SIB Varidrive

Vol, Drive, Bass, Mid Treble. very easy to use!

Awesome Sound! Very Clear Full frequency Tube Overdrive! I play a Don Grosh Strat through a Fender Vibrolux. I also use a Dunlop 535 Wah. The Varidrive sounds Great. I changed the Tube to a NOS Amperex Bugle Boy 12-AX7 and that helped a whole Bunch.

Very Solid Build! Should last a Long Time!

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Expensive but worth it! Extremly excellent sound Quality, and top quality constuction. Makes this a Must have pedal!

You really need to swap the tube out with a good 12AYT, then it's simple to use.

Use a 12AY7 tube with the gain switch down, gain knob -- 10::00 to 12:00, bass mid and treble -- 12:00, and you'll have the best mild overdrive sound available. Push the mids up for a more Tube Screamer-esque mid-hump.

Flip up the gain switch and set the gain knob -- 3:00, bass -- 9:00, mid -- full, treble -- 3:00 and you'll have a very good lead tone.

A tight, palm-muting tone does not seem to be available.

Into a very bright amp (Fender Twin, Showman, Vibrolux, Deluxe, etc) on the extreme settings it can be overly bright. I would suggest some sort of "presence" control for future revisions, and maybe a "bright" switch.

I had to replace the foot-switch with a TPDT (the same as those used in Perscription Electronics boxes). I've had to do this with ALL of the true-bypass boxes I own (except for the PE Experience) because they all use the same cheap switches. I wish all boutique stomp box makers would follow PE's lead on this issue, it would save them return repair time.

You want ABSOULUTELY transparent mild breakup, this is the only box to consider.

This pedal is set up the same as most distortion/overdrives and is a no-brainer. There is no manual, nor is one needed.

Whoa, overall tone is a tough thing to rate as this pedal is tube-based and the quality of the tube chosen makes all the difference.

At first I hated this pedal because I bought it based on the reviews written here. Some of the reviews spoke of this pedal as a very versatile clone machine that could cop a huge variety of tones including some that were Marshall-like. I find this not to be the case at all. Plugged straight into my amp it sounded more like an super saturated, compressed fuzz.

But...

Then I started playing with tubes. I hate using 12AX7 tubes because the VARIDRIVE just pummels the tubes too hard. This thing just slams tubes and the 12AX7 tubes have no chance to resist. 12AY7 and 12AU7 tubes atand up better and offer more complexity.

As far as the controls go the bass is voiced very aggressively and is way more than is needed. This control can knock your amp on it's ass if you are not careful. The mid controls are a bit too subtle for me and I set the treble at zero as I feel the pedal can get bright.


Marshall sounds? No. But I have never learned more about tube response than when I started playing around with the VARIDRIVE. I accidentally discovered how much I liked this thing while running it into my Sans Amp PSA-1 while recording. I was FLOORED! The complexity and response were stunning and I got Larry Carlton and Robben Ford tones through headphones. Amazing. I LOVE this pedal for sultry smooth lead playing. I never use it for rhythym, but for lead it is amazing. Roll back the volume and you get clean. Roll it up a bit and you get a nice clipping and full out nice sustain.

I really find that this pedal makes me want to play slower and really concentrate on my technique as it is VERY sensitive to picking changes. Ease up on the gain and add delay and you get Edge tones that are better than anything I have heard. This is where the class A design shines. Take off the bass and you can cop really cool lower gain Stevie ray sounds and with verb this pedal is stupid good.

As you can see I have many opinions of this pedal and i am learning more about it's potential every day. While I was initially disappointed that the crunchy shred tones were loose I now know how I will be able to use the pedal and for what it does it cannot be beat.

Very Unique.

Very tough casing. Much lighter than the previous reviewers stated but this thing is solid. If you can hurt this thing you are acting like an idiot.

AWESOME!

The treble pot pooped out and Rick replaced it no charge. Cool guy.

Tough to contact but he will stand by his stuff.

Try one.

If you like the full range of tube overdrive you will love this thing and tube freaks will play with this thing endlessly. Really cool.

If you want "Marshall in a box" or tight crunch this will not fit your style.

This is a very easy, It has volume, distortion, gain, bass, mid, and treble controls. What make this pedal unique is that it has a tube in it which can be swapped. This Pedal does not come with a owners manual and really doesn't need one.

I am using a Fender American Fat Strat and a Godin LGXT. These guitars are plugged directly into the Varidrive then into my THD Bi-Valve. The tone is outstanding. I can go from mild crunch to full marshal gain with just adjusting a few nobs. It turns my Class A amp into a two channel amp with adjustments at my feet. I can control the volume to match my clean volume which is cool. I have replaced the stock JJAX-7 tube for a Sylvania AT-7. The JJAX-7 sounds great, however it gets to high gain to quick. I found I had to keep the distortion and volume set at low levels other wise it gets to extreme high gain distortion like a plexi on steroids. Where as the AT-7 gives more of a nice gain sweep from light crunch to full blown Marshall Plexi gain.

Built like a tank A bit large and heavy. I don't think I would need a back up the internal components look top notch

I haven't needed any. Though others posted great support

I play a mix of blues/Rock originals and covers. Great match. I have been playing for 20 years. If it were lost or stolen I would replace it. What I love the most is the tone it simulates my natural tone of my amp. The THD Bi-valve is not a two channel amp but now it is with this pedal. I didn't really have the chance to compare it to other pedals. I was looking for a pedal which didn't color my tone and would push my Bi-Valve into its own natural gain stage which it does nicely.

Simple enough to not require a manual. Five knobs, as covered below. EQ knobs have a wide range and are very musical.

Setup = PRS Custom 24 / Fender Strat Plus / Fender Am Deluxe Tele -> Fulltone Clyde Deluxe wah -> SIB Varidrive -> Maxon OD808 Overdrive -> THD BiValve amp.

Very quiet pedal, even at max gain - quieter than the solid-state Maxon. The Drive control goes from slight OD through crunch all the way (IMHO) to high-gain lead and rhythm tones. Coupled with the EQ, I can get anything from a Rolling Stones edgy sound to a VH-esque brown sound to a pretty convincing Creed/nu-metal scooped-mid sound. I can even get a fine SRV-ish sound, although this is easier to achieve with the Maxon. The one thing this pedal won't do is a clean boost - even with the drive on the lowest setting, you get a little dirt. But dirt is what I paid for, so that's ok!

Every setting sounds great. No kidding, this is a very flexible, responsive, great sounding preamp that works very well with my BiValve amp.

As noted many times, this pedal is built exceptionally well, and will likely take a lot of abuse. I don't abuse my gear, so I believe this pedal may outlive me...

Outstanding! I called Rick with a perceived problem after having it about 2 years - he said "send it over, I'll take a look." Well, turns out I was hearing things - there was no problem with the pedal, but Rick gave it a thorough checkout and tested it with a variety of setups (and other players!) just to be sure. And didn't charge me a dime. I would certainly recommend SIB to anyone - wonderful to deal with.

Been playing for 15 years, and play everything from fingerstyle jazz to pretty heavy rock - I just wish I could play everything I listen to! Played several amps and effects units over the years - this unit sounded great in front of solid state amps I've owned, and just kills in front of a good tube amp. I'd buy another asap if I had to. I love the tone and the flexibility. It's not cheap (hence the 9 rating), but great gear rarely is.

Extremely easy-only 5 knobs. The eq is very dynamic-the gain stages are even. No manual as I can remember (I bought this about 2 years ago). I don't think there has been any upgrade to it.

Excellent. One of the most quiet overdrives I've used. Even when dimed, I don't get noise. I've experimented with different pre amp tubes and I like using a 12AX7 best although it can get a little buzzy. I found stock EH or GT12AX7R3 (I believe they are the same tube anyway) to sound best amongst the non NOS tubes. I like to use the pedal to get a real heavy overdrive. It can get almost metal, but not quite. With a JJECC83s tube rated hot by eurotubes and the gain dimed, the sound is thick and fierce but never muddy.

Here's where the marks get a little lower. It is built like a brick. But I did have one switch problem and the transformer blew also. Rick from SIB told me he had a batch of bad transformers and that was the reason for the problem. In any case, the reliability issue was taken care of by Rick (see below).

Rick is extremely helpful. I've owned this pedal for almost two years and felt compelled to write a review finally based on Rick's help. Rick always answers e-mails and takes telephone calls. He offered to fix my switch but I just had a local tech do the work since that was easy enough. When the transformer started acting up, he told me to send it to him. I did so and will be getting it back shortly. But in any case, he did not charge me a cent, not even for postage. Rick is first class all the way. He and Z Vex are the two best pedal makers I've ever dealt with in terms of customer service.

I love the varidrive (I also own the digital echodrive and used to own the fatdrive). I have owned other tube driven pedals (the Mesa v twin; the Tonebone Hot British and Tonebone Classic), tried out others (Tube Driver; GTO; and Budda Phatman) and currently own the JT Pedals Valveboy (another excellent pedal). The SIB is one of the best overdrives units (tube or non tube) I've ever played period. It's versatile in that you can change different pre amp tubes and doing so really affects the sound (I hated the 12AU7 tube but some people swear by the sound of this tube with the varidrive). I like the fact the sound is very articulate no matter how high you have the gain. Lots of bottom end and lot of gain. Overall, this is an excellent pedal. I note that I've owned this pedal for awhile, so I'm not basing my rating on initial hype or impression. Furthermore, as stated, Rick is truly a class act.

Where as most OD/Dist pedals feature a single tone knob, this has 3..bass, treble, and mid.
In addition, there are volume and drive controls.
These are all self-explanatory.

In a word, INCREDIBLE!!!!! I have tried many boutique OD/Dist pedals, including KLON, Fulltone, Stamps, Matchless' Hot Box (haven't been able to get my hands on a Dirt Box), Soldano GTO, Budda Phatman, and many others. This beats them all HANDS DOWN!!!
I could always find something I didn't like about all the others. I am, admittedly, a VERY picky SOB. Both the Soldano and the Budda pedals I found "splattery" and kind of fizzy. In addition, the GTO had a "painted on" quality, IMOH.
If I were to describe the distorted tone I am attempting to achieve, I would say a blend of Eric Johnson, Eddie Van Halen's "Fair Warning" tone, and a hint of Gary Moore's "Victims of the Future" era tone.
I utilize a number of guitars including G&L ASAT's, Legacy's, Fender RI 57 and Hendrix Voodoo Strats, and a Gibson 135 w/ P 90's. I run these into a Blues Pearl Verbasonic.
This pedal never fails to delight.
It is VERY capable of doing the light OD Keith Richards/Sheryl Crow tones, which, in my experience, most pedals are not.
I can't say whether it will do the nu-metal scooped mid death sound, but you never know.
The pedal sounds AND feels as though it's part of the amp. Hell, even by girlfriend liked the sound of it.
The tone knobs are tuned incredibly well, and having 3 knobs is a welcome additon.
One point worth mentioning is that the knobs all have detents. That is, they don't turn smoothly, but are "stepped", for lack of a better phrase. The advantage? You can always duplicate your favorite settings. A nice touch that has not been given enough metion.

This is my second SIB pedal, and while I have not had trouble with it, I have had trouble with the switch on my Echodrive.
This seems to be a common complaint, and I suspect I will have to be prepared should this happen with my Varidrive.

Anyone know what happened to the SIB website? Any way to contact them?

What happened to the website? What happens if this thing goes up in smoke?

I play country, rock, and blues. I would say without hesitation this pedal goes well with any of them (the exception being the aforementioned nu-metal). I have been playing for (god, I HATE doing the math) over 20 years, and I have played Mesa, Fender, Budda, Marshall, and Matchless amps over the years.
If this pedal were stolen, I would most certainly purchase another.

Just turn the knobs and away you go!

I used to use the varidrive for guitar, but now i use it for bass. i had the distortion stage adjusted so it is a little less "gainy" than the stock setup. i like that it allows the "un- distorted" tone of the bass to come through, as well as the distorted sound. most dist. pedals will make a bass sound like a bunch of fuzz. basically i just add a little growl to the sound- and it is HUGE!

currently i am playing a schecter scorpion bass, using an svt3 pro through 2 - 15" svt speakers. when i was using it for guitar i was playing a gibson firebird through a '71 marshall, 100w super lead head with a marshall bottom cab with 80w celestians. again, a HUGE sound.

i have played the varidrive through crappy guitar amps and it doesnt really sound great. but through a quality tube amp it is a sound i swear by.

the switch constantly cuases me problems. i always play with it on, so i dont click the switch on/off very often. i am told by the the owner of the company that the switch is self cleaning and needs to be switched on/off often to keep it working properly. the switch eventually works properly after i stomp on it a few times. however this is really annoying. i always have to mess with it before a gig.

i own one of the first varidrives ever built, i think its #4. i had the on/off switch replaced once and the gain stage adjusted. there was no charge for either service. the pedal is at least 6-7 years old and still going strong.

i currently play bass thrash metal band. the varidrive adds the perfect amount of growl to fill in the bottom in a 3 piece band for a huge sound. i used to play guitar in a band more in the STP/ soundgarden stlye. i find for that type of guitar sound (STP/Soundgarden) it works great. i dont care for it for a "grindy - metal" guitar sound.

The Varidrive is very easy to use. Just turn the knobs clockwise fo' extra spank or growl.

Using new 2001 American Standard Strat with Dimarzio HS-3, HS-2, HS-2, into the Varidrive, Klon Centaur, (for boost) ADA Flanger, 69 Vox Cybaby, to Peavey Classic 50 410. I was using a Tubeworks 911 Tubedriver but, wanted something with a lot more clarity. I guessed at the Varidrive that I seen on E-Bay and went for it. Now I'm glad I did because it nailed what I was looking for. I put in a Yugoslavian 12AX7 in it because the one that was in it was shot. I don't know if that was the factory tube or not. Seems Yugoslavian 12AX7's are warmer and fatter than all other 12AX7's. Anyway, the Tubedriver was noisy. This is a whole lot quieter unless of course you're a gain hog and have to turn the drive all the way up. It is a lot like the Tubedriver but with that extra mid control, better clarity, better sustain, and all round fatness and punch, and the fact that it is not noisy. I found my best sound after a few bendovers teaking it at the club like this: Drive: 1 o'clock Volume: 2 o'clock Bass: 9 o'clock Mid: 9 o'clock Treble: Off.

I haven't used the Varidrive for long yet but, from the looks of this pedal, it should still be working fine 30 years from now.

No problems yet.

I've been playing for 15 years. I play any kind of music that moves me. The Varidrive really helps making the notes and chords sing and sustain. I have a lot more enjoyment now since I'm hearing phatass guitar coming from behind me. I would definitely buy another if it got lost or stolen. I don't have any regrets about buying the Varidrive at all. Someone really knew what they were doing when they designed this one.

Pretty straightforward. I never really messed around with anything once i set some eq that i liked. i use it for both all-out distortion, and some light OD sounds, its really easy to make it work for both.

Excellent. Best pedal of its kind IMO. It sounds nice and thick when i play it all out (well, about 3oclock drive).
Marshall 800, Marshall 2x12(silver jub) les paul jr.(exact gtr Corgan recently rocked out with.) Love it.

Hmm, shady here. Have one problem: Switch is going pretty bad on this unit..though this thing is so so clean on the inside. Looks like a quality piece of rockin equipment. Anyway, the switch. Im getting it not to bypass about half the time, and i lose of lot of signal. i have to stomp on it a few times to get it to go through all the way. Needless to say, i havent gigged with it for a while. Anyone else ever that problem? Otherwise, its been great.

Never dealt with em, though it seems its a very small company, maybe even only one guy. Not sure though..

In some guitar mag a while back, in the STP issue, they were saying that they really liked this pedal though.

9.5

It just sounds real damn good.
Thats all i really got to say bout it.