Maxon D & S II Distortion/Sustainer

Not easy to get good sound because the sound sucks. Manual perfunctory.

Fender Strat w/noiseless single-coils into Marshall Combo (run totally clean). Very noisy especially at high gain, or rather gain at maximum which isn't really alot. Where this pedal really blows is that the volume control doesn't boost the signal but rather seems to weaken it. At full the volume isn't very loud. Cannot use as a booster for solos due to the poor volume output. Is a very trebly pedal and has medium gain. At low gain you can get a decent tone but versatility ain't its middle name. The tone control has little variety also. It doesn't help to get rid of the treble. Not a lot of sustain either. Wonder why it has the name?????

Appears to be well made and would probably last awhile but I'll never know since I got rid of it the day after I got it.

Have no idea.

I play classic rock. This pedal was a disappointment; I returned it the very next day. If the tone control was more varied and the tone of the pedal less trebly it would help. The volum control is no good at all. Not a very good distortion pedal. Hate to say it , but almost any distortion pedal I can think of (for the price) sounds better and is more versatile than the Maxon D & S II Distortion Sustainer (examples-Ibanez Tone Lok, Tube Screamer, DS-1, etc). Maxon pedals are supposed to be the Holy Grail of tone, but this one was a Holy Turd!!!!!!!!!

Very easy to use. The box has controls for the amount of distortion you want, the overall output volume, and the tone.

I am currently using this pedal with a Lace-sensor equipped stratocaster and several Seymour Duncan JB pickup-equipped guitars (including a beat to S*#@ 1974 Gibson Les Paul). The pedal has a really fat sound, with way more bottom end than most other pedals. The tone is really smooth, and it blends in nicely with the sound of a cranked tube amp.

Its a regular no-frills looking stomp box (made out of metal).
Looks solid; I haven't had a problem yet!

I currently play in a cover band where we do all sorts of '90's alternative stuff. This pedal is really handy for getting that old "Tube screamer" sound you here on all the Pearl Jam records. It's a lot cheaper than those vintage fuzzboxes that everyone and their mother seems to be raving about. It has a real natural tone that is neither brittle or booming. I recommend it to anyone who is unsatisfied with the generic Boss pedal tone that seems so prevalent today.

Ease of use? Three knobs - that can't be difficult, although the TONE knob is placed where the BALANCE control usually is and vice versa. After two seconds or so of bafflement, you should be OK... Manual is comprehensive and supplies several settings for different tones, that actually do sound different...

Tell you what: I REALLY LIKE THIS PEDAL! This one is a TOTAL sleeper! The Maxon website describes the D&S II thusly: "If you like the 808's bark but could use a little more bite, the D&S II is the pedal for you." This thing is like some Star Trek parallel universe evil counterpart to the OD808 - if you're one of those that complain of too much midrange in the OD808 and/or no bass (or Tube Screamers for that matter); if you complain that you'd like an overdrive that doesn't muddy your sound with humbuckers, you seriously owe it to yourself to check this out! I was looking for a different overdrive pedal with a different overdrive timbre for my pedalboard and bought this one. I'd say that more than half the time now, I'm using the D&S II.

The D&S II has some serious clang to it; there's really no mid hump ala the TS series to speak of. It can sound pretty bright, but backing off the TONE control can rein that in. That said, the D&S II has TONS of bass, NO bass roll-off here. Also, clipping diodes are Germanium type diodes, which impart a smoother sound to the overdrive than silicon diodes found in the TS series and many other overdrives and distortions. If anything, this pedal also will help your technique as its pristine and clear tone forces one to refine one's technique. If you've got the chops, this one will bring all your notes out with razor-sharp precision.

Noisy? Nah. Lately, my D&S II has been doing most of its duty in front of an old Fender Champ and a '73 Marshall Super Lead. Guitar I've been using with it is usually a Mexican '60s Reissue Fender Strat with Schaller tuners and Seymour Duncan SSL-5L pickups. Think early Outlaws' guitar tone, it's a lot like that.

Reliability? Well, it turns the overdrive on when I depress the footswitch, each and every time, unlike say, my old Ibanez AD9 pedal which has to be hit about ten times before the delay kicks in.

I've mentioned that customer support from Maxon in Japan is great; haven't dealt with Godlyke yet, but heard good things about them as well.

I mentioned the Outlaw's reference, obviously I play some Southern Rock. This pedal also does time with Metal and Shred stuff that I do, as well as country finger-picking etc. Across the board, it's great and works well in a lot of different musical situations. Paradoxically, for all its clang, it's also rather smooth. Nice work.

As I mentioned, the clipping diode section utilizes germanium diodes - ala the elusive '70s-era Ibanez OD-855 Overdrive II (which Maxon also designed). It sports the same chartreuse yellow-green paint job and a similar screened logo. The circuit itself seems to depart from the Overdrive II in some notable respects, the original Overdrive IIs utilized the Texas Instruments RC4558P chip, the D&S II packs the desirable JRC4558D chip. The other most notable difference is the input capacitor in the D&S II: it's a whopping 1 microfarad (the Overdrive II has a .022 capacitor) which accounts for the bass response of the pedal. I don't believe I've ever heard an overdrive pedal that has the bass response that the D&S II has.

Three knobs and a footswitch. A knob for distortion, a knob for tone, and a knob for level/gain. If you can't use it, I don't know how you got here to read this review.

Single coil pu guitars so far (Epi Casino and Fender Strat and Tele), for Revolver/Sgt. Pepper Beatle sounds, through either a Brown or Blackface Princeton or a Korg Vox AC15TBX. It is not noisy, at least with the distortion level I use, which really doesn't get over about 9:00 or 10:00. Also, I go very top end/treble, so the tone knob is all the way over to 5:00, and I still get as much bottom as I want, which I think is rare for such pedals, which often suck the bottom away. I can get the Taxman, Dr. Robert, Fixing A Hole, Good Morning Good Morning sound I'm looking for with this pedal and setup.

I'm not sure it's in the Boss pedal tank catagory. The switch is quiet and doesn't pop, but at the same time it doesn't seem as sturdy as some. It will be used alternately with a Vox Valvetone, which I love but worry about wearing out, I use it so much, and this one comes close to the same sound quality.

Unknown, although I've read great things about Godlyke.

I'm very pleased with the sound, which is what matters, isn't it? Like I said, it doesn't suck all the bottom out, but with the tone knob all the way over it's still got the sharp bite to the treble that I like. In some ways it may be a better sound than the Valvetone; certainly better to my ears than my Boss SD-1, but at a much higher price, too. And at the price, the fact that the distortion knob has a bit of noise (very slightly scratchy, unfortunately in the range that I use it most....from off to about 9:00) pisses me off a bit. But it's not so bad that it's unuseable, and with some pot cleaner it may disappear. Anyway, I'm glad I got it, I like it, and I'd recommend it. And it would have a lot of potential for players who want even more distortion than me, since I get plenty out of it and don't go past 10:00. I'd recommend it.