Voodoo Lab

I was intrigued by the Sparkle Drive when it first came out. I liked the idea of being able to mix in the clean sound along with the overdriven sound of the pedal. I could see the potential of being able to marry the two sounds, but it was several years before I got the chance to try it out. My first experience with this type of effect was with the Glimmer Drive e-pedal for the iStomp by Digitech. I loved the effect, and it was one of the sounds that drove me from multi-effects to the individual pedal format. The problem with the iStomp was that since it was entirely digital it didn’t do the overdrive very well, and it didn’t react with the other pedals the way you expect an overdrive pedal to react. So I went shopping. I knew of the Sparkle Drive, and learned about the Mod variation plus Visual Sound (the company is now called Truetone) had introduced the Route 66 V3 that could blend the overdrive sound with the clean tone. I liked the Route 66, but I didn’t need a compressor since I don’t use one (if I had a dollar for every double pedal that only has half of what I want I’d be rich). The Route 66 was slightly larger in size so I focused on the Sparkle Drive by Voodoo Lab. I ultimately decided on the Mod version of the pedal since it offered extra voicings, and with it being the same size as the original version and only about $20 more it seemed like the right choice. I own a vintage Ibanez TS-808, and the Sparkle Drive Mod’s circuit that is based on this classic is dead on. The Lead, Rhythm, and High Gain, mods all are very different, and give you more flavors to play with. Most of the time I use the TS-808 voicing, and switch it over to the lead tone every once in a while during the set. This change needs to be done by turning the Mod knob, and cannot be done with a footswitch. The other knobs on the pedal are Gain, Tone, Clean, and Volume, which are all pretty self-explanatory except the Clean. The Clean is how you mix the clean with the overdriven tone. The clean can be turned down to “0” giving you the overdriven sound only, or to “10” which is the clean sound only. So it can be a more traditional overdrive pedal, or a clean boost depending on how this knob is set. I use it with the clean set at about 11 o’clock, which gives the overdrive quite a bit of articulation to picked passages. My gain is set very low at about 7 o’clock, I use this pedal to kick up parts that are more to the clean side of tone. You can use this pedal anyway you want, but this is the way I like it. The pedal looks fantastic with the plexi top panel. The input, output, and external power jack, are all at the top of the pedal which is great for saving space on a pedalboard. The footswitch is very smooth, and relatively noiseless. It is true-bypass in case that is important to you. You can power it with a battery, but I’ve always had it hooked up to an external power supply so I don’t know about battery life. My only gripe with the pedal is that it seems overly large. It is not enormous, but it seems it could be done in a small platform. I could be wrong about that since I don’t know much about the electronics that make a pedal tick. This is counteracted by the fact the Mod knob gives you four different voicings to choose from. Overall I love this pedal. It is a great TS-808 clone with enough changes to make it unique compared to the original overdrive pedal. I have read about other guitarists not knowing how to use the clean portion of it, but I find that you can use it to give some hair to a clean passage or clarity to an overdriven part. Being able to mix in the clean allows the amp to shine letting its voice to be heard clearly (or cleanly).

The Voodoo Lab Wahzoo is one of those products that does a few things and does it exceedingly well. It's a vintage sounding wah pedal on one setting, and auto wah on the next and a programmable step filter on the third setting. It has 1/4 inch jacks for in and out as well as one for a tap tempo switch. Also it is powered via external supply only. On top of the pedal you have the auto wah sensitivity switch, step filter selector for 4 presets. And the on/off stomp switch. UTILIZATION The wah and auto wah mode are obvious enough. For the Step filter the manual explains how to program and store your own presets in easy steps. SOUND QUALITY In wah mode it sounds very much like the real McCoy (pun intended). Unlike other current productions I tried that claim to faithfully recreated a Clyde wah this one actually does sound like one with all the vocal qualities associated with it. For 70s Funk stuff the auto-wah is what the doctor ordered, it bubbles, it percolates and best of all depending on the setting of the pedal you can reverse the starting point, i.e. have the signal's filter envelope go up or down For the ultimate in fun use the Step filter. Here you can program up to 30 steps of a sequential on/off type of sequencer sound. Those then can be stored in one of 4 presets.The pedal will be your tempo control, for more exact tempo needs you can attach a tap tempo switch to the pedal which for me was a must have. OVERALL OPINION Even when I use a rack set-up with nothing in the front of the stage than a midi switcher and continuos controllers, this is the only pedal that I will put down because I have not heard anything that does what the Wahzoo does as convincing. The only down side it can think of s that it doesn't run on batteries, but since most folks likely will put it on thei pedal board and running it from their power supply brik that is a very small niggle.

The Voodoo Lab Amp Selector is a simple device that can bring you a long way if you have a few different amplifiers and want to use them either simultaneously or switch between them. This is better than most A/B selectors out there because you can use up to four amps at once! Each of the four channels has it's own independent volume control and a foot switch for each to go along with it. It has a variety of connections to work with, and also allows for the separate output of a tuner or effects. It's really a simple pedal controller but it can do a lot for guitarists who are playing a lot of shows in larger venues and might have a few amplifiers to work with. It can serve as your ultimate one stop shop for controlling your amps. The Voodoo Lab Amp Selector definitely isn't for everyone as not too many guitarists will have four amps at once happening. Most will have two at most, and a much simpler A/B box will do the job just fine for that as it will save you money and make your rig less convoluted. If you think you might expand, this will probably be a good idea to pick up at some point or another. It's not going to be totally necessary anywhere outside playing live shows as that's really where it's best suited. The price isn't as cheap as I thought it would be, but for a professional it's still not too costly considering there aren't too many pedals of it's kind out there. It's very well built and should last a lifetime as long as it's treated properly, so if you need a four way amp selector, the Voodoo Lab Amp Selector is going to be the go to pedal.

The Voodoo Lab Tremolo pedal is a guitar pedal that can be used with any electronic instrument in addition to an electric guitar. The pedal is an analog one and has standard 1/4 inch connections. I'm not sure the exact voltage on the pedal, but I used a power supply that was suited specifically for it. This isn't a rack mountable piece of gear as it is a foot pedal. UTILIZATION Using the Voodoo Lab Tremolo pedal isn't complicated at all as it has some standard parameters. It has knobs for intensity, slope, speed, and volume and all are easily accessed and manipulated. These parameters definitely provide enough control over your sound to make it possible to get a wide selection of different tremolo and vibrato tones. This is pretty much a fool proof pedal to use and even if you aren't familiar with what the parameters will do before hand, playing around with them for a few minutes will give you some ideas. I've never seen the manual for this pedal so I can't say how well put together it is or not. SOUND QUALITY I'm definitely a big fan of the way the Voodoo Lab Tremolo pedal sounds as it not only has a great deal of versatility, but has a clean tone across the board no matter how you set the parameters. I use the pedal whenever I don't have access to a Fender amp with vibrato, and generally play a Fender Stratocaster with it. I love the sounds that I'm able to get with this pedal and it is one of the better tremolo pedals that I have used out there... OVERALL OPINION If you are looking for a tremolo pedal that is versatile and has a great tone quality, the Voodoo Lab Tremolo pedal needs to be in the discussion. While there are certainly other tremolo pedals out there that have comparable sound quality and even better, this pedal is absolutely worthy of a try. The price isn't too expensive and it is built like a brick so as long as you treat it reasonably well it should last a while. All in all, if you are looking for a great sounding tremolo pedal and don't already have vibrato or tremolo on your amp, this pedal is a popular item for a good reason.

The System Mix Plus (SM+) is the heart of your rack setup. They are no longer produced and are hard to find but they are worth the price. I have been using mine for years and it's a great unit. It is the heart of my rack and I'm not even using all the possibilities it gives you. I used to run it as a rack interface but no longer do that, it worked great for that though. Then, it has a dual stereo mixer on board, allowing you to run fx in parallel, series or both with your dry tone. The mixer part is the same as the Voodoo Lab Dual Line mixer and works and sounds great. It also has a VCA on board, this is a midi-controllable volume pot. You can control the volume of the signal running thru the VCA via your midi-board. I use this as the overall master for my setup, I have it patched after the preamp and before FX so if I turn down the volume, I still have the trails from delay and reverb. Stuff I'm not using, or not often use, are the balanced outputs L+R with speaker simulation (works good, sounds ok), the feed-thrus and the ability to plug in headphones for late night playing. My signal path runs from the pre-amp into the VCA which acts as my master volume. Then into MIX1. In Mix1 I have a FX processor, in Mix2 I have another one. The output of the mixer is then send to my power amp. Having the VCA after the preamp and before fx allows me to do volume swells and shut down the volume while still having the delay and reverb trails. The manual is very good and explains it all. Like I said, hard to find but worth the price. If mine died, I'd be in trouble because it does so much in my rig, it is hard to replace.

The Micro Vibe is Voodoo Lab recreation of the original Dunlop Univibe from the 60's and 70's that replicated the effect of a rotating speaker cabinet. It was most famously used by artists such as Jimi Hendrix and others as as well. Voodoo Lab has created a fine product here, by offering a pedal that is 100 percent analog and even hand-wired, with true bypass. Pedals like this should make pedal-loving players drool. The Micro Vibe accepts 9V batteries, and is packaged in a rugged metal casing that embodies simplicity. UTILIZATION It doesn't get simpler than this, The Micro Vibe has two knobs, for "intensity" and "speed". To state the obvious, the "intensity" knob controls the depth or degree of roatary speaker effect, and the "speed" controls the relative speed of the rotating speaker. No manual needed. Plug and play. SOUND QUALITY If you like psychadelia, or even just classic rock you can appreciate what a rotary effect can do to space out your sound. Well, the Micro Vibe definitely delivers. It can offer you a subtle chorusy tremolo sound, all the way to a deep swirling pulse that is lush, earthy, and organic sounding. Unlike a lot of the hand-wired pedals from the 70's, this one is a bit more predictable; you CAN'T get a bad sound out of this box. It does what its supposed to, and not much else. Playing with the speed dial will give you some eerie sounds, but nothing too crazy. Its just a good all-around tremolo pedal that is quite good at recreating the Univibe sound, which is something even the Univibe reissues don't really do. Voodoo Lab knows what they are doing. This pedal interacted nicely with my small tube combo and my other floor effects, like placing distortion in front brings out a bit more of the modulation/phaser sound. Add in a delay and it gets spacier, a flanger and it gets downright scary-wierd quick. OVERALL OPINION Pitting this pedal against the Fulltone Mini Deka Vibe, or other even more expensive tremolos- its hard to pick a winner on sound alone. But the Micro Vibe is seriously awesome contruction, and it is dirt cheap compared to the others being only 150 or so. So its a pretty easy choice to make for me. I love this thing. Its one of the pedal purchases that I feel the best about in a long time.

The 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.

The GCX is a good quality router, there are better options available but they are way more expensive. The GCX has 8 loops, each one has a input-output and a send-return. This will allow you to do more than just looping/racking pedals or fx. The loops can also be used as switches e.g. to switch channels on your amp. You can also use them to a/b between amps or preamps. The way to connect your GCX highly depends on how you want to use it, however, the manual is very well written and clear so you shouldn't have a problem hooking it up. On the front panel, you have 2 inputs that can be used as feed thrus. There are a couple of different versions available, some older GCXs had a guitar input, this one could only be used front-to-back. The input on the right has a buffer, which you may or may not like, if you don't, you can plug straight into loop1 or use the other feed thru. If you want to use it to loop pedals, you will need a number of short cables to patch from 1 loop to the other. Some people are modding their GCX internally so they don't need the short cables but this way, you can no longer use the loops for switching or a/b-functions. I always ran mine with pedals sitting on a shelf, 6-7 of them and this worked flawlessly. The GCX only responds to Midi CC commands so you will need a midi-controller that can send sufficient CCs and preferably has instant access switches. You don’t have to buy the Ground Control pro but the 2 units were made for each other. I used the GCX with a Rocktron All Access and that works fine too. Price/quality wise, the GCX is really good. Not to many options out there so choose the one you want, the GCX gets recommended and is used by a lot of people.

The VL Line mixer is a 9.5" sized mixer. It is a stereo mixer with 2 mixes so you can run your fx units in parallel, series or a combination. It is powered by 9vAC and comes with a power supply. It's a bulky one which is a bit annoying. The manual that comes with it explains clearly and detailed how to hook everything up. It’s fairly straightforward and if you are considering this unit, you probably are well aware of how it works. I would suggest to buy a separate power supply for it, Voodoo Lab make a couple that should work because the one that comes with the unit is really big and can cause noise in your rack. I used mine to run 3 different units with it. I had a Roland RSP 550 in Mix one. This one was doing some delays and chorus sounds most of the time. In mix 2 I had a TC M-one for reverb and micro pitch shifting (chorus-like) and a TC D-Two for delays. This worked great and the sound was very nice. It allowed me to have chorus on the delays and verbs but still keep the clarity of the dry tone as you are actually ADDING the fx sounds to the dry tones. I only sold it because I was able to get a Voodoo Lab System Mix Plus which has the same mixer but a load of other useful features. Voodoo Lab is no longer making these units, which is a pitty. There aren't many options if you want a line mixer for your rack and a 9.5" unit is cool. I don’t think many of these are around so finding one will not be easy but they pop up on Ebay on occasion so keep an eye out if you are in the market for one.

The Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus is a power supply that can take up to 8 different effects pedals. It only cost around 150 dollars, and it has short circuit protection from burn outs and all the outputs are isolated. It is very quite with low noise and provides a lot of power for a little device. It will only take a few minutes to set up your Power 2 Plus and have it running, I am extremely happy to use this and it has become one of the best smaller purchases that I have made for our band. I have tried many other similar power supplies but none from Voodoo, I was really surprised with how well built the Power 2 Plus actually is. For the price of it I expected to get something a lot cheaper built. The short circuit protection on the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 is a must have for us because from time to time some of our pedals may have some sort of an issue, but on this device if there is an issue the Pedal Power 2 Plus will automatically shut of for a while to make sure the unit doesn’t get damaged. There are no interactions between pedals because everything is isolated, the power supply for each pedal will not be the same which keeps everything separate and running seamlessly. The Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 comes with more cords than I expected, it has right angle connectors , straight connectors , the 9v battery and a few other cords. It comes with everything you need to just plug in and play and not have to worry about reading manuals or trouble shooting. It is very easy to use and it will last you a lifetime! I recommend this to anyone that is a guitar player, you will need to add this to your set up and let it power your pedals. It is very quite and will remove your ground noise.

I got the voodoo lab superfuzz from guitar center hollywood and paid $100 for it. This pedal has awesome tone, you can go from light fuzz to light overdrive to heavy fuzz and overdrive. Definitly has sweet spots. The footswitch on the pedal is kind of messed up. Sometimes when I push it, it goes really loud or really quiet. Also, the resonance control is pretty weak, its hard to tell a difference unless you have it all the way up all the way down or in the middle. This pedal is very sturdy the only problem with it is the footswitch. Overall it's tone is very good, voodoo lab spend an extra 50 cents and buy a better foot switch! This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Voodoo Lap Power Pedal 2 power supply is designed for use with effects pedals and will work with just about any pedal that requires nine volts of power. I've never been in a situation where it didn't work for a pedal that I was trying to use and I've used it with Boss, Ibanez, and a number of other brands of pedals. I would double check to make sure that your pedal will be compatible with this power supply, but it should work with any pedal that needs nine volts of power. I have also used this in tandem with the daisy chain and it does a great job as I don't get any extraneous noise coming from the power supply as I often do with other power supplies. It is also great that this isn't a huge wall wart power supply as it easily fits on a power strip without covering up other inputs. Another good thing about the Voodoo Lap Power Pedal 2 is that the chord is extremely long and will reach quite far. With other power supplies I found myself not being able to reach and having to move my pedals, which can be a major hassle while trying to set up quickly on stage. Beyond these nice features, this is a simple power supply and will definitely do the job that it advertises to do. The price of the Voodoo Lap Power Pedal 2 is about the same price as a Boss power supply, but is will only take up a single spot on your power source and in my opinion just feels a lot sturdier than other power supplies that I have used in the past. If you have a bunch of pedals that require nine volt power I would definitely recommend picking up the Voodoo Lap Power Pedal 2 and the daisy chain as it is probably the best option out there in terms of powering your standard size power supplies.