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

[DGWVI]

My biggest disappointment gear-wise was the Boss SY-300. It's polyphony and tracking were awesome, but I found it incredibly difficult to dial out the guitar-ness in the tone. Like you could always hear (and feel) the uneffected guitar signal under the filters and oscillators, not dissimilar to a TS-type pedal.
It was great for ambient and meditative stuff, I guess. But I'm drawn more toward aggressive synth tones, and while not polyphonic, there are better pedals for those types of tones.

Runner up disappoinment would be the EHX Synth 9. Sounded great, but it made playing feel like a chore with it's weird triggering quirks. And, while the built-in sounds were all engineered really well, I didn't care for the lack of tweakability



The biggest surprises have been the DigiTech Freqout and EHX Ring Thing, both of which I've had since they released.
Having experienced previous feedback emulators, and watched the rather uninspired demos of the Freqout on YouTube, my hopes for it were incredibly low. When I first plugged it in, I was wowed by the minimal tone coloration and untouched dynamics. While it doesn't sound exactly like stage-volume feedback, it gets damned close, and it's a lot more reliable and consistent regardless of volume or guitars used. My favorite setting is Nat Low, Onset at 0, and gain at unity with whatever guitar I'm driving it with. It shuts up quick enough that the overtones don't really come through with these settings, and it works well for the shitty noise punk I make. Only complaint I have is it doesn't do endless sustain without some effort, otherwise I love it, and actually want to get another at some point

The Ring Thing was actually a gift from my little brother- he'd asked prior to my birthday if there was any gear I was eyeballing, and I mentioned it. It had me in awe from the first demos I'd seen, but actually getting to experience it's Frequency Analyzer emulation and pitch tracking in person has inspired me since I got it. The single sideband stuff it does is fun, the pitchshifting sounds (mostly) natural and follows the dynamics of your playing, and it does some other nifty things like phasing, chorus, tremolo, and frequency modulation. This one's actually the longest lasting pedal I've ever owned, and I don't see it going anywhere. My only gripe with it are the presets - I wish there were more and that I could swap between them instead of cycling

 

[jhaneyzz]

Biggest Disappointments

• Colorsound Overdrive / Power Boost
  • This will be the perfect gritty, dusty, 70's rock, edge-of-breakup sound.
  • Yikes that has a rough decay, I must have messed up the transistor bias.
  • Looks like this is a known issue, just run it into an overdriven amp and it will sound fine.
  • Good lord, it still sounds horrible. I don't mind the Hotcake fizzy opamp decay but this is a no-go.
• Supro Drive
  • The RoG Supreux Deux and JHS Thunderbolt are so good.
  • This one was made by a professional engineer working for Supro.
  • He'll take what was good about those overdrives and make it even better.
  • PGS Andy and Mike Hermans make it sound so good.
  • It even has a transformer. There must be magic in this box.
  • That's really expensive, but I'll buy one to trace it and give back to the DIY community.
  • The breakup isn't anything like the JFET Supro-in-a-box pedals I liked. I better keep the box.
  • The usable gain range is so narrow. How did they mess it up that bad with a dual-ganged pot?
  • Why even bother tracing it? Just pull up Reverb and get this thing sold.
• Hudson Broadcast
  • An original Ge / Si topology, inspired by a germanium recording console preamp.
  • This is supposed to be a great one for those that don't like typical fuzzes.
  • It sounds so good on demos. Time to start ordering all of the mojo parts.
  • Ok all done, let me just dial in a good sound.
  • ...
    View attachment 54344
  • Wow I really hate it.

Biggest Surprises

• Proco Rat
  • I have no interest in a dry, bright, harsh, 80's hair metal sound.
  • But, my buddy might like that sort of thing. I'll build him an Aion Helios.
  • Hey, that's not so bad. Maybe I try it on my board for a few weeks before shipping it.
  • Ok, let's try some of the variants. Turbo, Fat, VFE Alpha Dog, 1981 DRV.
  • Wow, they're all good. I'm never going to want anything else.
• Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay
  • The PT2399 chip is so cool, but 3-Knob Delays are so boring.
  • Fine, I'll build one stock then find some ways to mod it.
  • Ok, all done, let's try a simple Slapback sound.
  • Woah! Wait a second, it's... perfect.

Wow... So I'm NOT alone...

Exact same experience on all of those...

 

[Paradox916]

Hands down the biggest disappointment of a pedal for me was the BBE sonic stomp/ maximizer… It might work with a garbage solid state amp, but it you have a decent tube amp it was pretty counterproductive.

 

[Feral Feline]

@DGWVI
Have you tried the Panda Future Impact?

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

@DGWVI
Have you tried the Panda Future Impact?

I've always wanted to try one of those. Never seen one in person.

 

[daeg]

Hands down the biggest disappointment of a pedal for me was the BBE sonic stomp/ maximizer… It might work with a garbage solid state amp, but it you have a decent tube amp it was pretty counterproductive.

Definitely had 15 minutes of "WOW that's amazing!" followed by taking it off my board the next day and it sitting on the shelf thereafter.

Expect it to JUST be a mid-scoop / boost that isn't useful for guitar frequencies and you won't be disappointed. Expect it to perform auditory magic by delaying or phase-shifting bass frequencies and work as an always-on improvement of your tone and you're going to be pissed off.

Where it really falls short for guitar use, IMO, is that it doesn't follow the "boost wide, cut narrow" rule. A mid-scoop post-distortion can be really useful, but a graphic EQ (and sometimes a parametric EQ) can do a narrow / low-bandwidth cut, whereas the Maximizer is boosting everything BUT the useful electric guitar range.

Before even considering a Maximizer, get a GE-7 and boost only 100k and 3.2k and see if that's really the sound you're after.

 

[Feral Feline]

I've always wanted to try one of those. Never seen one in person.

Next time you come over you can try mine.

 

[DGWVI]

@DGWVI
Have you tried the Panda Future Impact?

I have not, but it has been on my radar for quite some time

 

[ChrsGuit]

I don't like the sound of a Klon. I have a cheap Mosky and built the Kliche... both sound the same to me ... I was pretty disappointed with the Marshall Bluesbreaker reissue as well... I built a Musikding "Der Breaker" that is SO MUCH MORE USABLE and has more of literally EVERYTHING. Didn't care for the "Glory Hole"/Morning Glory... too bright and fizzy... but THE BIGGEST letdown in history is the TS-808.

I know, I know... it's the gold standard of OD... I've owned a dozen TS variants in my life, and only recently dropped the coin on an 808... It's just... kinda bland... but the two BEST TS pedals I have tried are the lowly TS-7 Tone Lok Tube Screamer and the JHS 3 series Screamer...
The $99 JHS is the winner by far. that was, til I built a Little Green Scream Machine and used the non-polarized 1uf cap with the magic 220ohm resistor to make my own TS-10. That's the one I keep on my board...

The most blown away I've been is by the Boteh (Paisley Drive). I tweaked a few component values and added a different cap value on a toggle for a low cut, and it's PHENOMENAL. Best Drive pedal I own... I had a buddy commission me to build him two after he tried mine out, one of which he sent to a gigging buddy of his as a gift... I dubbed it the "Tele Drive"

If you like a nice compressed drive pedal that still sounds clear and articulate, try the Boteh!

 

[Synchrony Pedalworks]

Nobody has mentioned the Spaceman Equilux. To me, that pedal was a huge surprise and fantastic.

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

Nobody has mentioned the Spaceman Equilux. To me, that pedal was a huge surprise and fantastic.

Agree

 

[DeadAirMD]

Disappointed first, because that's what everyone wants to see anyways....

1. Boss OD-200. Thought it would be fun having a ton of overdrives to blend and tweak but man, wow, that pedal was NOT for me. Totally lifeless and dead.

2. Death Cap PCB. This is a personal dislike and doesn't apply to everyone. Just waaay too gated of a fuzz for me. I don't play doom, ever, should have read and said the name of the pedal out loud and passed for someone else to buy the board I built.

Annnd the ones I can't like without....

1. General Tso. Literally the perfect compressor for the tone and music I play. Always on, always happy.

2. Meris Polymoon. This is hands down the most complicated pedal I've ever owned. I almost returned it out of frustration. But this pedal led me down the midi hole and now it's a staple. Still don't understand half of it, always forgot the knob combinations I used to create the sounds I liked, but love it's crystal clear modulated delay.

 

[scheffehcs]

I started playing bass in middle school. The local music store owner convinced me that I HAD to get a Sovtek Big Muff Pi. It was my first pedal. I took it home and was very disappointed! I’ve since come around to the Big Muff, but at the time it was not for me. Not sure what happened to it, wish I still had it!

A few years later I switched over to guitar and convinced myself to be cool and to sound awesome, I needed the Boss GT3! After a brief honeymoon period, I realized… man this thing sounds like shit! I swore off multi-effects pedals…

Until just a couple years ago, that is. I picked up an HX Stomp for cheap when I was working at a music store and man, multi-effects have improved quite a bit! I use it all the time for everything. Actually upgraded to the Helix. Anything you can imagine, it’s probably possible on the Helix. I love it!

The other surprise I can think of was the Boss OD3. Thought it was just another yellow Boss overdrive. Nah, it’s now my favorite od.

 

[jesuscrisp]

I built a Musikding "Der Breaker" that is SO MUCH MORE USABLE and has more of literally EVERYTHING. Didn't care for the "Glory Hole"/Morning Glory... too bright and fizzy... but THE BIGGEST letdown in history is the TS-808.

The Musikding Breaker is based on the Made in Korea Bluesbreaker while the reissue is the Made in UK one. The big difference is the gain filter resistors in the first op amp stage being 3K3 and 4K7 in the former vs 27K and 33K in the latter. The MIK one is much brighter, higher gain and louder. Funnily enough though the Morning Glory is a 1:1 copy of the MIK version with a JFET boost strapped on and a switch to tame the excessive high end on the MIK version.

 

[spi]

The Musikding Breaker is based on the Made in Korea Bluesbreaker while the reissue is the Made in UK one. The big difference is the gain filter resistors in the first op amp stage being 3K3 and 4K7 in the former vs 27K and 33K in the latter. The MIK one is much brighter, higher gain and louder. Funnily enough though the Morning Glory is a 1:1 copy of the MIK version with a JFET boost strapped on and a switch to tame the excessive high end on the MIK version.

I've built a Bluebreaker and a Pro-10.
On the Bluebreaker I went with the traditional 27K+33K. This drive is warm and full sounding.
On the Pro-10 it uses the 3k3+4k7. This one is super bright and cutting. I was surprised how different they sounded.

The Bluebreaker doesn't have much volume, its unity is above 1 o'clock. The Pro-10 adds an op-amp boost stage. It is excessively loud (unity around 8 o'clock, extremely loud at 12 o'clock, and above that more loud than I ever need). I'm not sure if the boost stage adds to the brightness or if its all coming from the gain filters. Both are using log volumes.

I was disappointed with the Pro-10 Blue compared to Bluebreaker, because it's just loud and shrill, although a lot people seem to like it. Maybe it's how they use it. I don't notice the shrillness if I have it driving into another overdrive.

 

[cdwillis]

The blue breaker I built a couple years ago used the 3.3k and 4.7k resistors. It was definitely a thinner sounding pedal and didn't have much output. I've got a partially assembled board I need to finish with the 3.3k and 4.7k resistors on it, but now I'm thinking about swapping them to the 27k/33k set to see if it sounds a little warmer. Definitely using a linear 100k volume pot this time instead of the audio taper one. Most of the useable range of the volume sweep was above 1 o'clock.

 

[joeyd]

Disappointment:
Strymon Brigadier - I don't hate it, I'm just not that into it. I prefer the carbon copy for analog delay sounds. When I got a memory lane jr. that thing covered all my tap-tempo needs and the brigadier never found its way back onto my board.
Angry Charlie - I don't know if I made a mistake when I was building this thing (maybe I put in an incorrect cap value?). It sounds muddy and inarticulate. I've tried it with different amps and different guitars. I couldn't get on with it.
Hizumitas - the Green Russian muff is one of my favourites and I like Boris so I had very high hopes for this. I think my expectations outstripped what a fuzz is capable of, ultimately leading to disappointment. It sounds good with a baritone.
FZ-2 - I wanted the HM-2 but in a fuzz. I like this pedal but I find the EQ really tough to dial in just right and tend to get frustrated with it.

TBD:
Space spiral - I think I need to try the green LED mod before I decide to move on from this pedal. When it's hit with a low output signal the repeats sound good. When it washes out in heavy distortion it sounds good. I'm not crazy about the middle ground right now.
Warscythe - I built mine to cloven hoof specs (I already have a hoof and love it). I need to swap in LEDs for the silicon diodes.
Mountain king megalith - I need to play with the settings a bit more. It sounds great with slow power chords but that's about it.
Brown Betty - Another pedal I need to play with. It sounds good but I don't like it as much as some of the other drives I've built.

Suprises:
Hydra delay - I leave it on 90% of the time. Incredible circuit.
HM-2 - The HM-2 is capable of so much more than death metal. Black metal, for example. I love the EQ on this thing. I play with the treble backed off a bit because I don't really want the Entombed sound (but I like that the option is there).
Pro-10 - The bluesbreaker side is great. At first I wasn't that into the ODR side. I just needed an attenuator and a bit more volume from my amp. This has become my go-to mid-gain sound.
Mach 1 - I've just been leaving this on. It sounds great. I've read that it's Timmy-ish but I prefer it to my Timmy for whatever reason.
Sea Machine - a wacky chorus pedal that makes gloomy riffs sound even gloomier.

Things I can't live without:
Something Rat-based - I am in the pro-rat crowd. I put one on my board 15 years ago and that was that.
Memory lane jr. - It went on my board in 2010 and never left. My favourite delay
Sustain pedal - Freeze or Infinite. Absolutely critical for how I play.
HXStomp - I bought this to practice without bothering sleeping babies. I'm not crazy about most of the amp models but ended up loving the deluxe reverb and hiwatt sounds. I prefer the stereo dynamic plate reverb to all of my reverb pedals. It's become my go-to recording interface.

 

[ChrsGuit]

The Musikding Breaker is based on the Made in Korea Bluesbreaker while the reissue is the Made in UK one. The big difference is the gain filter resistors in the first op amp stage being 3K3 and 4K7 in the former vs 27K and 33K in the latter. The MIK one is much brighter, higher gain and louder. Funnily enough though the Morning Glory is a 1:1 copy of the MIK version with a JFET boost strapped on and a switch to tame the excessive high end on the MIK version.

That's very interesting to hear. To me, the Musikding sounds WAY better... it can sound like the reissue but so much more... and the controls have SO MUCH more to offer. I'm running everything at a way lower setting than the Marshall version... It also sounds more "full" and has a wider depth of sound... It sounds more like the "Mayer" thing imo but has more versatility than the "everything on 3 o'clock" Bluesbreaker sound...
and that's very interesting on the Morning Glory, because it sounds very shrill to me... kinda like the treble is always present regardless of the setting of the tone knob. I swapped a few components to tame it down a bit, but still I'll use the Musikding any day...

 

[Fuzzmax]

So much in the disappointments and surprises but here comes to my mind:

Supro drive, Jackson Audio Twin Twelve, Son of ben, Argentum 1212, Paragon, Line 6 DL4 mk2, Two notes torpedo

Victory the copper/The cobbler (they sound identically, Pro-10, DSM & Humboldt Simplifier, OBNE BL-44, SA Ventris

 

[HamishR]

Well I just had a win - Built the Basic Audio Lucky Number and it's a cracker! More a fuzzy, honky lo-fi overdrive than a real fuzz. It's bursting with character and while it's not going to be an always-on pedal it's heaps of fun.

I will never understand the popularity of tubescreamers. As a lead boost they work ok. As an overdrive? Oh there are soooo many better options!

I guess most really popular pedals are popular because a famous guitarist once used them. Tube screamers and Bluesbreakers come to mind.