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

[daeg]

fulltone OCD - do mosfet hard clippers normally sound this farty and fizzy?

Rangemaster - holy crap. it's just perfect for tweed amps or any dark wooly amp. it's the sound.

Yes and yes. When I got into pedal building the Zendrive was a big deal and mosfet clipping was discussed and promoted on Diystompboxes a lot, so I'd always put selectable mosfet clippers in builds. In text, I liked everything about them; soft knee, more organic breakup, more open tone. In practice the mosfet setting would be the same but mushier and less satisfying and I'd always switch back to 4148 or whatever stock Si diodes.

I don't do the Rangemaster thing on my pedalboard because the volume jump makes me OCD, and when you bypass it you get an unusable clean tone, but good lord was I blown away by that sound. It almost seemed impossible that a one transistor boost could make such a sound. Now I understand how much nuance there is going on in that seemingly simple circuit.

 

[daeg]

One more after all of the years of modding and tinkering and drilling new holes into perfectly good pedals.

Disappointment: pedals with lots of knobs. Endless versatility and tweakability. Multiple knobs that do basically same thing in different ways.

Surprise: pedals with few knobs. A recognizable voicing that you either love or hate. One or several controls that do something profound.

 

[damianvila]

Dissapointing:
- The small black Russian Big Muff Pi I owned in my youth. It sounded awful, like something was broken or a cable was badly soldered (I checked at the time, nothing looked broken inside). The potentiometers were scratchy. I hated it. Good riddance!

- Hotone Xtomp Mini. I had low expectations for this one. Yet, is sounded worse than expected. Only good to get a rough idea of how an effect sounds, but no practical use for it. Sad soulless pice of crap. Marie Kondo and I think it brings no joy.

Surprising:
- In this day and age, with YouTube reviews, it's difficult to be surprised by anything.

I'm still amazed at how good a Rat is. It may not be the distortion for you, but it sounds truly different to my ears (and not something you can get by using an EQ pedal before or after any other distortion).

Talking about EQ, I'd say the Boss GE-7 is a surprising pedal. You can do wonders with it, even use it as a booster.

Reading the answers, I want to get my hands on a DOD Rubberneck more than ever.

 

[Laundryroom David]

One more after all of the years of modding and tinkering and drilling new holes into perfectly good pedals.

Disappointment: pedals with lots of knobs. Endless versatility and tweakability. Multiple knobs that do basically same thing in different ways.

Surprise: pedals with few knobs. A recognizable voicing that you either love or hate. One or several controls that do something profound.

 

[jesuscrisp]

Here's me shitting all over some popular pedals...

- Plumes. It doesn't fill the role of a TS but is always recommended as such which annoys me to no end. It's voiced too bright and the tone knob doesn't really attenuate that. It doesn't cut treble for the thrashy metal boosting. Just meh.

- DRV. It's not bad, but damn could the tonestack have been done better than the stock rat one. For the biggest part of the sweep it's too bright and then it's still weirdly high mid heavy. I'd take a stock Rat or Crunchbox over this as they fill about the same role. I do however enjoy the design variants of the original.

- King of Tone. Just sounded bland and hollow to me with no body to it. I do like the Wampler Pantheon though.

 

[ICTRock]

I'll keep this down to the top three each because I can write a novel on disappointing pedals

Commercial Disappointments:

Fulltone GT500 - the generic distortion sound of every digital multi-fx I'd ever toyed with.

zVex Box of Metal - it turns out that you can have too much of a good thing and is another validation of my "no amps that say Peavey and no pedals that say metal" rule

Orange Bax Bangeetar - at the time my most expensive pedal purchase and it had exactly one setting I liked and I had to crib it from the suggested settings in the manual. oversized and overbuilt construction for what is probably their solid state crush preamp in a pedal

Commercial Surprises:

Wampler Pinnacle (the OG, not the deluxe) - it does exactly as advertised which for amp in a box or signature sound pedals isn't all that common

Boss RT-20 - at the time I had a Leslie cabinet that just had the rotating drum (no rotating horn) and the Boss was surprisingly accurate and far less temperamental.

Catalinbread Adineko - once you dial this in to the proper settings it is silly accurate to the liquid delay they set out to imitate but then you get all the fiddly, experimental sounds too

DIY Disappointments:

Sagan Delay - I respect the hell out of the designer but I would have been happier with a larger layout ala deadendfx because of the amount of controls and the effects loop ... modulation was a bit over the top for me as well.

Low Tide Modulator - talk about wanting something to work out ... I really like the random modulation concept, I really didn't care for the end result.

Executive Fuzz - I love some vintage fuzz but for whatever reason, I don't love the Jordan Bosstone

DIY Surprises:

Karaoke Chorus - absolutely brilliant update to the CE-1 and my favorite DIY modulation pedal thus far

Hydra Delay - excellent fv-1 multi-tap delay that is only leaving my board because I went bougie over the summer on delay

ROG Umble - I wouldn't know how accurate it is to a Dumble as that's not really a concern of mine, but it is a really great overdrive that is quite tweakable from a DIY standpoint.

 

[Laundryroom David]

I'll keep this down to the top three each because I can write a novel on disappointing pedals

Commercial Disappointments:

Fulltone GT500 - the generic distortion sound of every digital multi-fx I'd ever toyed with.

zVex Box of Metal - it turns out that you can have too much of a good thing and is another validation of my "no amps that say Peavey and no pedals that say metal" rule

Orange Bax Bangeetar - at the time my most expensive pedal purchase and it had exactly one setting I liked and I had to crib it from the suggested settings in the manual. oversized and overbuilt construction for what is probably their solid state crush preamp in a pedal

Commercial Surprises:

Wampler Pinnacle (the OG, not the deluxe) - it does exactly as advertised which for amp in a box or signature sound pedals isn't all that common

Boss RT-20 - at the time I had a Leslie cabinet that just had the rotating drum (no rotating horn) and the Boss was surprisingly accurate and far less temperamental.

Catalinbread Adineko - once you dial this in to the proper settings it is silly accurate to the liquid delay they set out to imitate but then you get all the fiddly, experimental sounds too

DIY Disappointments:

Sagan Delay - I respect the hell out of the designer but I would have been happier with a larger layout ala deadendfx because of the amount of controls and the effects loop ... modulation was a bit over the top for me as well.

Low Tide Modulator - talk about wanting something to work out ... I really like the random modulation concept, I really didn't care for the end result.

Executive Fuzz - I love some vintage fuzz but for whatever reason, I don't love the Jordan Bosstone

DIY Surprises:

Karaoke Chorus - absolutely brilliant update to the CE-1 and my favorite DIY modulation pedal thus far

Hydra Delay - excellent fv-1 multi-tap delay that is only leaving my board because I went bougie over the summer on delay

ROG Umble - I wouldn't know how accurate it is to a Dumble as that's not really a concern of mine, but it is a really great overdrive that is quite tweakable from a DIY standpoint.

+1 for the Umble. It’s fantastic.

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

Commercial:

Disappointments:​

• Any rat derivative. I guess I don’t like Rats because every one I’ve played has been a huge letdown. Very generic sounding imo, and it needs a better tone stack to shape the midrange a bit.
• Mad Professor 1. Sounded nice but had a weird feel to it. Also crapped itself shortly after getting it, but luckily it was within the warranty period and since it had already been discontinued, I got my money back instead

Surprises:​

• Digitech Luxe. Got it for like $30 on Black Friday years ago, and was shocked at how good it sounds. Probably my favorite commercial “chorus” pedal. Wish I got more than one at that price. Perfect for the late 70s Zappa cleans, and the super processed Alex Lifeson Eventide harmonizer tones from the Signals era.

DIY:

Disappointments:​

​

• Not so much a disappointment, but the SHO. It’s a nice clean boost, but that’s it. I don’t get the “tone sweetener” hype.
• Again, not really a disappointment, but the Benson Preamp literally sounds identical in 95% of settings at 18v as it does at 9v, and where it does have an audible impact, the difference is negligible.
• EHX Ripped Speaker Fuzz. Once again, not a disappointment, but the rip control makes no difference clockwise of noon vs counterclockwise unless you’re feeding it a very asymmetrical waveform, and the tone control could benefit from some changed values. Still an awesome pedal though.

Surprises:​

​

• TS style pedals. I was convinced I hated them because I was always trying them with my various single coil guitars, and no matter what it sounded like SRV, which I hate. Built one because of a @fig contest, and the only guitar I had on hand to test it was my LP. Turns out I really like humbuckers into a TS into a Vox. Thick, honky leads, and Chimey breakup perfect for power pop.
• *Modded* Clari(not). Built it for the gimmick, but it’s super rad.
• BSIAB II. Definitely coaxes out more marshally tones from an AC30 than any other MIAB I’ve tried.

 

[daeg]

Hydra Delay - excellent fv-1 multi-tap delay that is only leaving my board because I went bougie over the summer on delay

Does that mean you bought a Volante?

 

[Elijah-Baley]

All DIY.

Surprises:
Muzzle, Fortin Zuul replica, with older chip.
CE-2
Splitter Blender
Revv G4

Disappointments:
Muzzle, Fortin Zuul replica, with new RetroFit Module PCB.

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

Does that mean you bought a Volante?

Or TREX Echorec

 

[cdwillis]

Biggest disappointment:

Plumes: Super duper bright trebley tone. I got one in a trade and the charge pump was making a high pitched whine that I could hear, but couldn't get on video/audio recording with my phone. EQD replaced the board for me anyway. Good customer service. When I got it back I was super suprised at how bright it was. I couldn't really put the tone control past 10 or 11 o'clock. People recommend it as a tube screamer replacement aka "a tube screamer for people that don't like tube screamers" but I don't think it really does that either. The BB Preamp or EHX Crayon are closer to that.


Biggest surprise:

Kliche: The Klon is the most overhyped pedal of all time, but it does sound pretty damned good. I think some of that appeal comes from the fact that it used hard clipping blended with the clean signal along with some EQing. It has a midpush, but without the gutless honk like a tube screamer.

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

I need to add one disappointment. A few years ago, before we were blessed with the cordyceps, I wanted to find a diy ring mod and the only one I found was the EPK HF Modulator which is a JEN HF Modulator. I was happy with it at the time but now comparing with with my other ring mods.... it sounds sooo bad.

 

[ICTRock]

Or TREX Echorec

dm-101 got dropped off by fedex today after a prolonged backorder saga with sweetwater

 

[swelchy]

Purchased disappointments:
Maxon SD-9 absolute horrid sounding trash.. I could not get one useable tweakable sound out of that pedal with my setup..boxed it up thirty minutes after I received it and put it back on reverb for sale..
DIY disappointments:
Revv / Tyrian purple style… I just absolutely despised this pedal after building… Just the same flavor all through the controls and doesn’t do a lower gain sound at all.

purchased praises:
HX stomp… Never thought 3 1/2 years ago I would never have to plug into an amp Playing live anymore.I bought it to put on my board for auxiliary effects I didn’t own… after building and tweaking some presets I finally played live with it stand alone in my pedalboard… Never looking back When I play live every week my amp tones are very tasteful … Not only does it have great amp sounds that feel and sound real but it has great delays and verbs too.
DIY praises:
Once I built my 2nd Kliche I was absolutely hooked by the sounds it makes with my setup…. I’ve pulled it from the board to try other pedals and I find it’s missing what I need to hear what’s in my headspace.. I was skeptical because of the hype… But for me it’s my ride or die overdrive…
Chopshop was In my recent rotation of builds and something in there feels magical… That’s a great little circuit. It’s going to be a staple on my board.
Rangefinder: fellow pedal builder friend built one for me and it sounds great… He actually bought a couple of my builds off reverb and we got to chatting and I helped him along with his first couple builds through text… Now he’s a pedal building machine a year later.
Flugelhorn fuzz:
Uber cool pedal builder on this forum sent one of his hand painted builds… I’ve never fell in love with a fuzz yet and this one falls into a useable territory for me that doesn’t feel like it’s over the top… yet you know it’s a fuzz but it’s not obnoxious. It’s stays on my board as a staple fuzz tone.. Thanks JJJimi84

 

[deft]

DIY Surprise...Topographer distortion

I was completely thrown by the 'distortion' bit in the title - at low gain it does an amazing spongey tube amp edge of breakup thing, far better than some/most supposed AIAB pedals

 

[daeg]

I was completely thrown by the 'distortion' bit in the title - at low gain it does an amazing spongey tube amp edge of breakup thing, far better than some/most supposed AIAB pedals

I got away from AIAB pedals because they do Preamp + Tonestack but not Power-Amp + Speaker.

You end up overlaying one complex eq curve (the 'Emulation' pedal) over another (your Amp and Speaker) and you never arrive at the intended destination.

Say a pedal could magically turn your Bassman 5F6 into a Vox AC-30, and replicate the speaker response and everything perfectly, it would fail when plugged into any other amp. As much as I would love to have the Rangemaster -> 5E3 sound available on my board, no Catalinbread AIAB pedal, no matter how hyped or magical, is going to get me there.

Analog Overdrive Pedal -> Digital Impulse Response -> Studio Headphones | Monitoring Amp | Recording Interface gets it right.

 

[PapaBear]

Disappointments: The Clap, The Kliche clean and the Deoful (older version)

Surprises: Crunch Captain, and the Pro 10 Blue

 

[daeg]

Disappointments: The Clap, The Kliche clean and the Deoful (older version)

Surprises: Crunch Captain, and the Pro 10 Blue

Kliche Clean almost made my list. I made such a beautiful enclosure and graphic, but it just sits on the shelf.

My relationship with the circuit is still "Look, it's not you, it's me."

 

[Joben Magooch]

Ooo, fun.
I’ll do 5 of each but I’m sure could write a whole book on the topic.

Disappointments
- Greer Ghetto Stomp: these used to be fairly cheap secondhand. No idea how much they cost nowadays. Before I knew much of anything I had heard some folks talking like it was similar to the JHS superbolt (which I had really been jonesing for and was much pricier at the time). Turns out it’s just an Electra derivative and I couldn’t find a sound I cared for out of it.
- Eventide H9: maybe I would’ve liked it better if I spent more time with it but I found it painfully unintuitive to use.
- 1981 DRV/Informant: it sounds fine, but nothing special to me. I don’t find it to be a particular improvement on my $25 Mosky Black Rat, lol. I guess it is aesthetically much nicer.
- Benson Preamp: I found this pedal to have an extremely limited range of good sounds for me. I really really wanted to like it but found it to be extremely bland overall.
- Most of the TC electronic tone print pedals: I don’t know exactly what it is about them but they’ve all just felt so vanilla, lifeless, zero personality. I like a lot of the functionality, some great ideas there, but just have found them all to be so bland.

Surprises
- Fulldrive 2 *pre* MOSFET: I absolutely HATED the Fd2 mosfets when I tried it. Decided to give an older pre-mosfet model a try for some reason and it ended up being my go-to overdrive for years and years. One of my favorites ever.
- MXR M300 reverb: I’m a bit of a reverb snob and this one seriously impressed me! It would be my go-to for a smaller board.
- Line 6 Echo Park: I think this one’s a case of judging a book by its cover. The tone core series are kinda goofy looking, almost toy-ish (except they weigh like 12lbs) but holy smokes I love how it sounds. Poor man’s El Capistan IMO
- TS808HW: maybe it’s just buying into the mojo or convincing myself it sounded great to justify the price but this was easily my favorite tube screamer I’ve ever played and perhaps my favorite overdrive ever. But, it’s kind of diminishing returns… hard for me to justify a $300 tube screamer when a $50 one gets me 95% there. But that last 5% is sweeeeet.
- Tonex: I’ve tried most all of the big name amp sims and have been relatively pleased with most of them. I had a hard time believing the Tonex could do the same or better than many of them (as many claimed) for such a relatively affordable price but it totally delivers for me. Easily my favorite amp sim, to the point that I’m looking to buy a second, either for stereo amps or even drive captures.