G2D Custom Overdrive

Bought this off a guy thousands of miles away. Opened up the box, hooked it up, clicked it on. Strummed one chord, and I almost cried. I had found what I was looking for. In short, what I'm saying is, it's SUPER easy to get a good sound out of this pedal. Giving it an 8 only because of the slight learning curve of what the two switches actually do. Left one engages it, the right one switches from "blues" to "rock" aka, rythym to lead.

I'm runnig an American Deluxe Strat-> VP Jr.->G2D Custom->Monte Allums BD-2->Paul C. Timmy->Nova Repeater->Verbzilla->AC-15.

It's not noisy at all. My Visual Sound JH was super noise when both sides were engaged. On this one, when you have it the "rock" mode on, its not noisy at all, well except the super creamy smooth OD that it's spittin out.

As for the actual sound. I would describe it as smooth and creamy. It is very transparent, but still has a slightly noticeable mid section. I would say it is sort of a mix between a TS-808 and a Bluesbreaker. Seriously, it's an awesome pedal. It cleans up well with the knob. The Rock mode, (2nd stage of the pedal) can be used in two ways. As a solo boost or as a higher stage OD (almost into distortion territory). It sounds killer both ways. Knobs are Volume, Tone, Solo, and Drive. Very simple and work very well.

It comes in a pretty tall box. The switches don't seem to be of the "best" quality, but I hear G2D fixed this issue. Other than that, I see no issues with it and have experienced none.

Never Dealt with them. But I hear good things.

I play a lot of modern worship music. Hillsong, Planetshakers etc. It is perfect for this because it is so versatile. If you are looking for a smooth creamy tubescreamer, but want a mix of bluesy transparency, then this is your pedal. I was blown away from the first chord, and have been in love since. I have it stacked with my Timmy and that just turned it into a WHOLE new monster. MMMM, so tasty. I would try to buy it agian if it were lost or stolen...but GASing could prevent this lol. Ive played Boss OD's, Jekyll and Hydes, Rats, and all other sorts, and this still comes out on top for what it's supposed to do. It's also great for blues, espcially if you lower the gain. Keep in mind, this is a very high gain pedal, if you are looking for a lower gain, try out the Creamtone. I don't like it as much as the Custom, but it's definietly a good pedal.

Very easy to use, no rocket science to work this one out.
Volume/tone/solo/gain knobs.
2 footswitchs, on off, and solo on off

This sounds fantastic!!!, i use it with my Vox AC15H1TV with a Les Paul Standard and it is great. I have owned many pedals in my time and currently have a Crowther Hot cake/ Boss SD1/ and a T/S copy (for overdrive/distortion sounds).
They all serve there purpose but if i need that extra gain and bottom end, this is the pedal. It doesn;t get muddy with the gain turned up, notes come out very well and precise. I find alot of pedals lack mid punch (especially when you need to cut through the mix for a solo...this does it very well!! the standard setting is similar in sound to a tubscreamer (a little darker perhaps) but with more gain. The solo is a thicker/ louder/ gainer version of the channel 1 sound....it is awesome.
I had a Mesa Dual Rec before my vox and it went very well with that. In fact i used to use the solo section as my main rythm sound instead of channel 2 on the Rectifier....I didn't really like this pedal when used with a strat however, some pedals work well with different setups, but it works perfectly for what I have currently.

Built pretty well, never had any problems so far, owned for approx 2 years (bought second hand to)

N/A never had a need to contact them

I play mainly Rock/pop and have also played in a hardcore/screamo band. This pedal is def on the rock side of the spectum...but thats what I love!! if i need a mild overdrive I step on one of my other pedals....but this still gets used most of time when I play all styles..
I have been playing for over 10 years, and this definatly one of the best pedals I have owned.... probaly the first pedal i have used instead of any of the amps own distortion channels that I have owned. (which includes, Marshall 2550/Mesa dual rec/ Mesa single rec/ Mesa rocket 44/ Peavy Classic50/ Orange Tiny Terror/ etc)

A third-grader could plug in this pedal and immediately get awesome tone. Set your OD volume and your Boost volume and adjust the tone knob to dial in the amount of mids.

My primary axe is a 79 Strat modded with Kinman p/u's in the bridge and middle positions and a SD Hot rail in the neck position. I run directly through a VOX wah, G2D Custom, Boss Tuner then into a Tony Bruno Underground 30 head (w/verb) and the 2x2 bruno cab with Alnico Blues. There is minimal noise from this pedal even in the solo position. I wish I had something negative to say about this pedal. I typically only turn my Bruno (single channel) up to about 11:00 and control all other volume with my G2D. I've tried tube-screamers, Maxon's, etc.... and will never use them again as long as I have a G2D pedal on hand (I also have the Cream Tone). This pedal pushes the amp in a transparent way and generates the best overdrive I've ever heard...and I've been playing for over 25 years. For bluesy rock - everything from SRV to Santana to Robben Ford - there is no close second to this pedal in my experience. It actually has improved my playing...the tone is absolutely inspiring.

So far no issues. I would and have gigged with it many times with no backup.

No experience with CS for this pedal.

Fantastic all around....buy one!

Simple as counting from 1 to 3. I have considered this pedal to be the most no-nonsense, aim-for-the-throat overdrive I have ever owned. I do not exaggerate when i claim that it practically plays itself. Set your preferred volume between the blues and solo channel, wind the gain up to taste, there is minimal tweaking with the tone knob, hell, I leave it a little past 12 noon after finding a nice clean tone on the amp. Viola! Stun! Now THATS a pedal that saves you from endless tinkering during sound check and performance. The G2D folks really know their stuff!

I have been using an Elegee Custom guitar (Philippine made tele style, chambered ash body, ironwood/kamagong top, quarter sawn maple neck, ebony fretboard and medium-low output humbuckers) -> modded crybaby -> custom made fet based fat boost -> barber trifecta fuzz -> Bos volume pedal -> yamaha magic stomp, into any amp in a given venue. My personal amp is a solid state japanese 40watt Evans.

Played this pedal though fender blues DeVilles, another all tube vintage 4x10 fender (I forgot!), marshall valvestates (both combos and a half stack), a peavey transtube studio pro and a 4x10 delta blues tube combo, a solid state fender stage, a roland jc-50 and a carvin legacy half stack.

I ***** you not when i tell you that this thing practically jives with any amp you plug it into. the tone is just always there! it is the most consistent overdrive ever. The blues channel, I;ve been told, is close to a love pedal eternity but fatter, and the solo channel is fat and sings. To my ears, it sound like a mutated TS808 mated a vintage Rat, but with with modern balls. 808 smoothness and compression with that Rat bite, minus the sludginess. The singing midrange chirp is present, which I have found to be a desirable trait a pedal should have. This thing isn't muddy, the bottom end has the best balance of tightness and looseness, so the bass strings aren't flubby, and the treble strings dont sound thin. And the amount of compression the circuit has is just right, saves your butt if you end up playing though a dry amp like a valvestates clean channel, when the tone is way too fast and immediate. This pedal will give you the harmonic swing you need. And though a high power tube amp like the legacy, the tone just soars.

My immediate worry is the competition against keyboards, and when you've got a mad nord player, competition is stiff. The g2d custom kept me floating above the mix with its nice mids.

Is it noisy? Yup, its an overdrive, it's rock and roll. all overdrive/distortion/fuzz pedals will exhibit noise, thats the nature of the beast.

fave artist tones? I can ape robben ford with the blues channel. the chirp is there, but fatter. next to the zendrive, the g2d custom has a little more lower mids and bass. The solo channel comes close to greg howe's extraction tone, with the tone knob at high noon. turning it clockwise adds a more marshally flavor where the high end and higher mids are emphasized. its bypass did not color my tone.

it doesn't do the pantera thing, thats not what its for, thats the morpheus' territory. or the toneczar openhaus (how i regret not attempting to score one when the forex rates were in my favor!)

for what the g2d custom does, vs what i had owned, tackling high volume jazz fusion, rock, blues, country and psychedelia, i give it a 10. i have yet to find a pedal to defeat it, though the exotic BB Plus came close, but didnt sway me enough...

based on the specs and taking a peek at its innards, i'm confident this pedal will last. would be a pain in the butt shipping it overseas for repair though, should anything ill happen to it.

i gig with it without a back up. i must admit, this box is pricey, but when you think about it, you are getting two channels, so i though of it as purchasing two pedals in one package

I shot Grant an email praising the g2d custom, and he replied fast and very pleasant. I am confident that g2d would help out should something happen to the pedal, yet my main concern would always be shipping the thing to NZ and back.

I still give it a 10, out of a vote of confidence. Its harder to get feedback from digitech or boss. This is the area where boutique defeats the mainstream, the personal, human touch factor.

I play hodgepodge of struggling straight ahead jazz, fusion, country and the blues. This pedal is a perfect match, has a round tone with a cutting eq, and the smooth overdrive texture. It isn't as smooth as the zendrive (that things a smooth as frank sinatra!) but i welcome the minimal grit the g2d custom has. It has a well-tempered aggression.

Been playing close to 18 years, last i checked. i've been though a heap of gear, most noteworthy among the pile I personally owned being a locally a modified boss ds-1, a barber direct drive (which I found to be too dark for me in the end, I kept getting washed out from the mix, but am loving the trifecta), modded sd-1's (i developed an aversion to the boss buffered bypass in the end)and just when i thought i would be retiring on the miaudio triumvirate (tubezone, crunchbox and blues pro) a student had to bring in the g2d custom to a session. mind you, i do now a thing or too about tinkering with pedals as well, and since I teach, a lot of gasheads wander in bringing their toys for me to play and hear. saves alot of cash that way from trial and error, come to think of it ;)

A friend of mine recommended the cream tone and told me that the g2d stuff was the stuff you should have if you wanna quit gassing for overdrives, and suggested i aim for the custom. never heard of the g2d brand, but luckily a friend of his was in town, signed up for a lesson and took out the custom. playing the g2d custom next to the crunchbox and blues pro (with him using the custom throughout the session, and me a/b'ing it vs the two afterwards) was like helplessly watching an alligator devour your beloved pet... the other pedals i had were up for sale immediately.

if it were stolen or lost, i'd be in debt purchasing another, heheheh

I like the fact that it has what i call "effortless eq". everything you need to tune its fundamental sound is in the tone knob, and i only have to turn it slightly cw or ccw depending on the amp, after I have found a nice clean eq. the gig i had with the carvin legacy was a surprise, legacy's eq was all at noon, ditto for the g2d custom. i do no miss the option-anxiety i used to get with the tubezone. i'd go nuts tweaking it every few minutes. recently as lent a barber small fry (an ace pedal in my books!) had fun messing with the controls and chips, but alas, option anxiety choked me. the only thing it couldnt have against the g2d was the smooth drive and the overall simplicity, the barber had more grit to my ears, but it was a pleasant grit. I get all my grit from the trifecta, when needed. if you want a go-for-the-throat pedal that delivers, the g2d custom is the cat's meows... less knobs, switches and chips, more playing.

i dunno if its a good or bad thing that this company doesnt get the accolades it deserves. and this pedal for the matter. i could rejoice knowing that the g2d custom is my best kept voodoo, that only a few initiated have knowledge of (in a clandestine, priory of zion-da vinci code kinda way). however, deep inside i feel that grant and dave should be getting more exposure for their work, lovepedal and fulltone seem to be getting gosh damned so much these days.

i highly recommend giving g2d a try, particularly the custom, and in a live situation. you will be pleasantly surprised!

Every sound is a good sound. Just master your levels between the blues and solo channel and you've got it made.

Every level of gain saturation is excellant. Some songs I turn it all the way down on the blues channel and for other songs the gain goes all the way up with using the solo channel as a rhythem sound with the solo volume adjusted low.

The fact that you can pre switch between the blues and Solo channels while the pedal is bypassed is a huge plus for me.

There is a manual but it's not needed, unless you are using a distortion pedal for the first time.

My rig? Les Pauls with bucker 3's, Fender Concert Reverb eminace 12's x2 modded 1 wan o war and 1 wizard, SKB floor board with 15 units, George L cables gold, with a buffer first in the chain.

Also GEB-7 and GE-7 Sniper modded eq pedals to boot.

Normal dist. noise when crancked. That's why they get a 9. Their morpheus unit has a gate built in the unit and it awesome. I wish they put that same gate knob in this unit as well. By the way for those that want heaver dist. use a morphues it picks up where this overdrive leaves off. I think you need them both. I expect that the cream tone pick up on the other side of the blues setting. G2D will solve all of your distortion urges. Just get a nice amp with a good clean tone and G2D units to taste, and you got a hell of a rig.

They always work! True bypass.

Dave will answer all questions and help with any problems.

It beats modded sd-1's and TS9's for creamy overdrive plus you can crank the gain for thick hard rock tones. If you eq it right, you have enough gain to pull off metallica songs. You just have to have the ability the phrase your sound with your hands.

4 Knobs and 2 Switches but 3 LEDS - sometimes its a bit confusing to have an LED on when its on bypass but other than that its simple to operate.

Sound is only relative your rig.

Morley PVW -> Behringer MIC200 Pre-amp -> Boss SD-1 -> G2D Custom OD

All that goes through to a Marshall MG100wDFX Head and 4x12 Marshall Cab.

I've been on a quest to get great tone at a minimal cost ever since i've been old enough to buy gear. This pedal sits perfectly in my loop and replaces my amps distortion. Solid state Marshalls have a tendency to sound thin and tinny - and can lack the warmth of a tube amp. I've gone through a tonne of multi effects boxes (Zoom 505, GFX707, 8080, Digitech RP-10) and none of them gave anything close to good. I spose they'd be good if they were your first pedals but they just dont cut it for me.

The Custom OD fits perfectly in my effects chains and made my solid state marshall sing with the warmth of tube amp on heat. I've never heard such good tones from my amp. Even the amps onboard overdrives dont sound anywhere near as good. This pedal is truly designed with one thing in mind : TONE.

This pedal works well with both humbuckers and single coils. I tried it with my Les paul as well as my Strat. The les paul gave me a hard rock sound and the strat kept my blues tone in tact.
Its also worth noting that this pedal is transparent. It doesnt change your tone when on bypass - i spose thats due to the handwiring.

NOW - for the downside. It isnt perfect. There just doesnt seem to be enough gain in this pedal for you to use on its on for solos and rhythm. Especially if you play Hard Rock. If you're into metal this probably isnt for you. But for anything from blues to alternative to semi hard rock you would be in good company with this pedal.
For me I had to leave my Boss SD-1 on to push the gain over the top. Thats when i got enough gain to do a bit of shredding on the solo channel. I tried using a Tubescreamer with it once but its just not my thing, I actually liked the SD-1 a little more - All you screamer fans out there just simmer down - even The Edge from U2 used an SD-1 on some tours.

The manual says its versatile and can be used for Blues to Detuned Hard rock. Truth be told its about 70% blues and 30% Hard rock - (unless you have another overdrive in your chain to make it 50/50)
Thats why i'd give it an 8 for sound - its not perfect but damn its good.

Its built like a tank and heck i think if someone spilt a whole beer on the thing it would work. Having gigged with it and used it in practices I have yet to have a problem.

These things are hand made and made to order as well.

Fantastic - they were swamped at the time of my order, my still had time to confirm my order and offer some friendly suggestions based on my playing style. Great guys - would definately by from them again.

Like I said with the sound quality - its a pity there just isnt enough gain in the pedal to use it on its own. I didnt want to get the morpheus pedal because it didnt have the solo function - maybe theres a new upgrade for the morpheus?

Its a great pedal if you're a blues player and or an alternative indie rocker. But for hard rock get something with a little more gain.

ok, this pedal is easy, but at the same time has very cool features. more versatile than your one-footswitch klon centaur :| 4 knobs, 1 more than usual, but easy to figure out. manual was one page, not really necessary but good in that it describes exactly what the solo knob does, what voltage consumption, all that spec stuff... it's #473 or something. i like all the bright lights and true bypass.

this pedal is T R A N S P A R E N T ! i can hear what my guitar sounds like (which is a good thing now). no coloration of tone. great. it's not really noisy, a bit when wound right up, but it could be my power supply. very thick nice overdrive, use it for blues (only just) even heavy rock, i like blindside, and it gets me there. good. might be more versatile with a less/more gain knob.

yeah, no problem.

good email contact.

it's great for what i do, playing in church and also in an original band. i use this and a maxon od-9 tubescreamer for my overdrive needs. great combo, will never sell these two. i want a diamond compressor and some kind of delay, possibly boss re-20, it looks very cool. yeah i love this pedal. the solo option is great either for solo's or the heavy chorus...i like the way i sound with this on. powerful. good and great.

Very simple.The only issue is getting used to the green light meaning the pedal is bypassed (Im so used to a light meaning the pedal is on and in use)
Has a bypass mode(off), slight OD mode and more OD mode.Both OD modes share tone and gain..howver the more OD mode has a seperate volume to give you more boost if needed.(prefer to use my guitars volume control and keep both settings even.
7 = Easy to get a great sound straight away but need time to adjust to switching and indicators.

Fender Strat with Lil59/Texas Spec/Texas Spec.
Line 6 Flextone Plus amp (1 x 12).

I bough this pedal with the intention of following it up with a valve amp.The line 6 is good but when pushing the OD settings loses its sparkle (presence).It suited me while playing in a show band which I have left.

However...this pedal allows me to dial in a great simple say black face tone on my amp with only slight breakup which doesnt lose the top end, and then I use the pedal for OD and it sounds amazing.
Also sounds great with the Bassman setting and Classic marshall settings....as long as you dont try to squeeze out too much OD from the amp and let the pedal do the rest.(this is because of this amp and its loss of top end when using higher OD settings,not the pedal)

The pedal can be very transparent and doesnt affect the amps tone ..but it also has good range on the tone control etc to make a difference if you want it to.

It works really well with the volume control of the guitar and allows you to back off the volume etc while maintianing clarity and brightness.

I love the consistancy of non valve amps and this pedal allows me to dial in a great tone every time whether the amp is pushed hard or not and also isnt affected by poor power conditions.

I used to own a Fulldrive but found the pedal coloured the tone too much and wasnt as transparent.I personally prefer this pedal.

I lent it to my mate who has an old Bassman and he bought one the next week.Also had a mate play it through his orange combo..he bought one as well.Most people I know that hear it and play it,love it!

I gave it a 10 because I only have 3 categories when it comes to tone (1= poor 5=fair 10=great)I dont see many in betweens.

Seems pretty solid and cant imagine there would be too many issues if transported properly.
I never gig with back ups besides a Sansamp sitting in my bag in case the amp goes down...this would get me through a gig if needed.

5 = yet to gig around regularly with it to give a true rating...would imagine it would be a 10 if put to the test.

They were quick to get it to me when ordered etc and answered my inital questions quickly.

I love it and cant imagine departing with it..thewre would be many other great pedals out there that are as good or better, but I have no need to pursue them any more as this gives me exactly what I want.

Very easy to use, but the tone knob is a bit dodgy, it reduces the volume considerably and doesn't really cut treble much.

This pedal sounded decent with my Tele and Strat, but very raw and unrefined with double coils. It also has a huge bass boost which can't be dialed out. I have tried tons of overdrive/Distortion pedals and this one doesn't rank with the best. The tone control cuts volume considerably and doesn't roll the highs off much. This is not a very versatile pedal and it sounds very ugly with humbuckers.

It might work well with the right combination of guitar and amp, but it didn't work for me.

Seems very well built.

Never needed.

Not for me, but not terrible.

Pedal is fairly easy to use. Lots of saturation and drive on hand.

Very versatile. Nice bluesy sounds aka Jonny Lang to full rock tones aka ZZ TOP. Custom made Fender strat(well, atleast the sticker if Fender), maple body and neck through a vintage 65 Fender Deluxe. Middle and neck pickups are Seymour Duncan Alnico 1 Pro II's and the bridge is a custom Lindy Fralin 10% Blues Special bridge pickup. A touch of noise on the rock side but the tone is so killer I don't really notice it. Blues side is quiet. Tone very,very amp like and open.

Seems to be built really well. I doubt you would need a back up.

Sent a few email to G2D and alway got very prompt responses.

I play mostly blues and rock. The custom overdrive is totally perfect for these kinds of styles. Been playing about thirty years.
My setup: strat- RMC1 Wah - Burriss Boostier-G2D Custom OD - DLS chorus-vib - Maxon analog delay This pedal truly sounds like an amp cranked, no compression. Very open and full unlike most other pedals. Small negative: there is a pretty good volume difference when switching from blues to rock. True by-pass. I have tried about every OD pedal out there and this is by far the best one out of the bunch. Matches great with my Burriss boostiest which also sounds awesome.

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!