Pedal that most disappointed you vs. pedal that most surprised you?

[hamerfan]

I was in the gimme-a-guitar-an-amp-camp for years. I had a Klone clone and a Zendrive, but i only used one of them for boosting my only solo in the set. A year ago i discovered the DIY pedal hole. So not too much experience here.
But to all the TS and Treblebooster haters and lovers: I use use both but with different guitars. The Treblebooster (Dragons Breath) with the Les Paul and the TS (in fact the Aion Cirrus, a ST-9 clon with mid sweep control) with the Strat as a kind of pre boost and toneshape. Each for its own!
Dissapointments: so far only the Klon. Every other of my Overdrives does more and better than the Klon.
Surprises: bought a cheap rat (sonicake Rude Mouse) just for s&g. Wow! Next build will be the Lab Rat (Thanks to Steve).

 

[eh là bas ma]

I've never understood a pedal with presence and treble. On an amp maybe I get it because they operate on completely different parts of the circuit. But on a pedal it's basically having two treble controls.

I'd say the catalinbread 5F6 (Tweed Man Overdrive) is a good exemple to hear the difference between Treble and Presence controls. Treble will cut or boost the highs, Presence is also cutting some highs, but later in the signal path. I think it gives a nice and subtle touch to the sound, some warmth, some color, like a cabinet simulation. Maybe i could do something similar with the Treble control, but not as accurately. I use a pot instead of the internal trimmer on my build, and i often use it.
However, i wouldn't say it's always as noticeable and useful as in this 5F6 overdrive.

Mods rarely improve the stock unit.

Extra Knobs often disappoint.

I find my mods for my pedals can be incredibly useful

Doesn't it depends on what you think "useful" means ? Sometimes mods won't add anything to the circuit when playing with other people, and that's fine.
In my experience mods can have other forms of usefulness : I often overmodify my circuits, as much as i can, as long as there are some space and somethings interesting for me to try. I think it helps me working on my ears, noticing more details in the sound, getting more familiar with the various components interactions.

For exemple, with all the clipping mods i've done so far on so many builds, i can recognize more accurately how does led clipping sounds compared to 1n4148 or Mosfet clipping, etc. Now i'm able to anticipate what will happen if i change the clipping diodes.

It's similar with bass mods or bypassing-some-part-in-the-circuit mods. It's a great practical way to learn a bit about electronics : if you change this, the circuit will sound like that, and such...

Could you say that this kind of knowledge is pointless ? Progressively, small details after small details, i think it does help me to have a better understanding of what is happening inside the circuit, it feeds my audio-imagination with more details, it helps me to define and understand my own tastes and my own needs, even when playing with other people.

Moreover, the promising prospects of adding more depth to a chorus, more low ends on some overdrive, push me towards some things i wouldn't do otherwise : spending time on shematics, on forums, reading articles and analysis about circuits, etc. It's a good motivation for someone like me who gets quickly bored with numbers, science, abstract and theoretical knowledge.

Mods are everything, everything is a mod.

 

[Feral Feline]

The Treble with Presence is it all depends on how they're set up!

I think of/prefer treble as having a much broader bandwidth than presence.
Presence is either above and beyond the frequencies of treble or overlaps at its lowest freqs, dipping into treble territory.

Even if Presence is fully within the freq-range of the Treble...
It's like having two tuners on an old SWRadio. The BIG tuner gets you in the ballpark, the FINE-tuner let's you narrow things down to home-plate.

 

[CR0SSBL4DE]

Old thread but I liked the premise, so here I go:

Biggest dissapointment: Abasi Pathos
I thought the pedal would be intresting sounding. I mean, hard clipping stage followed by a softer clipping stage would be intresting, maybe imitates a pushed higain amp behavior or something, IDK Tosin knows his stuff, right?... But the response it has sucks, sounds like a strat player version of higain (later I read it's a reversion of the wampler triple wreck, and wampler never got right any higain tone on his original designs). Also, awful EQ for a pedal.

Biggest surprise: Marshall Blues Breaker topology
I was using a modded Boss SD1 for low gain tones, but I wasn't really satisfied. Then a friend asked me to make him a custom version of the JHS Morning Glory. I got a morning glory v3 from other friend and traced it. How such a simple circuit could have such a soft but clear response?
I ended liking it so much, that I made my own version of the pedal (added some new modes, 3 band EQ, and redesigned the output stage)

 

[Matopotato]

Old thread but I liked the premise, so here I go:

Biggest dissapointment: Abasi Pathos
I thought the pedal would be intresting sounding. I mean, hard clipping stage followed by a softer clipping stage would be intresting, maybe imitates a pushed higain amp behavior or something, IDK Tosin knows his stuff, right?... But the response it has sucks, sounds like a strat player version of higain (later I read it's a reversion of the wampler triple wreck, and wampler never got right any higain tone on his original designs). Also, awful EQ for a pedal.

Biggest surprise: Marshall Blues Breaker topology
I was using a modded Boss SD1 for low gain tones, but I wasn't really satisfied. Then a friend asked me to make him a custom version of the JHS Morning Glory. I got a morning glory v3 from other friend and traced it. How such a simple circuit could have such a soft but clear response?
I ended liking it so much, that I made my own version of the pedal (added some new modes, 3 band EQ, and redesigned the output stage)

Could you share some more detail on the mods you made?

 

[hamerfan]

Old thread but I liked the premise, so here I go:

Biggest dissapointment: Abasi Pathos
I thought the pedal would be intresting sounding. I mean, hard clipping stage followed by a softer clipping stage would be intresting, maybe imitates a pushed higain amp behavior or something, IDK Tosin knows his stuff, right?... But the response it has sucks, sounds like a strat player version of higain (later I read it's a reversion of the wampler triple wreck, and wampler never got right any higain tone on his original designs). Also, awful EQ for a pedal.

Biggest surprise: Marshall Blues Breaker topology
I was using a modded Boss SD1 for low gain tones, but I wasn't really satisfied. Then a friend asked me to make him a custom version of the JHS Morning Glory. I got a morning glory v3 from other friend and traced it. How such a simple circuit could have such a soft but clear response?
I ended liking it so much, that I made my own version of the pedal (added some new modes, 3 band EQ, and redesigned the output stage)

Schematic or it didn’t happen.

 

[Feral Feline]

I've never posted a "most disappointed" nor "most surprised" pedal here. Didn't really think I had one or the other.

Finally occured to me I DO have something that was most disappointing, and something most surprising.




Long time ago in my teens, mid-'80s, my friends' band's rhythm-guitarist proudly showed off his newest pedal at a rehearsal:

'Twas a Rat.

MOST DISAPPOINTING
His Rat sounded like sh¡te. Tinny buzzy raspy and none of it in a good way. Never gave the rodent a second chance. Full dismissal.

...

Meanwhile, decades later...

I start building pedals.

Had an for a .
Even though I didn't care for the circuit itself, I needed the space inside my head for other new ideas —
so had to exorcise the Rodentia Rattus stuck in my brain. Got it out, finally.


MOST SURPRISING
I liked it, the Rat — Hey Mikey, he likes it!
Set to increased bass response and in LED Turbo-mode; I played it at one of my last gigs in HK, and it was glorious — my DB on the verge of howling filthy feedback.

Now that Rat inside my brain has bred like...ratbits... and I have manies-the-moar idearinikis — and PCBs — to build a colony, perhaps even a plague.



The first of many to come, the FILIGREE SIBERIAN HAMSTER!

As seen elsewhere on the forum

REAL SPEAKER RAT-FUR!
Never posted this pic before:


Surprisingly, the enclosure is barely butchered.

"She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid. I've made a lot of special modifications myself."


MOST DISAPPOINTED: RAT
MOST SURPRISED: RAT

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

I've never posted a "most disappointed" nor "most surprised" pedal here. Didn't really think I had one or the other.

Finally occured to me I DO have something that was most disappointing, and something most surprising.




Long time ago in my teens, mid-'80s, my friends' band's rhythm-guitarist proudly showed off his newest pedal at a rehearsal:

'Twas a Rat.

MOST DISAPPOINTING
His Rat sounded like sh¡te. Tinny buzzy raspy and none of it in a good way. Never gave the rodent a second chance. Full dismissal.

...

Meanwhile, decades later...

I start building pedals.

Had an for a .
Even though I didn't care for the circuit itself, I needed the space inside my head for other new ideas —
so had to exorcise the Rodentia Rattus stuck in my brain. Got it out, finally.


MOST SURPRISING
I liked it, the Rat — Hey Mikey, he likes it!
Set to increased bass response and in LED Turbo-mode; I played it at one of my last gigs in HK, and it was glorious — my DB on the verge of howling filthy feedback.

Now that Rat inside my brain has bred like...ratbits... and I have manies-the-moar idearinikis — and PCBs — to build a colony, perhaps even a plague.



The first of many to come, the FILIGREE SIBERIAN HAMSTER!

As seen elsewhere on the forum

REAL SPEAKER RAT-FUR!
Never posted this pic before:
View attachment 90925

Surprisingly, the enclosure is barely butchered.

"She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid. I've made a lot of special modifications myself."


MOST DISAPPOINTED: RAT
MOST SURPISED: RAT

Sounds like it's time for a c2ce labrat.

 

[Feral Feline]

It's in the QUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUE... somewhere.

 

[spi]

MOST DISAPPOINTED: RAT
MOST SURPRISED: RAT

Went through the same. I borrowed a Rat from a friend, and didn't think it was good. Years later when I was building a bunch of pedals (the pandemic year), I offered to build the same friend any pedal, and he asked for a Rat--I was like there's literally hundreds of pedals to choose from and you want a clone of what you already have? That's what he wanted. This time I loved it, so of course I had to build myself one too.

 

[Passinwind]

Duff: PPCB Crystal Lettuce Overdrive Black Edition. Way, way way, too much gain (over 60dB IIRC), making it sound nothing like how I'd use a Dumble amp if one somehow ever dropped in my lap. But it was quite easy to mod it to at least give me one great "Woman Tone", and many people seem to dig the weed graphics I came up with.

Better than expected: Fender Santa Ana Overdrive. It was given to me as a tip for something or other I did for someone or other, and is plenty nice enough to warrant a spot on my guitar pedalboard if and when I ever actually get around to doing one.

 

[wintercept]

Not gonna lie I was really underwhelmed by the Sugarbag/Beetronics Fat Bee I gave away. I found it overly dark and woofy, and with the higher gain settings it got all splatty and mis-biased sounding.

I honestly thought I messed up building it but I verified everything and compared it to some YouTube demos. Sure enough, it just sounds like that…

Oops, forgot to say I was most surprised by the Zendrive. Not much to say about it but I use it more as an eq and boost with slight clipping.

 

[Feral Feline]

Not gonna lie I was really underwhelmed by the Sugarbag/Beetronics Fat Bee I gave away. I found it overly dark and woofy, and with the higher gain settings it got all splatty and mis-biased sounding.

I honestly thought I messed up building it but I verified everything and compared it to some YouTube demos. Sure enough, it just sounds like that…

Oops, forgot to say I was most surprised by the Zendrive. Not much to say about it but I use it more as an eq and boost with slight clipping.

Did you try the Fat Bee with guitar or bass?

 

[wintercept]

Did you try the Fat Bee with guitar or bass?

Just guitar. I’m no Andy but it did sound pretty close to the PGS demo