Visual Sound Route 66

Incredibly easy to get a good sound out of it. But I have found that what generally works for others, doesn't always apply to me. So, while I say the pedal sounds great, your own interactions with this pedal may lead you to a different conclusion.

Runnning a variety of Tele's and Strats through this, into a Vibrolux Reverb, Pro Jr.

This unit is not terribly noisey.

The effects are as present as you want them. The voicing of this pedal leans towards a warmer, browner sound if you will. This is part of the reason I believe this pedal is a good match for me. My technique seems to wrestle sqauwks and glinks out of my guitars, and this pedal does a nice job of filter my peaky tones out of the mix.

I place this pedal in front of my Ibanez AD-80, hit the compressor and drive, break out the slide and go to town!

Ask me in twenty years. I have an MXR flanger that I've had for twenty five years that is pissing me off these days.

If a very thick and compressed sound is what your after, this pedal warrants further research. It will not provide a high gain, saturated sound. With the compressor on and the drive set to modest levels, many players will find they have ample sustain. Even with modest drive levels set, the guitar retains a degree of clarity, letting the personality of the guitar shine through. Very intriguing qualities.

So many distortion pedals hijack the guitars signal and impose their paradigm on the sound, that it is refreshing to hear a pedal that knows where to draw the line. Anyone of moderate ability will recognize this as a virtue.

it has knobs, turn them till it sounds good.

if you want a transparent OD that won't color your tone then this is a great pedal. the compressor sounds great for a lead boost and sustain but IMO makes everything sound a tad muddy. if you want the best OD ever than buy an old Ibanez PUE5 Tube. (its a pedal board with a built in 12ax7 tube) nothing sounds warmer than the tube screamer on this board.. wish I could find the same TS with out having to spend $400 for the stupid board. (which has a delay and chorus that I don't need)

had for one year. seems rock solid

DO NOT EVER BUY A Ibanez TS9 RE-ISSUE. This pedal blows it out of the water.

Very simple - an OD and compression pedal in one. The instructions had examples that do a good job of showing off it's capabilities.

I've tried out a lot of OD pedals, trying to find one that could push my amp's (Carvin X-100b) distortion over the top with really high gain & sustain, but still maintain the amp's basic character, and this pedal nails it. The Boss SD-1 and Tubescreamer are pretty good, but you lose some of the bass response, which the Route 66 fixes with the bass boost switch. Also, with the compressor side, I can get a louder volume boost for soloing than with just an OD pedal, AND more sustain than I could ever want.

I play a Carvin DC127T and a Michael Kelly Vibe HT (ES135 knockoff), both with humbuckers. I play and like just about any style of music, from clean to metal, but use this for the harder stuff.

It's OK for adding dirt on the clean channel, but I prefer the lower gain settings straight from my amp. However, I did try this pedal on a friend's Fender Hot Rod Deluxe clean channel, and it sounded great, very organic.

The pedal only has a little noise with the compression on, which is what any compressor will do unless you have a noise gate.

I've only had this for a couple months, so it's too early to say. Seems rugged enough and haven't had any problems so far.

I've gotten friendly, quick e-mails responses from them both before and after I bought it.

I'm really happy with this pedal. The one thing my amp couldn't do is provide a real over the top distortion with lots of sustain and this pedal gets it there. If it were stolen or lost I'd probably get it again. If I only wanted something to add dirt to my clean channel, I wouldn't have rated it quite as high, but that's not why I got it.

My only wish is that the compressor had an attack knob, so the dynamics would be smoother when you initially hit the strings with the sustain cranked way up. Another minor complaint is the styling. The logo & fonts just scream "FOR COUNTRY MUSIC ONLY".

This pedal is really easy to use.

I played a strat --> Vox V847 Wah --> Visual Sound Route 66 Overdrive & Compressor --> Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I play a lot early U2 stuff (War, Boy) as well some punk/alternative stuff (Weezer, Greenday). I hope that gives you an idea of the sound I'm aiming for.

This pedal is a great deal, you get two great sounding pedals for the price of one. First the overdrive:

I give the overdrive an 8 because it sounds great, it does a real accurate job of producing that great soft american overdrive tone. The bass boost is also a great feature when you need that extra bottom end. This pedal does a decent job of emulating those early U2 tones but this pedal is not a distortion monster. When I play Weezer or Greenday stuff, I use this pedal with my amp's overdrive channel. But if you're looking for a great sounding American overdrive tone, this is a great pedal. Also, this pedal hits the softer overdrive tone that the Strokes use perfectly. But if you want to sound like the Strokes then get the Jekyl and Hyde pedal.

As for the compressor: I also really thought it sounded good. It did a great job of giving me that extra clean sound for those U2 songs. As for a general compressor I give it an 8. The compressor has a wide range in the attack and sustain area.

I highly recommend this pedal if you're looking a great soft sounding overdrive (not metal) and a great compressor.

Owned it for 2 years now and has not failed me once.

Never had to deal with them.

Overall this pedal is great sounding. It's overdrive sounds great (but not for Metal or sounds that need a lot of distortion) and the compressor does it's job of leveling out your string volume and attack.

It's a distortion pedal which is easy. The compression was pretty easy too, but it was hard to hear what the "sustain" knob did. Came with a few sample setups that were nice sounding.

When the overdrive and compression are turned on together and the sustain is turned past 12o'clock the pedal gets quite noisy, a hum that does not go away.
I had 2 gripes about the sound.
1) It sounded as if the overdrive was muffled. It had an incomplete, thin sound to it. Almost like the volume was on too quietly, so I turned it up, but still a very thin sound. Missing mid-range I say.
2) The sound had a sag to it (which I guess it is supposed to have). If you hit the strings, then let them ring out, you here some sag right after you hit it. The tone kind of goes from bright to normal with every pick of the string. This made it have a very happy sound (similiar to the band "Jet") This just did not work for me.
I run a G&L SC-3 into a '84 MesaBoogie Mark II B+

steel casing seemed thick. It was a suprisingly light pedal for the size of it.

It was hard to find a dealer, the company did not post dealers on the net

I just did not like the tone of the pedal. I felt that something was taken out of the tone through the pedal(when it's turned on) I like a much thicker sound, this was not beefy. The only other thing was that the sag in the pedal was not my style. It sounded like it took a split second for it to gather its thoughts and send out a sound
In my search for this pedal I tried nearly 20 overdrive and similiar pedals. I found that the Fulltone Full-Drive2 was the best. Other pedals to check out- Electro Harmonix Big Muff, Voodoo Lab SparkleDrive, and the phat Fulltone Full-Drive2

Very easy to use if you know what you are doing....

this is the best compressor I have ever used and I have used them all.Very musical sounding w/ tons of gain.Really helps to get the best single coil clean sound you have ever heard (you will also need a good tele and a nice amp but this is another story...)
I leave it ALWAYS ON!
It also works great as a great low impedance buffer to clear up your sound if you use many pedals like me.
OD side sounds like a nice TS on steroids.

Built like a tank.

the only gripe I have w/ this pedal is that it needs a battery to operate in a TOTALLY silent way.I have tried every addaptor I could get my hands on (including VS 1spot) and it always had a low hum .
But a 9v duracell lasts 2 months in this baby so it will do...

Gain, tone, and volume for the overdrive side, sustain, tone and gain for the compression side. nothing you haven't seen before.

I use a fender 62 reissue strat (american), into the route 66, then into fender hot rod deluxe tube amp. Generally this pedal is pretty quiet. when the gain is all the way up it can get hissy, but no more than the average OD pedal. I like to use the comp side and the OD side together, and can get a really good SRV tone out of it. back off on the gain and you get a nice clean boost. This pedal also uses the JR blah-blah-blah chip that was used in the original TS808's, so you can get a tube screamer kind of sound out of it but without so much midrange, plus you can boost the bass. Even if you aren't a big Tube screamer fan you will like this pedal. Great tones right out of the box. when messing with the compressing and turning all levels to 9 or 10, I can even get a pretty convincing hendrix sound. Extremely versatile.

I havent' gigged with it yet, but it has a good heft and it looks like it's built like a tank. Very wide, so it won't tip over easily. switches are very sturdy.

Haven't had to deal with them, but their website (Visualsound.net) is good, with sound samples.

I have been playing blues and classic rock for quite a while and I can tell you that this pedal suites my needs just fine. I use it with a strat and a tube amp, it sounds like god on the neck pickup. If lost or stolen I would definetly buy a new one. When I was shopping for it a compared it against tube screamers, keeley modded tube screamers, pedals with actual preamp tubes in them, even an old hotcake pedal. This one was by far the best and suited my needs perfectly. does everything. It's awesome that it has a built in compressor that you can use to compliment the OD. The only reason I gave it a nine was to leave room for that dream pedal that may or may not come along. This pedal is my absolute favorite, and it has a decent price.

Easy to use if you have experience with compression and OD.

I play an '84 MIJ Squier tele with Fralin replacemnt pickups and a Raven RP-450 semi hollowbody PRS knock off with Fralin humbuckers into a custom made '65 Deluxe Reverb copy made by Sheldon Colin (point to point wired, orange caps, Weber speaker, blah, blah-simply killer!). It was a toss up between this pedal and the Pedalworx Texas Two Step. The price and the compressor flexibility sold me on this, never heard one before. When I first got it, I put my AnalogMan comprossor in front of the Rte. 66 (arguably the best compressor out there, Trey from Phish uses these). I was amazed at the sound of the Rte. 66 comp. Not only did it hold it's own, but I think it actually sounded a little looser and more musical. Now on to the OD. Wow! TS-808 heaven! I used to use the AnalogMan comp. in front of a vintage Ibanez SD-9 which is tone heaven with the tone and dist. settings set real low on the SD-9. I find that this Rte. 66 provides more flexibilty and ease of use and loses the nasal sizzle quality of the SD-9 when the setting are turned up. Basically it sounds better and the bass boost is nice too. You can go from great Texas blues to over the top sustain for days and everything in between. A really nice pedal at a great price.

Seems solid, and haven't heard any negatives on this one.

N/A

I play mostly jam band stuff (Phish/Dead) and blues and the Rte. 66 shines on so many levels. Time to unload the SD-9 and Comprossor. They sound great, but this thing is better. Sounds better with single coils IMHO. Two great pedals in one. No sh*t.

I replaced my Reverend Drivetrain with the Route 66 pedal, and I am amazed every time I use it. The O.D. alone is worth the cost of the pedal, but combining it with the compressor is SWEET!

I use a '62 Gibson S.G., a Dano tuner, a dano octave, the Boss V-wah, then the Route 66 into a Line 6 Delay. All this into a Peavey Classic 100 with a 115e cab. I can get those sweet Gilmore-esque sustaining notes, and I can get the Santana - Boogie sound as well.

I've only had the pedal 2 weeks, but I gig 2-3 times a week, and she's held up so far. No backup-

not yet.

I play alot of different atyles, from Reggae, blues, and funk, to classic rock, maybe a little hard stuff. I've been playing for 21 years, 15 of those years everyday 100%If this pedal was stolen, I'd buy 5 more.I love everything about this pedal, wouldn't change a thing. I've had a love affair with overdrive pedals the last year or so. Boss turbo O.D., Marshall Bluesbreaker,Jekyll&Hyde, H&K tubeman, Reverend Drivetrain, and finally the Route 66. I chose this pedal for it's ease of use, Smart combination with the compressor/sustainer, and of course, the TONE!

very easy to use, all the sounds sound good, the OD side is the ticket, and the compressor side is cool for solid chords.

I use this with a killer Demeter TGA amp & a Melancon Tele style guitar with stacked P-90's. IT gets a little noisy with both sides turned on, and a little tubby sounding also. The bypass does add alittle tone & volume to your amps sound, so if your amp sounds good, it will get more of the goodness out of it, but if your amp sounds just ok, well then it might sound bad. The thing i have been looking for is a solid overdrive better then my old trusty Boss super OD. and this pedal walks all over it. the OD is full, and rings with overtones & controled feedback, very cool. its not noisy by itself, so i use it without the compressor on. Just a killer overdrive pedal on its own, much better then most I have tryed...

looks like it built like a tank....

don't know?..have heard great things....

Been playing for over 32 years, been looking for a killer OD pedal forever. I have had, vintage tubescreamers, Klon, all the wantabee's tube screames, Boss OD-1, super OD, turbo OD, OD3, and the Blues pedal. Sparkle drive, fluid drive II, Dan electro's, and all the tube in the pedal types..this pedal sounds better to me then all of them..much more musical type of OD....