James... « Tubescreamer sounds and more »
Published on 08/04/11 at 11:37The premise of this pedal is fairly simple. It's a tubescreamer with a blendable clean boost. In that respect, the value is really good. Voodoo labs makes quality products and I've never had any trouble with their stuff. I know a lot of people argue about which opamp the sparkle drive uses and personally I think it's pointless. There have been countless debunkings of the opamp myth. It's time to let it die. A good TS circuit is a good TS circuit. The opamp doesn't matter. Controls are simple. It has the typical vol/treb/gain of the TS and the clean boost knob.
UTILIZATION
It's not too hard to use. Just plug in and start turning knobs. I kind of wish it was a smaller foot print, but the pedal feels well built so I'll live with it. The switch and knobs feel solid. I've never had trouble with mine.
SOUND QUALITY
I use mine with a variety of guitars through a Matchless Spitfire most of the time. I have used tons of overdrives. It's hard for me to find one I like these days. They all tend to make amps sound thin or bloated. I didn't like the sparkle drive at first and I came close to getting rid of it. I felt like it sounded the same on a lot of settings. But as I began to really play with the clean boost knob I realized that was the key to getting different sounds. With the knob high up, you get some neutral light overdrives. Turn the boost down and it takes on more of a grinding TS character. I generally find this pedal exceeds in low gain overdrive settings. When I need to give my amp just a little push....this is the one I go to.
OVERALL OPINION
This is a surprisingly versatile pedal that can do a lot, but I think it does best for slight boosts. It can't do the high gain thing too well. That's just not what it's for. I know a lot of people use these as an "always on" pedal. I can see that too. For the money you get a lot of functionality. I almost want 2.
UTILIZATION
It's not too hard to use. Just plug in and start turning knobs. I kind of wish it was a smaller foot print, but the pedal feels well built so I'll live with it. The switch and knobs feel solid. I've never had trouble with mine.
SOUND QUALITY
I use mine with a variety of guitars through a Matchless Spitfire most of the time. I have used tons of overdrives. It's hard for me to find one I like these days. They all tend to make amps sound thin or bloated. I didn't like the sparkle drive at first and I came close to getting rid of it. I felt like it sounded the same on a lot of settings. But as I began to really play with the clean boost knob I realized that was the key to getting different sounds. With the knob high up, you get some neutral light overdrives. Turn the boost down and it takes on more of a grinding TS character. I generally find this pedal exceeds in low gain overdrive settings. When I need to give my amp just a little push....this is the one I go to.
OVERALL OPINION
This is a surprisingly versatile pedal that can do a lot, but I think it does best for slight boosts. It can't do the high gain thing too well. That's just not what it's for. I know a lot of people use these as an "always on" pedal. I can see that too. For the money you get a lot of functionality. I almost want 2.