Anticipated Pedal, Turned Out to Be Meh?

[andrewsrea]

Since this area is designated for 'reviews,' I was wondering if anyone has a pedal or two (a build or a buy) which you really thought was going to be great, but turned out 'meh'?

For me, I build a Wampler Tweed '57 clone which I like the graphics I came up with, but cannot gel with the pedal. All the videos of the pedal sounded close to a Tweed amp, which I have repaired dozens and have built a few clones (my AMI-20 pictured below). I've tried different bias settings and it just doesn't sound musical to my ears.

 

[HamishR]

Wampler Pantheon. I can't get a sound I like out of it. Same with the Wampler Plexidrive. And any of the bigger Friedman overdrives.

There are many pedals which I have thought were meh but those ones I had high hopes for. I did like the one Friedman amp I have tried though - a Dirty Shirley. It was the little one with a 10" speaker. Great amp!

 

[Stickman393]

Recovery FX bad comrade.

Small builder out of Washington state, does some interesting stuff. This particular pedal is a fuzzy beast based off a PT2399 that's been circuit bent to hell.

Thing is, as much as I love shit that mangles my signal, it just wasn't as controllable as I was hoping for. Can't use it.

The Shortwave is *chefs kiss* though.

 

[andrewsrea]

Recovery FX bad comrade.

Small builder out of Washington state, does some interesting stuff. This particular pedal is a fuzzy beast based off a PT2399 that's been circuit bent to hell.

Thing is, as much as I love shit that mangles my signal, it just wasn't as controllable as I was hoping for. Can't use it.

The Shortwave is *chefs kiss* though.

I repair music equipment and one of my clients tries things and flips them, letting me try them before they go. I've encountered effects like this and think I actually tried one. They are often clever and original, but like you - I struggle to find a musical application for them.

 

[tegendemuur]

Death By Audio Interstellar Overdriver Deluxe... Couldn't get a sound out of it that I enjoyed. And EHX Oceans 12, which, due to clipping issues, couldn't be trusted to do its job in the background.