Electro-Harmonix East River Drive

I did not own a TS808 clone as such - I had a couple typical ODs and transparent ODs and was quite happy with them. There weren't too may online demos of the East River Drive (ERD) and not any dissenting voices, so I took advantage of my Thomann review voucher and grabbed the ERD for just £10 of actual money!

I was quite excited about getting this for some reason - maybe because it had great graphics! All my other pedals are rather plain by comparison.

As usual it arrived within 3/4 days and in good shape. I set about trying out some settings and combinations of equipment and it stood up well to anything it was played with and put through - even some stacking - particularly with a Joyo Deluxe Crunch - massive room/stage filling presence.

The most exciting find for me was that with a Gibson Les Paul and a Cornford EL34 equipped Roadhouse amp, it is classic early 1970s Marshall tone. Think Spiders from Mars' Mick Ronson, Hawkwind, Humble Pie etc. Massive square-toned Marshall drive - lovely!

As per usual, I am of the habit of taking pics of the settings that sound best for me against the specific gear and then print these out and place them in a folder for an 'at a glance' guide. What often becomes apparent is that the same dial shapes appear over and over again. Is true here too but no matter where this pedal is dialed you get great usable tone.

I use it primarily powered via a Soundlab Pedal Power supply, where it is noiseless switching and operation

boss-pedals.jimdo.com

This is the classic huh. For overdrive three buttons enough and it has amply demonstrated its effectiveness. That the analog (for a quality drive is required).

UTILIZATION

The manual is brief but you know what you're dealing with. Just an amazing thing to know, cutting the volume pedal below the first quarter. Bizarre but to know before returning to default. After the first is that because of the boost (more or less depending on the clean gain adjustment otherwise).
In my case I find it somewhat remarkable visual side but at this price, the boxes are all the same at Electro Harmonix. There's the sticker that changes. It reduces production costs and it's all good for the consumer wallet. Unlike Boss assembles in China more expensive concepts with at least doubtful (series WAZA EG).

SOUND QUALITY

So first of all I have owned many overdrives I use more to boost the saturation of my amp Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister 36 that already has a boost. So to be clear I had a Boss SD-1, a OD9 Maxon TS808 and I could also try a home EHX Soul Food (the seller sent the next day) and a Fulltone OCD and finally Xotic SL Drive (very good in booster as simulation of a Marshall Plexi) and finally the last one I sold was Audiofanzine on an EP Booster Xotic home forever. So here's the EP booster was fine but both easily accessible internal switches quickly made me regret the SL Drive which in my opinion is as well and is more customizable. But having been able to test all these pedals never find exactly shoe to my foot (leap year term) made me look into the TS9 EHX Version (same chip coveted by connoisseurs) and thence two seconds I knew we would be friends. Maxon a more defined and more creamy and it is exactly what I wanted. Finally a TS9 which is unobtrusive but one that also knows how terribly booster amp already saturated. The rendering is more clear and defined and that's all I wanted. I use it to his sound for the next Vintage AC / DC and Led Zep. Regarding Guns N 'Roses, Maiden Scorpions or I stay with the boost of my amp only.

OVERALL OPINION

Then I had a terrible luck friends. In fact I ordered a pedal Line6 M5 just for reverbs and MIDI connection and the pedal on the Musicstore site that had a labeling error and I only paid 44 €. That said for € 11 more it is worth all the Tube Screamers the world in my opinion.
I use it recently but have had an overdrive range before as I said above, I know it's the good stuff. Above all, it's like quality cables ... These are not the most expensive are necessarily the best. Do as I use Mogami 2524 to € 3.20 per meter. It is all horrible Monster Cables.

Overdriven analog TS with volume, tone and drive. EHX nano size, a bit in the alloy chelou pedals EHX recent years. To be very picky, I find in general that the new EHX pedals do not generate the same feeling "invulnerability" that MXR models or TC Electronic, but that's just my feeling (and I'm still 4!).

I find the decor on the facade super class, but that too is subjective! Otherwise, RAS, standard.

UTILIZATION

Setup could not be more simple, I do not dwell on it.

SOUND QUALITY

I play a strat equipped with EMG SA. I was looking for an overdrive "Crader" slightly my clean sound. I was a little afraid of the side too medium and low light loss of SC.

The East River is a great tool. We're really in the spirit TS, but more versatile because the tone is very effective. In the first quarter was slobbering and loaded bass from 9am to 2am it is in equilibrium with senior brightened up just what it takes and mediums beyond 3 hours we arrive in this very acute.

That tone is really the pedal force, ca allows it to stick to any guitar or amp, I think, a little more than sitting in the bottom of the spectrum than TS. This is exactly what was looking for but it is taken into account according to your expectations.

The gain is also very flattering and goes further than the TS. We go from clean to slightly colored good overdrive Burne families. Gain donf, it is the AC-DC doors wholesale.

EMG SA is active pickups with a large volume of output compared to traditional strat pickups, the gain of the pedal is almost always mininimum and I ZE SOUND I was looking for.

Blues, rock, rhythm, solo, frankly everything goes without mouffeter is a treat. We can make felted Gilmour, of the dirty Frusciante, the drooling to Bonamossa, it's really crazy.

She also performs great as a booster or supplement a distortion. In my case, I plugged behind a big muff. It provides a better definition to the fuzz.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for two months, it is so good I'll take a 2nd to stop changing my settings. 110 balls 2, it's still cheaper than a TS .

Joking aside, I'm not knocking the original TS which are excellent pedals and remain a bit above in a purely blues record.

For cons, I do not see how a better quality-price-versatility, really report.

Given the price, the risk is very limited and you will not be disappointed. Go ahead try it!