ToadWorks Li'l Leo

I gave an 8 in this category, because it is easy to use, but takes some tweaking. The controls have a very wide range, and finding your sweet spot may take a little doing. I almost returned it when I first got it home and plugged it in, because I wrongly assumed (my fault totally) that it would work like other OD's. Dialing up the ol' tried and true settings though, yielded muddy farty textures that I did not find at all desireable. Approaching it with an open mind though, and learning how the controls worked, got it to sound amazing rather quickly.

It's hard to give anything a 10, but for the sound I was looking for, this gets one. I am using this with a variety of amps, and with a custom Kit Harper T-style guitar, and a Custom Carvin guitar. I play mostly original music, ranging in styles from rootsy rock, to traditional and alt. country, and some bluesy/jazzy stuff too. Finding an OD I was completely happy with for this application has been tough. I like my amps really clean for my basic tone, and I have been looking for a way to keep that sound, and also have that saturated power section tone on tap without having to carry two amps. I gotta tell you, I have never heard an approximation of a saturated tube power section that even approaches the quality of sound in this pedal. It's seriously like the real thing. Extremely dynamic and touch sensitive, fat, creamy, incredible. It sounds like a big tube amp on 11, but at club gig volume levels. It's even got that "furriness" to the low end. It's really warm and rich, but still lets all of the bite and definition from my pickups come through like a charm. It took a few minutes to find the settings I liked, but once I did, I was hooked. You have to really play with the "Tone" control. On most every OD I've ever owned, I have to run the tone pretty low, or it sounds too bright and harsh to me. On this one, the tone really works the way it should. I'm running it anywhere from one to three o'clock, and it's just outta this world. It interacts really well with my trem pedal and wah, but not with modulation effects. At least I don't really dig it that way. Sounds a little weird to me. I can't really place it, it's just "not right". That said, I usually don't use any modulation except on clean tones, so it works for me. This little guy must be tried to be believed, if you're like me, and want to be able to get power tube overdrive sound from a loud clean amp. It's a killer. When my Fulltone FDII heard this pedal, the poor little blue box was so immasculated, it grew boobs and cried at a french movie.

I bought it used, because it looked to be a quality piece, and said Made In USA on it. So far so good. It's built really well, and I take care of my stuff, so it ought to last a good long time.

I haven't had any need yet. I had never heard of Toad Works when I bought this pedal. After I fell in love with it, I sent them an e-mail to let them know how much I dug it. The head honcho answered in a matter of hours, was very nice to chat with, and seemed genuinely appreciative of my feedback. This would lead me to believe that the company would provide great service should I ever need it.

Overall, great pedal. Knowing what I know about it now, I would glady pay three times as much as the $70 I bought it for used. If it were stolen, I would throw up a little in my mouth, cry for awhile, and order another one. I have been playing for twenty five years, twenty two of them in venues ranging from arenas to corner bars. I have owned (and still own) OD's by Boss, DOD, Ibanez (I have two original TS-9's, and an original 808) Visual Sound, Fulltone, MXR, Nobels, the list goes on and on. For what I needed this to do, it is far and away my favorite. I still have other OD's on my board for other textures, but this one is the cat's PJ's when it comes to getting a realistic hot amp sound, and not an overdrive pedal sound.

Very easy to get good sounds. Very flexible for differing levels and types of overdrive. The feature that attracted me to this new version of the pedal was the inclusion of both a Gain AND a Drive pot. I understand the basic theory behind this design, so i was glad to see it implemented. And let me tell you....it works well. You have the ability to dial-in a nice variety of pre and post-clip drive with this design, which opens up a slew of textures. You can get a range of smooth, TS-type of overdrive; or you can move through various levels of higher-clarity tones that mix-in your clean sound with some distortion...."grit" as it's called. Very nice.

In a word: EXCELLENT. And...in contrast to a previous review that indicated that the pedal doesn't work well through the front end ... WRONG. I just felt compelled to add a review here to counter what was said. The Lil-Leo DOES work well...extremely well...in the normal stomp-chain mode. (You always have to read a review with a "grain of salt" as they say .... an OD/distortion stomp should NEVER have to be run through an effects loop to sound good. That's not to say that you CAN'T do it ... it's your rig, do what works for you. But, to set the record straight .... this pedal works perfectly fine in the typical manner.) I play several guitars, including a G&L ASAT classic; PRS Mira; Fender Strat mod'ed w/ Joe Bardens; and a Reverend Club King HB. My amp's are a Genz-Benz Black Pearl 2x12" combo (class-A EL84, 30 watt); Fender Superchamp XD (6V6 tube amp w/DSP effects), mod'ed with JJ tubes and an Eminence Ragin' Cajun 10" speaker swap; and a Line 6 Flextone III XL. The Lil'Leo is one of the best OD's i've played, that sounds good with all of my equipment. That speaks well of the overall design of the pedal. Oh and BTW....it sounds "Fender-y" .... ha! (ala "Leo")

I'm not hard on pedals, per se. I bought this one used off of eBay, so who knows what it went through prior to me. It's been holding up well.

No opinion.....directly. However, i've had brief "chats" with the pedal maker in the past (via e-mail), and he seems to be quite attentive. So, i'd assume that his company would attend to your needs.

See other sections for pedal commentary. I play classic and modern blues; some light jazz-y styled music; modern country; classic styles of rock; some "alternative" (however you choose to define 'alternative'). The Lil'Leo fits in pretty well when i need a Fender-y type of light-to-moderate OD sound through my tube amps. It sounds best (to me) with Fender amp's....the more watts the better. My SC XD chimes in at 15 watts, which through the clean channel, can sound pretty damn nice. I've run this pedal through a Twin (88-watt version) and a Deluxe (20 watts or so.) We're talking NICE here. Esp. with the Twin, you won't have to push that beast up to deafening levels to achieve some nice gritty Fender textures.

i wasn't too impressed with this pedal until it finally dawned on me to try it through the effects loop. Now I'm blown away by it. Just a tweak here and there and it's set. Even with everything at 12 o'clock it was fine. The tone nob is great with a wide range of usable voicings and working the Gain and Level nobs will get you the perfect clean or overdriven "Fender" sound. I'm taking of a point in this category just because I've played this pedal through four different amps with similar results befoe putting it through the effects loop. It seems thats the only way to get a clean sound out of it. In other words, my experience is that this pedal just isn't very versatile straight into the amp.

Once again, straight in I was not very impressed. I was even thinking about selling it and looking elsewhere. But when I put it through the effects loop of my Ampeg Reverberocket 212 it was absolutely beautiful. Chords ring clear with amazing string clarity. I use it mainly as a clean boost and now my clean channel is hotand sweet. It really does sound like the melting butter cliche. When my bandmates heard this thing in rehearsal they were floored. The bassist almost stopped playing just to listen.

No problems yet. I've only owned it a month.

Purchased used off ebay. I've never dealt with them.

I've owned and currently own lots and lots of pedals and have been constantly searching for the sound in my head for years, which is a very hot and full cleaan sound that can burst into sweet overdrive and huge distortion tones at any moment. I use a lot of reverb and delays and various other modulating effects as well. I think I try to go for something between Kieth Richards and Johnny Greenwood with the ambient sounds of Gerry Leonard also in the mix. I'm finally satisfied that I've found it now and this pedal is an essential ingridient to the mix. I could get along without it but I wouldn't want to.

Great sounding very easy to use Fender Blackface in a box! I'm blown away at how this can comp the Fender Sound...it sounds like a ol Blackface cooking. 3 controls - Gain , Tone, and Volume! Really simply to get a great tone out of and it works as a OD just as well.

Running this into a Plexi Clone and it can get fenderish on me thanks to this little box. Gets noisy when dimed just like an amp..perfect it can get all the cool fender sounds clean ort mean..I use my Tube King behind it and GET A CRUNH LEAD TONE. Very good for Blues and rock...get that southern rock sound or Hendrix clean stuff! It works well with modulations and it will be on my board from now on!

Looks good, sounds good...should be ok!

Got this as a gift from the REV himself and he thought I'd dig it and I do! Hats off to the Rev!

If your like me and play Plexi's and such and want to get a real sounding Leo sound..this will do it! Not too much gain on tap but this has enough to do what it suppose to do. I've been playing 30 + years so I've been through the gear and have a few pedals to choose from. This one is a great one...get one if you can and you like Fenderish sounding amp sounds..it won't let you down!