Visual Sound Route 66

2 switches, 3 knobs for each. not so bad if you've got some experience.

i've never been much of a comp. guy, but this one is great. (unfortunately, this pedal is old, and the comp switch is starting to go bad, but to that later....)

the distortion is more of a rock/ "marshall" type of sound, and it's great. boost is good, infact better than the j&hyde, which i also own.

this thing is beat to hell and still going.

a true 10. website is very informative, they have support by phone, email, plus can im via aim. responded within a few hours about switch going bad... with very reasonable repair cost via company.

i got this free from a coworker. he's more into metal- he gave me this. it's a few years old, pretty beat, but still works well and sounds good. the comp switch is sometimes iffy, but i'll get that fixed. i love this pedal. doesn't really have enough gain if you're strictly into metal, but works well for alt rock, rock, classic rock, blues, etc.....the comp is great for both clean and distorted applications. customer service for vs is beyond belief!

No brainer. This subject is really pointless to discuss in relation to this product

A bit noisy (the compressor adds a little hiss) but the idea here is that you get two effects in one...compression and overdrive. Both aren't bad but they don't measure up to something nice like a Keeley compressor and a tube screemer pedal separate. I would say though that since the price is about the same as a typical tube screamer it's worth having the compressor built in for the same money. The fact that it adds a little hiss doesn't make the feature not worth having. Anybody buying a tube screamer should buy this pedal instead for the added compressor feature and the same price...but I have to say that it doesn't compete with buying two separate pedals....

seems well built...hard to tell because it's new.

It sounds like your typical unmodded TS-9 with an added compressor. Not bad...If you are thinking about buying a tube screamer I would recommend buying this instead. If you were thinking about buying a Keeley compressor and combining it with a Keeley modded TS-9 or Klon pedal or something, don't kid yourself that this is just as good.

easy to get used t.. A few controls. If you know how to read your pretty much all set. can be kinda tough to eliminate feedback when both are kicked in.

It gets noisy or feedback when everything is boosted. If you want sustain this is the pedal for you. this is all you need to sound a lot like trey anastasio. comp. alone is very clean. kick in the OD and its a beast.

i can depend on this thing. if someone stole it id probly cry .

VISUAL SOUNDS COSTERMER SUPPORT IS AWESOME. Just today i had a question. I didnt even have to email them they have a screenname that they respond to instantly.

i play jam and rock. its quick to switch channels and has a good sound. iv got a 1970 sg and when it runs thru this its sweet. its also great for les pauls cuz ther heavy which gives you even more sustain ( i really like sustain)

This pedal is very easy to use. You can put it any way you like it. BUT, then, you can misuse it too. if you mess around too much with the tone knob, ik may get mudded up, or too sharp. The compressor part is quit subtle, it takes a while to find your own tone. The overdrive part is pretty straightforward.

I'm using this with an starfire special by DeArmond. r66 is first in line, then comes a Boss SD-1 whijch will be replaced by a delay soon. It runs into an Hughes and Kettner Edition tube amp. In this setup the compressor can make my guitar sound ultra clean, or give it a crisp thats on the edge of distortion. It beefens up, boosts, cleans, or sustains my sound at wish. It can get a little bit noisy when you put the sustain and the gain control on the comp way hi, combining it with a lot of gain from the od part.

I Can depend on this pedal in every situation. It is sturdy and so are the switches and knobs. The only thing that may happen is your battery running out. Thats why I use it with an adaptor. I do have a battery in it for if my adaptor gives up.

Wel I never dealt with them, but their site is neat

I play blues, and espacially the darker and fatter tones are perfect. I play in a coverband too, and the cleaner sounds are good for that. Because my guitar has a higher output level than a strat or tele, I don't get the SRV tones, but thats not what I'm after anyway.If it were stolen, I'd go to the store, buy a baseball bat and 5 inch nails. I'd put the nails in the top of the bat, and track down the thief. That is, after I had gotten a new r66. I compared the comp to the Boss CS-3 and the marshall Edward the compressor. The r66 beat em both. It helps me have an original sound. This is a WONDERFUL pedal.

Straight forward to use - see other descriptions

This pedal works great with my setup - Small class A amp and strat, LP, or melody maker. Set the amp so its on the edge of breaking up with a good bark; Step on the OD side to add harmonics and volume. The compression sounds great with my axe in the clean input for a little treble boost.

I've used this pedal for four years without a hitch until recently; See below

This is why I'm writing this ... I had a problem with the compression side, so I Emailed Visual Sound. Had a reply the next day with an idea of what to check. They were right on! Not only that, but when I told them what it was, they sent me the parts to repair it (two pots), FREE OF CHARGE!!! This pedal's four years old! Been playing 20+ years and I don't know ANY other company that would do that. We need to support companys like this that support us.

I like this pedal. I've owned many OD pedals in my travels, including a Big Muff (an original back when they first came out), and I still have two Boss OD-1's, but this is probably the most versatile and touch sensitive.

Very easy to use, dosen't take long to tweak and set-up.
Hardly looked at the manual, it's a stompbox!!! Compression on one side....Od on the other!!

I'm using this with a brand spankin' new Americian Ash Telecaster,JD Crybaby,and a Fender DRRI, George L's cables throughout,(I ordered the H20 pedal from Reverend yesterday)
It DOES get a bit noisy when the compression is engaged with the OD, but thats the nature of the beast!! Otherwise it's pretty quiet.
The Comp side is VERY transparent compared to my DynaComp,great Nashvile/Mason squish. It's actually great period;Funk,R'nB,Rockabilly,ect. The Tone knob really lets you add edge to your sound if needed.
The OD side,to me, is pure SRV!!! Very usable and musical TS-808 tones to be had. The Bass Boost switch is really cool. In the Off position, you get nice OD, but ON you get a fuller tone. Both are really useable.Nice touch!!!

Used it last night w/ no backup!!! Seems strudy enough!!

Never dealt w/ Visual Sound,haven't had a problem yet.

I play...well...Telecaster music!!! Lots of Country,Blues,Rockabilly,Rn'B,Funk,Jazz,Cajin,Soul...that kinda stuff.
Been playing @ 20yrs.
Have 4 Tele's ,60's Strat,Dano Baritone,Harmony Lap Steel,Mandolins,ect.
This box is MADE for Telecasters!!!! It mates soooo well with the Music I like to play.
I tried to think of somthing negative to say, but I just can't!!! Sorry!!!

Nice,warm, and clear overdrive, very nice compressor, also useable as a booster kind of thing. The setup is 2 pedals in one, both separately switchable, very sturdy switches, metal chassis, nice clear led-indicators and it looks the bussiness!

I heard about some very interesting upgrades for this pedal but I'm very pleased with its sound so I think it isn't important to upgrade this piece!

Sound quality of the overdrive is an approach of a tubescreamer with a nicer bass-response, a bass-boost is switchable to create some realy nice SRV-like tones, wich is very nice with any single-coil-equipped guitar!

The compressor is very nice for all theclean tones, with this compressor your guitar will become alive, it will sound clearer and you will have even more sustain, BUT when you mess with the controls you will sound terrible, simply set all the comp control at 12'o'clock and you're done......

After a few months I had some trouble with the power supply,so I was determined to use batteries!!!!!! I hope I can fix this problem because this unit EATES power!!!!

N/A

Very nice unit!

It is easy to use but there is always a little adjusting of guitar amp and pedal to find the sweet spots to your liking. Many pedals are like that.
I have the first generation Rt 66, there is a newer one with a few more features.

I was dissapointed with the overdrive side of this pedal. The compressor side was very good.
The compressor is a bit noisy with single coil pickups and quiet with humbuckers. Shielding the cavity of the guitar may solve the noise problem . Talk to an amp/guitar techy or call Visual Sound to find out if that will solve the noise problem with single coils.
I use humbuckers so no noise. I use a 9 volt AC adaptor power supply 500 ma or 800 miliamps both work well. Make sure your adaptor is (-) negative center like it says on the pedal.
The sound of the overdrive was not good and had unwanted trailing tones . I would give the pedal about a 7 until modification. Nice idea a double pedal at reasonable price.
After an Indyguitarist mod the pedal gets a 10.
It now sounds like real blooming tube tones and better than many tube amps. I play mostly through an old 80 watt Peavey Bandit with a 10 inch Scorpion speaker ,transistors no tubes, a killer amp for no tubes. Playing leads with the compressor and drive on sounds great with the gear cranked a bit. Excellent note articulation and I would use it for recording. It has a warm sound not harsh , the clipping is a little tame compared to a a Jacques Tube Blower or a Ibanez Tube Screamer 9 DX Turbo. The RT-66 will put your gear on steroids .
Before the modification it was just another pedal, the mod was the magic.
If you can solder and are skillful you can get a mod kit or send it in www.indyguitarist.com , I got a kit and was amazed at the sound improvement, fantastic.
The bass switch adds to the tone control but is less noticable if your amp is turned down, a great feature.
The newer geration RT -66 has more features but the basic circuit is the same with the same components so the new ones would sound better with the modification too. Warm tubes to crunchy overdriven tubes with great tone.

It is a solid unit , the pots, jacs and switches are very good, well built.

Excellent, Bob the company owner responded to a couple of E mails.

I play mostly finger slide blues rock, blues, rock and R+B.
The RT -66 has great versatility, you can get a lot of great sounds with it.

I bought this unit because it has both compression and overdrive in one unit. On the overdrive side you have level, tone and gain volume ocntrols plus a bass boost switch. On the comp side you get level, tone and gain plus a tone on/off switch. Each effect has its own bypass switck so you can use them separately or together. LEDs tell you when they are on... green for the OD, red for the Comp. The manual is basically a sheet that tells you what the knobs do and gives a couple of sample setups. The comp sounds awesome, you basically just need to turn it on. I use it almost all the time.

I use a Roland JC 120 and G&L guitars. I have an ASAT and an SC-3. I use the ASAT mainly on a weekly gig. We play mostly country/rock and songwriter stuff. I generally switch the comp on with the level at about 11 o'clock, the tone at 2 o'clock and the gain about 10 o'clock. I roll off the mids on my amp and keep the brite swtich on. The reverb ont he JC is just creamy dreamy so with the comp is get a super punchy warm tone. flip to the brdge PU and it snaps at your heals like testy pitbull. On solos I tap in the OD and hold on. It has taken me a little while to get my sound the way I like it, but I am very happy with this combination. I will sometimes punch in some delay. I will say that the comp is noisy so I turn down between songs, but the effect is one of the best I have heard.

I use a One-Spot daisy chain AC adapter so my effects are always dependable. I have had problems with the LEDs sometimes they won't come on when I kick in the effect. But that is a minor detail. The unit is put together very well I think. I have had it for about a year and I use it all the time.

I have been playing most of my life and am currently involved in a couple of projects. One is Western Swing group. One is a jazz trio and then the bar gig. I bought this unit because I wanted to be able to get a nice tone for solos without having to run an overdriven amp all the time. I can pcik and choose between straight, clean comp sound and a nice edgy OD that seems to really please the audience. I t is a great combination for someone who really doesn't like having a big complicated set up. I have not tried it with a tube amp but I can only imagine that it would perform well.

Pretty straight forward if you know what you are doing. pretty good sugestions come with it.
You really have to spend some time tweaking to get the sounds you want, and adjusting for your amp and guitar.
the newest moddel has various upgrades and so sounds slightly better.

i bought this for the compression mostly, as i wanted to beef up my sound a bit and get more sustain. I tryed alot of compressors, and intrestingly not all where as noisy as this, (HBE,maxon,T-rex, i liked alot) but accordingly there is less scope to change the sound adn they are more expencive, (they seem to be more for transparent sustain) i really wanted to squash the sound a little when i want, and found that if set conservativly the 66 could get pretty transparent, as stated below to me the 66 does seem to cut cirtan frequencies a little bit, which is strange as like the JH there is a pure tone (suposed to stop tone sucking of other pedels) in the 66. this is better than a dynacomp, there are no vol swells (before the note) and the comp is richer and smoother (it shimers a little). As for a ross (or modded dynacomp,[comprosser]) i am not too sure, but have been told that they are about the same.
The OD for me is pretty dam good. giging i am useing varities of tube amps (mesa's, H&k's, marshals, fenders) at home i am useig a H&k blue 15r (solidstaate). The 66 goes very well with all the tube amps i have tryed so far, and now i don't play without it. and with the OD it is really the only pedel i need. but the 66 also does wonders for my HK 15r at home. i haven't found any OD/distortion/compressor that can better the gain channel on the amp, and actually this is no diffrent, but as there is no footswitch for the amp (why oh why) this comes pretty close, and provides a lot of variety.
I can dial in clean boosts, distorted boosts pretty much whetever i want, on both the OD and comp, infact there lots of possiblites, and the only way to know is to try it out yourself. as i was looking for a comp i too would be extreamly happy if VS brought out a doubble comp unit (though i would prefer if they where slightly diffrent, [like the bicomprosser])as i leave the comp on all the time, then i culd use one to boost for solos etc, and any distortion/OD would come from my JH.

thicker caseing then the old one.
don't like the gaps,
i also dont like the switches.
but i think it will last a long time yet

I play mostly (light distortion) rock, reggae, ambient, and sometimes metal (just for the money).
for the money this is a great unit, and i would recomend to gigging, and bed room guitarests (it is a little too noisy for recording but it works OK), especially people looking for value for money. However, In my opinion the OD is not the best out there, the comp is also not the best out there, but for the money i didn't find better, and I really like my 66, i use it with an EQ and with this i can think of a sound i want and i can get it pretty quick. The unit can be noisy, (if you set it stupidly) but i have used it in conjunction with the VS JH with everything on (nothing set past 12) and i had no problems, so as it says in the instructions if you set it too high then you will get noise,