Unmask the hype! Pedals that disappointed you

[Jimi75]

Hey friends,

I could imagine that everyone of us has already been trapped by some magazine's high gloss adds and schmeared reviews.

If was to pick out one product that received reviews that sounded like the conquering campaign of a unique tone soldier than it has to be the Fulltone Fulldrive II.

I was already a little bit sceptic that I couldn't find a good soundclip on the internet and also the videos on YouTube made my hair stand on end.

Yesterday, I went to my local store and I am currently looking for a good overdrive pedal and wanted to assure myself personally of the "real" quality of that pedal.

Conclusion:
I am disappointed. It sounded pretty crappy for the fact that it costs a little fortune.

Checked the Fulltone OCD which has half the features and it was great!

Anyway, the FFDII which is supposed to be a kind of TS808 sounded lightyears worse than my TS9 and TS808!

Have you ever made such experiences with so called boutique stuff?

[Robert]

That's why many go for da Bad Monkey! Have you tried it Jimi? It sounds great with my Vox.

I haven't tried many boutique pedals, but I can imagine all of them aren't amazing.

[Jimi75]

That's why many go for da Bad Monkey! Have you tried it Jimi? It sounds great with my Vox.

I haven't tried many boutique pedals, but I can imagine all of them aren't amazing.

I have heard the Bad Monkey in the Dolphinstreet clips and I wanted to test it yesterday, but I had my 5 year old son with me, so I completely forget about the BM!!!

I will try the monkey. Not only the soundclips on th Digitech site sounded great, but your clips, too!

[Spudman]

You know, I have the Fulldrive II and while it sounds similar to the Bad Monkey there is just something about it that keeps me coming back to it. I can't explain it but my stuff just sounds really good with it engaged. It seems as if it is more subtle than other OD pedals and maybe that's what attracts me to it.

[Iago]

The sound clips at the Fulltone website sound great (well... of course hehehe) I saw some videos of it on Youtube not very long ago and I heard nothing special about it actually (maybe because the demo guy wasnt playing with a 57 strat on a full-volume vintage Marshall JTM 45 like Mike Fuller does hahahaha..) I almost bought one used for 100$ last year. I'm glad I didn't.

Can a good player, using any analog OD pedal have a bad tone thru that set? :D

[elavd]

Take a look at this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieE3jov2nx8

Ross Bolton (great funk guitarist) presents the Xotic BB Preamp pedal.

As far as I can hear, it seems a great pedal...

Also take a look at the other videos of this pedal on YouTube, as also the list of players that use it (if this means really something to you...):

http://www.prosoundcommunications.com/english/xotic/effects/bb_preamp/

[Tone2TheBone]

My disapointment was the OCD pedal....

[LagrangeCalvert]

Well...I guess I'm the weird one: Mine was the TS-808 at least when it was compared to a couple other pedals...I brought my own guitar and played through a similar amp and all.....but the BBE green screamer ran circles around it and the rest of the TS pedals.....

Now the pedal that shocked me the most was the the EHX english Muff'n....that pedal rocks for SS amp owners. Sorry for rambling.... another let down pedal to me was the Fender mock up pedals of the bassman and the twin reverb....Gar-bage. They do no more than color the amp in the wrong way...you can do the same thing with any contour or bass/mid/treble pots on the amps....buy an eq pedal and just turn your amp up and get some clip!

Threadjack done...sorry

[Spudman]

My biggest disappointment was the Seymour Duncan Tweak Fuzz. I watched the video with Blues Saraceno and thought it sounded good, but when I got it home I couldn't get it to deliver the goods. Fastest pedal turnaround I've had yet.

[Robert]

Maybe this thread should be called "the worst pedal you've ever played?"...

[Spudman]

Maybe this thread should be called "the worst pedal you've ever played?"...

Well, all the pedals listed certainly have had plenty of hype and let us down.:confused:

[Ro3b]

I knew a guy who had a Boss Super Distortion & Feedbacker, which was just about the silliest thing I've ever seen.

Tone, could you elaborate on your OCD experience? I really like mine.

[Jimi75]

Yeah, I really meant pedals that where hyped beyond believe not the regular Dunlop Crybaby or so.

To the OCD users/owners.

Could you please post clips dry/wet and tell us about the settings?

That would be great.

[333maxwell]

Hey friends,

I could imagine that everyone of us has already been trapped by some magazine's high gloss adds and schmeared reviews.

If was to pick out one product that received reviews that sounded like the conquering campaign of a unique tone soldier than it has to be the Fulltone Fulldrive II.

I was already a little bit sceptic that I couldn't find a good soundclip on the internet and also the videos on YouTube made my hair stand on end.

Yesterday, I went to my local store and I am currently looking for a good overdrive pedal and wanted to assure myself personally of the "real" quality of that pedal.

Conclusion:
I am disappointed. It sounded pretty crappy for the fact that it costs a little fortune.

Checked the Fulltone OCD which has half the features and it was great!

Anyway, the FFDII which is supposed to be a kind of TS808 sounded lightyears worse than my TS9 and TS808!

Have you ever made such experiences with so called boutique stuff?

The original 'blue tube' was kind of a dissapointment to me..

I even spent an hour on the phone with the guy who designed it..

He agreed, the marketing did not live up to the realitys..

Not to say he didn't create a fine little box.. and it sure spawned a lot from the competitors later..

God, that was at least 15 years ago..

I have learned a lot about the differences in pre-amp and post amp tones since then..

_________

That being said, I have the lil Seymour DUncan Twin tube... and they hardly market it.. and it is a dandy..

[pes_laul]

my dissapointment was the zoom gix pedal it sounded good for about a month then the electronics just shut down and the expression pedal was reaslly stiff right now i just got a floor pod by line 6

[Tone2TheBone]

I knew a guy who had a Boss Super Distortion & Feedbacker, which was just about the silliest thing I've ever seen.

Tone, could you elaborate on your OCD experience? I really like mine.

I plugged in an American Strat through the OCD and into a Hot Rod Deluxe amp over at a local shop in town. Amp settings were all straight up on the tone controls and I got a spanking good clean sound from just the HRD. I tried the pedal with the settings all up at noon and then played and then kinda messed with the low and high power toggle settings on the OCD. Then I messed with the drive level. The pedal looked good with the cool little toggle and the blue LED but I honestly thought my old Bad Monkey pedal sounded better and even delivered better overdrive. I expected more overdrive from the OCD pedal and that's why I was disapointed. I didn't play it with a bit of grit already coming from the amp and if you use yours in this manner then yeah it probably might sound good. What I was looking for was a pedal that would provide rich overdrive from a really clean sounding setting. In comparison Duhvoodooman's Zonkin' Yellow Screamer delivers the sound I had in mind. On really clean sounds you can get that sucker to smoke creamy richness with tons of sustain...or you can back off the drive and get the classic amp breakup sound. That's what I expected from the OCD and didn't get.