Product: Marshall Drive Master
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted
10/01/1997
at
10:46am
by
chris
Ease of Use
:
10
This unit is one of the best drive pedals i've ever used. Just plug it in and you can't get a bad sound. With a little practice, you can adjust the knobs with your feet.
Sound Quality
:
10
It's a Marshall it better sound good---- and it dose. I have tried most pedals and this one just gets pluged into my JCM-800 (with a cry-baby wa) and i'm done, from clean to crush all without going near my amp. A friend of mine has a Peavey Bandit that I use when i'm at his house, I bring the Drive Master and use the clean channel on the lame amp and I blow his doors off (he uses some Fender amp).
Reliability
:
10
I've dropped it, kicked it, spilled beer on it, and left it outside for two days(no rain)and have no problems.
Overall Rating
:
10
I love that it is a great sounding pedal that can make a crummy amp sound great. Take your guitar, take the Drive Master and plug into anything.
Product: Marshall Drive Master
Price Paid: US $99
Submitted
05/10/1997
at
07:49am
by
David Harned
Ease of Use
:
9
5 knobs: drive, bass, mid, treble, volume. The manual gives four excellent settings but its easy to find others.
Sound Quality
:
10
Sounds fanatastic. This pedal is very versatile, because of the 3 EQ knobs. This pedal can give you the same sounds as the Marshall Blues- Breaker and then some. It has way more gain. I play a Stratocaster through a Fender Hot Rod tube amp. The Hot Rod has three channels: clean, drive, and more drive. It sounds great for crunch, but I wanted a boosted lead sound that could really scream and sustain. This pedal was exactly what I was looking for.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
I've only had it for a short time so I can't say how reliable it is. It appears very sturdy and holds up to heavy stomping.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Haven't dealt with them yet, hope I don't have too.
Overall Rating
:
10
I would definately buy it again! I compared this thing to the Marshall BluesBreaker and the Ibanez Tube Screamer, and it was superior to both in sound quality and versatility. At $99 bucks this great pedal is a steal!
Product: Marshall Drive Master
Price Paid: US $110
Submitted
06/06/1996
at
07:22am
by
Scott Strain
Ease of Use
:
8
This is one fine effects pedal (especially compared to the lousy Marshall Bluesbreaker, see my review there). It has controls comparable to many amplifiers--gain, volume, treble, mid-range, and bass. With these you can get a wide variety of great sounds. The manual has recommended settings for differents sounds, from Blues to overdrive to hard rock lead to Southern rock rythym. Overall, the sounds are fantastic, especially the Blues setting, which is the reason I bought the box. I had been using a Tube Screamer, but the Screamer, with its one simple tone control, had too much midrange for my taste. The Drive Master allows you to take it or leave it. I like to get a brittle tone with my telecaster and this box gets me there. Also, if you crank up the gain and the bass, this box will take you into 1970s heavy metal land--before Tom Shultz came along and destroyed it (IMHO). You want that Zepplin, Sabbath, B.O.C. tone, this box will do it. How versatile do you want be? Stones to Sabbath, this is it.
Sound Quality
:
8
You get a slight buzz when this box is turned on. Er, I mean you HEAR one, anyway, but it is no big deal. The sound is fantastic, but I have had a little trouble getting feedback when needed (this is easily solved, however, by switching to the distortion channel on the amplifier itself while the Drive Master is still on, and it is not an issue anyway when you have it cranked).
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Boy, it feels like a solid hunk of metal--big and wide and easy to click on or off--and the on/off switch has a very solid and stable feel to it. I don't anticipate any problems with it. Then again, I have not even had it long enough to need a new battery yet.
Overall Rating
:
10
Would I buy it again? Yes--it is simply so versatile. I had been using a Tube Screamer TS-10, and really liked it too, but the Drive Master lets you cut out the mid-range. Also, the Drive Master only needs a little over half of its gain to emulate the Tube Screamer cranked. Thus, you can turn the gain up a few more notches on the Drive Master when you need a tone that will cut people in half a la Albert Collins. Trust me--forget the Marshall Bluesbreaker, which is nothing but a poor imitation of the Tube Screamer. The Drive Master is simple a better buy. Note, I showed the price purchased at $110. This was the price the store was selling it for, but I happened to walk into a guitar shop I had never been in before that was in the final day of a going out of business sale. I got the Drive Master for $70!!!
