Underrated pedals

[newpedals]

Hi!

Sorry I have been away from this forum, gigging.

Stumbled upon a used, it's face battered Boss MD-2 (Mega Distortion) in a yard sale in a rural-ish area. Since I don't play too high gain, I didn't think that it would be of much use to me. But they liked to get rid of it for 20$. So I bought it.

I tried it at a gig where I played with a cover band who had a male singer. I only had to play lead for this one song, since their lead guitarist had to answer an emergency phone call.

I had fun when I stepped on the MD-2 set as follows:

Level at about 3'o clock.
Bottom, Tone and Dist at about 9'o clock.
Boost turned completely down.

It sounded amazing. After going home, I used my cosmetic products to match the flaked paint on the pedal's face to restore it's look. I am never gonna throw it away.

I have it on my pedalboard now. Polytune > MD-2 > SD-1.

(I put it this way in the chain because it sounded less harsh to my ears. I may be wrong).

Which underrated pedal have you found?

 

[la szum]

Cool story! Sometimes things find us, and then show us new possibilities.

 

[likitlikeyoulikeit]

Programmable midi capable eq pedals.

 

[dronerstone]

Taking a peek at my gear inventory list, these should fit the description:

Boss LS-2
Dean Markley Overlord
Digitech Ventura
EHX Octave Multiplexer
EHX Ripped Speaker
Keeley Nova Wah
Marshall Drivemaster
Mooer Ana Echo
MXR Il Diavolo
Source Audio LA Lady

 

[the swede]

Think my old DigiTech Obscura is underrated. Love it. Such a great sounding anti clean delay.

 

[octatonic]

There are two pedals that I use that no one seems to have much visibility of.

One is the Hexe reVolver IV microlooper.
It is a looper that does something that very few pedals do, which is to capture a loop and then immediately play it in reverse.
It also has a load of granular, glitch, filter, tremolo type effects too.

You can hear me use it here with the LVX looper in tandem where I feed one into the other.



The other is the Ibanez OT10 octave pedal.
It is the worst/best octave pedal ever made.
Why 'worst/best'?
Well, it is the worst because it tracks very badly.
It isn't at all realistic, it tracks badly and had a gnarly fuzz type circuit on the 'edge' control that makes everything sound harsh.
The switches go all the time and so do the jack sockets.
I have 3 of them and they are constantly in rotation because one is always being fixed.

It is the best because of what happens when put on the front end of a high gain amplifier, because unlike a clinical, accurate pedal like a POG (which I also love, I have a few of them, no shade here) the OT10 is wild and unpredictable.
It makes single note riffing fat as f*ck and the edge control is just the coolest thing.

I bought my first one in the early 90's at a Cash Converters in Bondi, Australia.
I think I paid £40 for it, I got it home and plugged it into my JCM900 and was totally blown away.
I've had one on most of the boards I've built since.

I kick it in around 1:22 in this video:



It also doesn't track polyphonically, which is hilariously fun.
My favourite thing to do with it is hit an atonal dyad, like a root, b5 and watch it struggle to cope (at 2:23 in the second video).

 

[dronerstone]

There are two pedals that I use that no one seems to have much visibility of.

One is the Hexe reVolver IV microlooper.
It is a looper that does something that very few pedals do, which is to capture a loop and then immediately play it in reverse.
It also has a load of granular, glitch, filter, tremolo type effects too.

You can hear me use it here with the LVX looper in tandem where I feed one into the other.



The other is the Ibanez OT10 octave pedal.
It is the worst/best octave pedal ever made.
Why 'worst/best'?
Well, it is the worst because it tracks very badly.
It isn't at all realistic, it tracks badly and had a gnarly fuzz type circuit on the 'edge' control that makes everything sound harsh.
The switches go all the time and so do the jack sockets.
I have 3 of them and they are constantly in rotation because one is always being fixed.

It is the best because of what happens when put on the front end of a high gain amplifier, because unlike a clinical, accurate pedal like a POG (which I also love, I have a few of them, no shade here) the OT10 is wild and unpredictable.
It makes single note riffing fat as f*ck and the edge control is just the coolest thing.

I bought my first one in the early 90's at a Cash Converters in Bondi, Australia.
I think I paid £40 for it, I got it home and plugged it into my JCM900 and was totally blown away.
I've had one on most of the boards I've built since.

I kick it in around 1:22 in this video:



It also doesn't track polyphonically, which is hilariously fun.
My favourite thing to do with it is hit an atonal dyad, like a root, b5 and watch it struggle to cope (at 2:23 in the second video).

Your description of the Ibanez OT10 reminds me of the EHX Octave Multiplexer that I mentioned.

Gnarly analog octavers are fun.

On my board I use the POG 2 because I want nicely tracking up/down.

 

[JiveTurkey]

There are two pedals that I use that no one seems to have much visibility of.

One is the Hexe reVolver IV microlooper.
It is a looper that does something that very few pedals do, which is to capture a loop and then immediately play it in reverse.
It also has a load of granular, glitch, filter, tremolo type effects too.

You can hear me use it here with the LVX looper in tandem where I feed one into the other.



The other is the Ibanez OT10 octave pedal.
It is the worst/best octave pedal ever made.
Why 'worst/best'?
Well, it is the worst because it tracks very badly.
It isn't at all realistic, it tracks badly and had a gnarly fuzz type circuit on the 'edge' control that makes everything sound harsh.
The switches go all the time and so do the jack sockets.
I have 3 of them and they are constantly in rotation because one is always being fixed.

It is the best because of what happens when put on the front end of a high gain amplifier, because unlike a clinical, accurate pedal like a POG (which I also love, I have a few of them, no shade here) the OT10 is wild and unpredictable.
It makes single note riffing fat as f*ck and the edge control is just the coolest thing.

I bought my first one in the early 90's at a Cash Converters in Bondi, Australia.
I think I paid £40 for it, I got it home and plugged it into my JCM900 and was totally blown away.
I've had one on most of the boards I've built since.

I kick it in around 1:22 in this video:



It also doesn't track polyphonically, which is hilariously fun.
My favourite thing to do with it is hit an atonal dyad, like a root, b5 and watch it struggle to cope (at 2:23 in the second video).

That Suhr sounds killer as does the OT10

 

[spawnofthesith]

The Boss ML-2 metalcore is actually a really sweet high gain pedal

 

[octatonic]

That Suhr sounds killer as does the OT10

Thanks mate- yeah it is a mega amp.
And I can go direct if I have to do silent stage.

 

[laxu]

I like the Strymon Riverside a lot. It's a super versatile drive pedal.

It got a bad rap when it was released. People were questioning its digital nature, and it was a bit pricy as far as drive pedals go. Demos were not that great either. I remember questioning why I'd buy one when I could buy several analog pedals for similar money.

Well, you buy one because it's capable of replacing a lot of drives in one box. This, paired with MIDI or the Strymon MultiSwitch Plus could be your boost, overdrive and higher gain drive easily.

Its big trick is that it rearranges itself when you increase the gain. I think there are something like maybe 4-5 different "zones" on the Drive knob that you can hear change things a bit when you turn up the gain. What this does is that even when you pile on all the gain, it doesn't become a fuzzy, wooly type thing that just sounds like crap. It's truly usable all across its Drive knob range in both low and high gain modes.

The active EQ is also likely to throw people off, because it boosts past noon, and cuts under it. I tend to like to use it by cutting Bass and Middle a little bit, and then pushing high mids with the "Push" switch. Dial Treble to taste, and the 3-way Presence switch near the jacks. I usually leave it in the middle where it adds nice Marshallish bite and sizzle.

You can set it up pretty transparent when you leave the EQ knobs at noon.

There's also a noise gate and volume boost built into it. I never use the boost, but the noise gate is nifty. I just wish it would work even when the pedal is bypassed in buffered mode.

If Strymon were to make a new version of this, I'd love a model in the Cloudburst/Brig form factor, with a presence and high mids knob to make those more granular.

 

[FuzzyAce]

The main 2 I can think of would be a Boss OD-3 and a Voodoo Labs Wahzoo.

The OD-3 has gained a bit more popularity over the past 10 yrs due to forums and youtube vids, but it's still way under appreciated compared to the usually Boss suspects. Makes for a killer boost, but also has its own thing when driven harder. Sleeper pedal.

Wahzoo is even more underrated. Obscure is a better term probably. I guess they didn't sell a ton for whatever reason, maybe poor advertising, price, not sure? But for all the features and sound you get it's worth it... an amazing value. Excellent build quality too.

 

[dronerstone]

Wahzoo is even more underrated. Obscure is a better term probably. I guess they didn't sell a ton for whatever reason, maybe poor advertising, price, not sure? But for all the features and sound you get it's worth it... an amazing value. Excellent build quality too.

Glanced at a pic and definitely looks like fun.

 

[EOengineer]

The DOD Carcosa Fuzz is IMO one of the best modern fuzzes period. It’s the only fuzz in a dozen or so that works with every guitar, every amp, and consistently surprises me with its saturated Velcro awesome sauce.

 

[dronerstone]

The DOD Carcosa Fuzz is IMO one of the best modern fuzzes period. It’s the only fuzz in a dozen or so that works with every guitar, every amp, and consistently surprises me with its saturated Velcro awesome sauce.

Absolutely. Always wanted to grab one for cheap, haven't done it so far. Never "needed" a Carcosa (my fuzz needs are pretty much "covered"), which is why there's always something else more "important", but come time, come Carcosa, I'm sure about that.