G2D Custom Overdrive

You can get a good sound right out of the box! It takes a while to get it set-up in terms of balance between the clean/crunch/lead but once its there its a piece of cake!

I really like the compact size as it takes up hardly any space on my pedal board!

Setup:
Guitars: 1963 Guild Starfire V, Epiphone Les Paul (with Di Marzio PAF Classics)
Chain: EMMA Discumbobulator > Pearl OC7 Octaver > Boss CS2 > Ibanez Phasetone II > Boss PH2 > G2D Custom Overdrive > EH Double Muff > EH Electric Mistress > Boss CE3 > Boss GE7 > H&K Tube Rotosphere > MESA BOOGIE MK1
Effects loop: Boss DD3 > EH Memory Man

I get remarkably little noise from the rig (considering lots of pedals) I think this is largely thanks to the solderless high quality George L cable kit I bought (not cheap but worth it!!)

The pedal has a fantastically transparant sound! For anyone not familiar with the Boogie MK1, it has fantastic sounds clean and overdriven but only one channel! I was looking for a pedal which would bring out the overdrive of the amp! This is that pedal!

I play a lot of blues and related music, the G2D has a fantastic warm overdrive and can go from a slightly dirty crunch to a really creamy and chunky overdrive!

Really nice looks and really well built, I wouldn't need a backup!
Fits well on a pedal board!

Not dealt with them!

4 knobs, pretty straight forward, sounds great with your usual settings but, spend a little time with it and you tweak it and dial in some of the best overdive out there.

I bought this pedal after checking out G2D's website, my interest was peaked.

I wanted it for the "Classic" rock band I play with. We do a wide range of music, so wanted to be able to have a rig with 3 sounds. So I decided to try this and a Menatone Fish Factory, and go from there.

With this band I use a MIJ Strat with "Hot" Noiseless pick-ups and a Home made "Micawber" tuned to open G. From there it is in to a tuner > Classic Overdrive > Home made "Fixed Wah" Pedal (Think Dunlop Q Zone) > Reissue Ibanez AD9 > Arion SCH-1 Chorus > Buddah Twinmaster A nice simple "Rig"

I was visiting L.A. and went to True Tone Music in Santa Monica as they were listed as a dealer, as well as a Menatone dealer. But they were out of the Fish Factory pedals and are not sure if Menatone is going to be making them again, so I tried the G2D Cream Tone along with the Classic Overdrive.

Well, I thought both pedals were great, but the Classic Overdrive is more suited to my style of playing, GREAT overdrive, not gritty, very smooth sounding. So it went home with me. Just back from our first practice and used the pedal, I am a happy camper, work better than I thought. And the other guys in the band notice the great sound I was getting (a couple of the guys work on sound for T.V. and movies, so I trust their comments)

Like it has been said before, built like a tank. I see no problems and while I may buy another one, it wont be for a back up but to use with another set up.

Haven't had to use it, so I can't say.

Ok, the on thing I am not too wild about, the green LED is on when the pedal is by-passed. Usually when a light is on it means the pedal is on, so I have to keep this in mind when I play. Other than that, this is a great pedal. I am thinking about getting another one, or one of G2D's other pedals for the rig I use with my other band.

I have been playing for 30+ years, and while pedals don't sound like amps, this is the closest I am going to get with out having to drag 3 ammps around for different sounds. I also repair and mod amps, sound and tone are very important to me, and I am a bit picky, so my thinking that this is a great pedal should hold some meaning

Very easy to do a basic set up. Pretty much plug and play. One of the interesting things about this pedal is the way the controls work with each other. Every time I use it,I find a new tone. This overdrive is something you need to experiment with to really dial it in.

I mostly use a Am. Strat Deluxe through a Mojotone Tone Machine. It has also worked well with a Boogie Blue Angel, and a FlexII (believe it or not) The true by-pass is basically silent when switched (not so on a lot of other high dollar units) and no excessive hum when the gain is up relatively high. The blue chanel is Blues heaven. Very crunchy. and can get very thick with the tone control. The red chanel is MEAN! Gets my Strat sounding like Gary Moore when pushed. If used as a clean boost, I agree that it IS very transperent. But this pedal also has the ability to color and thicken the tone, which is a really good thing for me. A wonderful tool, and worth every penny I spent.

Sturdy as a rock. I gig constantly with it (over 140+ shows a year)
NEVER a problem.

Great Company! They have replied to every question I've had within a day. Mine was bought without a manual, and Dave Manning made sure I had the URL to the manual the same day.

If lost or stolen I would gladly pay more to replace this beauty. If your'e wondering why I haven't rated it a 10, I just think that rating is too overused on this site. I love this pedal, and have found nothing close to it for my style of playing which includes everything from the 50's to Los Lonely Boys. I've never had a chance to play Pete Cornish Effects or a Dumble Amp. so I cant give anything a 10 till I do. That said, this is a real keeper, and a great value.

It has four knobs and two buttons, so it's pretty easy to use. Very easy to get a good sound out of of it. You can read more about it at the G2D website.

My current rig is pretty simple: American Fender Strat with Lindy Fralin Blues pickups and a Guild Starfire IV--> Teese Wah RMC1 --> CreamTone --> Sweet Sound UltraVibe --> Peavey Classic 50 2X12 (I know it's a Peavey, but I thought it was better than anything else out there in the same price range).

I've actually had the pedal for about a year, and to be quite honest, while I have always liked the pedal with single-coil strats, I wasn't thrilled with it. Don't get me wrong, it sounded great, but it just didn't knock my socks off (like th G2D Cream-Tone did).

THEN...

I bought a Guild Starfire IV. For those of you who don't know, this is essentially Guild's version of the Gibson ES335. (This isn't really the place for it, but I think the Starfire IV is bang-for-buck a far better guitar than the Gibson). Anyway, with humbuckers, this pedal sounds divine. It's a rocker's dream with great sustain and incredibly crunchy overdrive sounds. I really can't say enough about the tone I am getting. Even my wife commented on how good it sounded!

So...

With the Starfire IV, I have to give the sound quality a 10.
With the Strat, I'd give it an 8 or 9... probably a 9.

My only complaint deals with the two-stage nature of the pedal. It has a "Blues" stage and a "Solo" stage which is a much higher gain version of the "Blues" stage. While both stages sound awesome, I had planned to use the Blues stage for my rhythm playing and the Solo stage for... well... my soloing. But when I engage the Solo stage, the volume level is quite a bit louder, even with the boost knob rolled all the way back. In fact, I have never rolled the boost knob up because the volume difference between the two stages is too great. This makes it kinda difficult to use in a live performance.

Light gigging and I always play without a backup. Come to think of it, I can't think of anybody I know in the whole "band scene" who has a backup for their pedals. Seems sturdy enough. I think I can depend on it.

Received prompt replies to my emailed questions. Thanks!

Been playing poorly for 20 years, some gigging, but mostly a hobbyist. The more I play, however, the more concerned I've become with the tone (i.e., I'm always looking for THE tone). The tone from this pedal really is spectacular. I just wish the two stages were more compatible in volume.

BTW-If you're looking for a wide selection of great pedals, you should check out MusicToyz.com. They have a ton of 'em and better prices than anybody else I've seen. Not bad for customer service either. Thanks!

Simple to use, great sound straight out of the box. Adjustable levels and balance so you can balance the blue, red & bypass sounds almost any way you like. 3 LEDs - blue & red are easy to see but the green isn't bright enough so unless you're on a really dark stage it's hard to tell whether you're in bypass mode or not.

My setup is PRS custom 22 >CryBaby >G2D custom >Vox AC-15 >then out to another amp for any delay/ chorus effects etc. This pedal is silent, has true bypass and lets me get a great variety of overdriven sounds from my Vox. I've used boutique high gain amps (including Framus Dragon) and the red sound emulates a boutique lead channel perfectly. Blue sound is not just great for blues, but with humbuckers is great for that Larry Carlton or Lee Ritenour sound. The tone control is basically a mid control. Works great for me, but could maybe be more versatile if it also had a treble/presence control.

Built like a brick. I use this without a backup, and I trust it. No cheap components here.

Have emailed G2D with some questions and Grant responded same day. Very happy with their service.

I play mostly 'classic hits' - rock/pop and some blues. I've been playing for more than 25 years and I've owned many overdrive pedals. I'm a bit of a gear junkie but I can't see myself needing another overdrive for some time (except my Ulbrick 12axe - that's still the best TS808 I've ever used!). When I bought the custom I compared it to a Hotcake, a Tech 21 Double Drive and a Marshall Guv'nor. It was way better.

If you can get out of bed and dress yourself you won't have a problem.

This is just a badass overdrive no if ands or buts. This pedal does not color your sound in any way so if you have a cool clean tone your in the ballpark. The tone control is a mid cut or boost which is really cool. I keep mine at 12 o'clock. The blue channel is your blues tone with neck single coils or neck humbucker and with a hot bridge pick up it is great for crunchy cords or low string hooks. Now for some real fun the red channel for solos is just a blast and I have had more compliments on my tone with this channel from some of the local guitar players that I really respect than any other of the pedals I own (barbers, menatone, fulltone etc.) and they all say the same thing, that is one fat lead tone.

Built like a tank no problems in two months or about 12 gigs.

Very cool, answered emails promptly. I ordered this pedal on Saturday and on Sunday I got an email telling me that they started building my pedal. I had the pedal in Southern California the following Friday and this is from New Zealand.

I play in a 5 piece rock, blues, funk and R&B band doing covers, playing bars, clubs and outdoor festivals. Been at it 30 plus years
and I have tons of equipment as I am a guitar junkie and this pedal just rocks. This pedal sounds awesome with my Strats, PRS's and Les Paul classic plus. With the neck p/u on my Les Paul and the red channel on this pedal you're talkin some serious Santana tone with sustain to die for and switch to the bridge for some killer ZZ Top.
Can't say enough about this pedal so do yourself a favor and try one.

This pedal is very easy to use. You can get a very good sound without having to "tweek" for minutes or hours. They send a little sheet along with it that tells you the following. They recommend that you set your amp to clean. Then just dial in a gain, a boost level for lead, and your overall volume level on the pedal and you're set to go. They tell you to set your overall rig volume using the master volume on your amp. It comes with a 9 volt battery but getting to it requires removing 4 screws from the bottom. The battery lasts a while though. After a few months my battery is still good. It has a standard power socket in back if you want to use an external power supply.

I use this pedal with my Fender Blues Junior (15 watt tube amp). I use a Hamer Studio with a 59/JB Humbucker combo. I also have a Fender Strat with single coil vintage pickups. The pedal is very quiet. This is a boutique pedal without a doubt. The Blues channel sounds very transparent and has a very cool tone. I can get a great blues or rock sound. It made my amp's tone much beter. This pedal blows the doors off my 808 modded Tube Screamer. The tone is very thick and sounds like a juiced up tube amp. The solo channel sounds like a cranked Marshall and I almost always just want to leave it on once I kick it in. Someone really spent time getting the tone out of this pedal. It's just the best overdrive pedal I've ever played (and I've demo'd many at the guitar store). I just can't say enough about how pleasing the tone is to my ears.

I have to add here that this thing really adds bottom to your amp. Mine was lacking there. The more you add gain to either channel the more bass it gives you. Usually more gain equals thin and compressed. Not with this pedal. They had that covered. It was a nice surprise to hear a cool low end coming out of my little Blues Junior. :)

Built like a tank. Don't even worry about it. The switches are HEAVY DUTY and very high quality. The tone knobs are nice and big. The whole package is very nice. I'm still waiting for the battery to wear out...lasts a long time.

I've e-mailed them and always got very quick and accurate answers. No problems at all here.

I play heavy blues and hard rock. This pedal is PERFECT for me. I listened to the sound clip on their site and just knew I'd like it and I was right (actually it turned out much better than I expected).

The features of this thing are cool. You get a true bypass which gives you a clean channel. The you get a "Blues" footswitch which gives you your overdrive channel. Then you get a "Solo" footswitch which is the high gain channel. So you get three sounds out of your rig. It's very handy for covering many sounds. Also the Solo channel has a boost level that controls how loud your solos are. This is a cool idea. The LED's tell you what channel you're in. The tone actually scoops mids to get that metal sound. There are more features in this pedal than you think. By the way, I ran this pedal and my Blues Junior up against a straight tube amp with high gain and the pedal actually sounded better. Very impressive.

Just a note to new buyers. The G2D Custom is the same pedal as the Two-Tone or Standard also reviewed on Harmony Central. So, for those looking for a few more reviews, look in both places. The G2D guys have told me they simply changed the labeling scheme, but the circuitry of a stock unit is the same.

Either way - the pedal ROCK!

The unit is a two-stage overdrive with a bypass and a boost for switching between rhythm and lead duties. This is a similar set up to Boogie's V-Twin and has a blue/red light to indicate which mode you're in. A green light activates when the unit is bypassed. There are four rotary knobs for volume, tone (which acts as a midrange cut), boost (between rhythm and lead) and drive. It comes in a sturdy box like casing which is quite tall compared with other units. I'd prefer a sloped front a'la EHX. Pretty easy to dial in a setting that suits, no surprises here. There was no manual with this unit but it's pretty obvious it doesn't need one. Serial number is hand written on a paper sticker on the rear, not much of a deterant for would-be thieves. It gets an 8 because of the shape of the box, otherwise 9.

I use a US Traditional Tele with Fralin Blues Specials through a Fender DeVille 212. The first thing you notice about this pedal is it's total transparency. It overdrives the amp and adds none of it's own colour. That's great provided you like the overdriven sound of your amp. For an amp such as an AC30 or a 59 Bassman, it will sound brilliant. If you've used a Boogie V-Twin, you'll notice it adds "that" Boogie sound to your rig. Fine if you like Boogie drive but with the G2D, its all you own amp. Theoretically if you turn your amp up to 10, you should be getting the same sound as the G2D (minus the volume). It adds no noise to the setup. I sold a Vox Valvetone 810 which was pretty nice, it added compression and coloured the sound of the amp Vox style. The G2D has heaps more gain and definetly has great sustain, remains remarkably open through the range and is pretty versatile.

It's fairly new but I've never had a pedal crap out on me unless the power lead gets pulled out by drunken dancers on stage! It looks pretty sturdy but the knobs do stand out a bit, maybe they'll be susceptible to the odd heavy stomp?

Haven't dealt with them yet. You can bank on smaller companies to provide much better support than bigger ones. I'm from NZ so I should have no worries. Hope it's the same for the rest of the world!

The G2D is a great pedal for those amps that have no built in overdrive or distortion. So for all those vintage Fender reissues, Vox's and whatever else, this should be the pedal for you. It has a two stage setup which is great for switching from rhythm to lead, has good lights that you can see pretty well in daylight, and plenty of twiddling options to nail your sound. I recommend this pedal provided you like the sound of your own amp, and if thats the case, this pedal's a winner. Go for it!