Voodoo Lab Overdrive

Volume. Gain. If you can't figure it out then you probably bought as a gift. There's a relatively useless manual included that I lost but don't miss at all. I have a love/hate relationship with the giant knobs. On one hand if I'm playing at home in socks I can adjust them with my feet, conversely, it is so easy to kick them and throw off your settings.

I play it with a korina Epiphone Explorer usually through a smallish Yamaha amp. This pedal is a great, warm overdrive. Nothing more, nothing less. I played a bunch of different pedals in stores looking for nice warm OD, and this one beat out a bunch of Boss models (Super Overdrive, Blues Driver and a couple others I forgot) as well as an Ibanez Tube Screamer and a Danelectro DaddyO. This is the best vintage OD sound in its price range (that I played at least)

It looks really well made, nice heavy duty switch and the like

Never dealt with them

If you want classic tube overdrive in this price range, you need this pedal. Otherwise look around. It does one thing, but it does it well.

Volume and Gain Controls are pretty straight forward. No "on" light, though. That is a major blunder in my opinion. I mean c'mon! First of all it's nice to know at a glance if the thing is on, and secondly (and let's be honest) who hasn't turned off the room lights and savored every red, green and yellow light on every piece of gear they own!! For $90 I'd like to get at least one light to add to my collection!

I tested it using an Ernie Ball Silhouette and a Godin strat into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I came to the conclusion that there is basically one setting that worked for me: Gain all the way up, and volume at about 25%. It sounds awesome this way, but I couldn't find anything else that useful out of it. There is something that kicks in at the highest gain settings that adds a little top end and sweetens up the tone a lot.

Haven't had it long, but the innards look well put together.

Absolutely useless manual. It's not as though is really needs one, but for $90 I would have liked a pretty picture or something. No maintenance problems, though.

I've been playing for 15 years, and I've heard a lot of crappy overdrive pedals. This pedal only does one thing, but it does it very well: a very vintage overdrive tone. If I had to describe it in one word, it would be: thick. With the settings as I described them, it produces a beuatifully thick and smooth overdrive. It can really make an already overdriven amp sing. A TS-9 is much more of a tight, crisp chunk. A Rocktron Austin Gold is more transparent and subtle. I bought it becuase the one thing it does is just what I needed. If you need something versatile, keep on shopping.

jIt doesn't get any easier than this.

Guitars used: Les Paul DC Studio, Gibson Blueshawk, '65 Epiphone Wilshire (modified w/Electra SMF humbuckers) Amps used: ADA Rocket 20R, '65 Silvertone Twin Twelve head w/Fender Bandmaster 212 cab The Voodoo Lab Overdrive pedal added a warm tube overdrive tone with a dynamic character. I compared it to an Expandora, a TS-9 reissue, a Danelectro Daddy-O, a DOD Integrated Tube, a Voodoo Lab Bosstone, an Ibanez Super Metal, a Boss Turbo Overdrive, a DOD Supra Distortion, and an In Line Effects Extra Distortion, all of which are capable of producing a good tone or two. The Voodoo Lab Overdrive was capable of maintaining its warm, distinct character with greater consistency than the others, when changing from one guitar and amp setup to another. It sounded especially good when using the bridge pickups with the gain backed off slightly (the gain control at the max position seems to add some treble). For me the sonic value of this pedal lies somewhere between John Fogerty's guitar tone on "Good Golly Miss Molley" (Bayou Country) and Billy Gibbons' guitar tone on "Francine" (Rio Grande Mud). I can get a great saturated tube sound at a lower volume without pushing the output tubes of either amp.

The first thing I do when I get home with a pedal is open it and check for quality of construction. The Voodoo Lab Overdrive is built to last.

No problems so far...

Some of my overdrive/distortion pedals sound fantastic when playing single notes, some sound great for playing chords. The Voodoo Lab Overdrive is the best at doing both that I have found so far for under $100. I

Very easy. Level and Drive controls. Adjustments are intuitive.

Boom! Excellent sound. This device combines much of the clean, tight bass and definition of a TS-808 with hefty grind, similar to a Rat. I play a G&L ASAT through a Marshall JTM615, and this pedal has enabled me to effectively double my available tones. The only pedal I've ever used that tops this is a Fulltone Fulldrive2, and only because it's more versatile, not because the tone's superior. Killer!

I don't know about this, yet. It seems very sturdy. The five year warranty is comforting, however.

Voodoo Lab aren't as well established as Boss, or DOD pedals, so I don't know how easy it would be to replace. (Of course, this box simply DESTROYS their pedals, sound wise) Voodoo Lab has a website, and has answered any of my e-mailed questions within 24 hours.

This is an excellent overdrive unit. An added bonus is the grind available, which is quite impressive. I was looking for that "little extra" to kick out the jams, and this little unit delivers the chimes properly. I am giving it a 9 only because I have yet to severely test it's durability.

Only two knobs! It doesn't get any easier. However, in my particular rig, I find the volume control to be both hypersensitive and positioned where my foot can hit it accidently when I turn the unit on and off. The manual is generic and useless--written by a drooling moron. How did this slip by quality control?

Based on the DOD 250, this pedal is great if you want to thicken your sound a bit, or overdrive your non-master volume amp (I use a Deluxe Reverb). Too blatty to use as a full on shred pedal. Too hard to dial in to use as a medium-crunchy tube screamer. Good at blasting yer amp off the map.

Very reliable. And it even came with an Eric Johnson approved carbon 9 volt!

If I have to speak with the person who wrote the manual, I may need an interpreter, so I hope I'll have no problems.

I'm less than thrilled. I suspect in a rig less bright than mine, it may sound better (maybe a nice Gibson/Marshall combination). Not the sort of thing you want to be switching in and out mid-song. If I had the bucks, I would have gone with a Fulldrive 2.