looking for. Shame really, as most EQD pedals are really good and you can understand the acclaim. The Space Spiral is fantastic. 

markv

Loving how subjective this all is! fwiw, my nominations are:

Most impressive:

• EHX Soul Food. Just makes everything sound better. Only replaced years later, when I got a Fredric King of Klone.
• Strymon DIG. Hours and hours of fun!
  

Most disappointing:

• MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe. I was hoping this would be just like the original CC, which I loved, but with more. But it doesn't sound the same at all, to me, plus it has a very narrow range of usable sounds.
• MXR Phase 90 block logo (M-101). I was looking forward to having such a classic, but it always distorted - until you remove the R28 resistor (the script mod), at which point it becomes OK.

There's a number of pedals I was disappointed to find didn't really work for me or my setup - but that's no reflection on the pedals themselves, of course, whereas I think the two above have fundamental design flaws (imo).

gatheredinsong

You've helped me conclude that my block MXR Phase 100 might be my most disappointing purchase... preferred the Akai phaser I had before it. All three phasers since were much more to my liking (Grand Orbiter, Deluxe Moon Phaser and Little Miss Sunshine - I eventually decided to give the classic Phase 90 sound another go but the Phase 100 put me off for years). 

markv

gatheredinsong said:

You've helped me conclude that my block MXR Phase 100 might be my most disappointing purchase... preferred the Akai phaser I had before it. All three phasers since were much more to my liking (Grand Orbiter, Deluxe Moon Phaser and Little Miss Sunshine - I eventually decided to give the classic Phase 90 sound another go but the Phase 100 put me off for years). 

I absolutely bought the Phase 90 with my eyes. I was getting back into guitar and it one of the first pedals I bought. I A/B'd it with an EHX Nano Small Stone but the MXR looked sooooo nice and is a classic. I was really disappointed to find I couldn't make it clean up. In fairness, with drive or fuzz, it sounds very cool.

My favourite phaser was a Ken Multi Phaser I had donkey's years ago. Probably a BOSS clone of some sort!