Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive

It took me about a half hour to figure out that the best use for this pedal for me would be as a booster.

I have a Vox Valvetronix amp 60 watt amp, various fx, and Ibanez 7 string (magenta crush) and a Jackson Dinky (with the sustainiac which is killer).
The all out fuzz on this thing is ok - not great but not bad. I use it as a booster which has become very useful to me. If the fuzz/dry control is turned all the way to clean, there seems to be a little coloration but not enough to make me upset. My boss where I teach guitar tried it; he's quite the conservative purist when it comes to tone and he loved how it added grit and presence to his 59 Fender Bassman. There are probably boosters out there that are a bit more transparent but I don't feel the need to seek them out. The Sparkle Drive has become an integral part of my rig.

No problems yet - seems sturdily built.

Called once - don't even remeber why - but whoever I spoke with was friendly enough.

I play alot of different styles (not necessarily well) but my favorite stuff is 70's progressive. This pedal increases the flexability of my rig, sounds great and is built well. Definitely worth the money to me

Functions are simple, but the addition of the clean knob takes some tweaking to find the desired sound. Also the knobs are put too close to each other and the screws to change the battery are not easy like in most other pedals.

At first I was disappointed because it sounded not as smooth as my TS9/808 and has clearly less gain/drive, which was even less when blending in the clean function. However, after playing it for a year (at home and occasionally at blues sessions), I like it more and more. The lack of smoothness actually goes together with much better difinition and responsiveness to high frequencies giving it a cutting and singing edge, if desired. The tone knob full CCW removes the edge/definition to a more TS-smoothness.
The clean boost only is very good and transparent. Yet there is a audible difference when switching the clean-only on and off with drive full down, but different, not necessarily bad sounding.
The gain up and clean down gives the classic TS sound, including loss of lows, compression and mid-hump, but with crispier highs and more definition (or cutting edge if you want). VL claims they have the TS sound using the 4558 chip, but: ?.....upgraded other components such as using high pricicion metal resistors and modern polyester film capacitators....? (From manual sheet). Like in a TS, the lows get lost. Here the clean can be dialed in. It reduced the gain but, though not sounding as two amps, a layering is audible which gives it a certain ?spacyness? which I like. It is like jumpering the channels on my two channel fender.
The tone knob works fine. It has a broad range like the TS, but above 2 o?clock I barely use it as it gets too trebly. It would be nice if the range of the tone knob was shifted towards the CCW side, more close to the TS tonal range, but its not an big issue for me.
I play a ?75 tele custom through either a fender ?76 sf princeton (with PI-mod and weber C10Q) or a ?64 bf fender tremolux trough a open cab with 2x12 ?74 celstions G12H?s, with an upgraded OT in the tremolux. Both amps have a great, but clean sound, so for overdrive/disttortion I have to rely mainly on pedals (fulltone soulbender > TS9/808 w/true bypass > sparkle drive, that?s all).
I think these HC reviews are generally very helpful, but sometimes I miss a clear description of the guitars/amps used and, more important, the sound levels played at. I think this is very important because a overdrive can sound almost fuzzlike at bedroom volume but can loose its drive when playing at gigging levels through a almost clean tube amp like I do. Putting a TS9/808 and the sparkle drive in series solves the problem, but lows get lost even more and the sound is overcompressed with a huge mid-hump. Also, I agree with a previous review that at gigging levels, it is very hard to hear the difference between a TS and a sparkle drive, while at bedroom volume, there?s a clean difference with the sparkle more articulate (or harsh) and the TS more warm (or muddy).

I rather use a soulbender for the leads instead of the TS and the sparkle drive in series in this case as it retains the lows and has a much more balaced response (and more gain), and I reserve the sparkle drive for clean boost and/or overdrive. A previous review complained that Jeff Beck?s ?rock my plimsoul? sound is not possible with the sparkle drive. I don?t see how you can arrive at that with the sparkle drive. IMO you need a tonebender (clone) or overdriven amp with tone contrals turned backwards and magic fingers. You can not blame the sparkle drive for not delivering that particular sound.
Still I wished the sparkle drive had more gain without sacrificing its pefect clean/low overdrive charcteristics.

Seems to be very well made. Plastic plugs should be metal and the rubber pad is crap. But no big issues for me. Don?t keep it plugged in not even overnight! Next morning the battery will be empy.

Never dealt with them

Can be harsh sounding if your setup is less than good. Invest in good tube amp plus guitar if you want to hear the sparkle drive?s potential.
For me this pedal is a very subtle effect, especially since my ears get ?bigger? with the years. I?am playing jazz for almost 25 years so I think I can say what the search for great tone is. However, blues/rock on stage is not my main experience, so read this review accordingly. Apart from jazz, I like: Neil Young; The Who, Bowie, CSN&Y, Gatemouth Brown, Buddy Guy, Hendrix, (Jeff) Beck, The Presidents; just to name a few (& I dislike disco/synthy; my God, did I suffer in the 70's and 80's!!!).
Overall, I?d pick the sparkle drive over my TS9/808 for the reasons outlined above. Still the TS is a great pedal, much better than the Boss, DOD etc. ones I played. No experiejnce with other TS-clones, or high-end overdrives (Fulldrive, Klon etc.), but I?m happy now: Great pedal for the money; it is definetely a keeper for me!

Easy enough to use except that the knobs are too close together and are labelled above rather than below (not stage friendly) and the battery is changed by removing 4 screws and taking off the bottom of the unit....also not stage friendly.

Not good.
I use Telecasters thru a Fender Blues Junior. I used to use a HotRod Deluxe but got the BJ to be able to play at lower volume, and to save my back. I love the overdrive sound on channel 2 of the HRDx (changed the middle preamp tube to a Tesla) and I wanted something similar for the BJ. I was using a Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive which was OK except that it didn't have a true bypass and badly compromised the tone of the amp when it was turned off. I find a tele thru a BJ wonderful but add a pedal and it just becomes 'an amp'. With and without a pedal in front is like the difference between a Yamaha acoustic and a Taylor. Subtle but very important. (I wish BJs had an effects loop.)
Anyway, I got the Sparkle Drive because it has a true bypass. I'd once tried a friend's old Ibanez ST-9 SuperTubescreamer and was impressed and I assumed that an Ibanez TS-808 (and hence the Sparkle Drive) would sound similar.
I was wrong. The Sparkle Drive is way too sharp and trebly. Even with the tone knob totally off the sound was thinner and sharper. Adding the clean signal made it even sharper yet. The clean boost alone was the same, even with the tone right down. And turning up the tone made it painfully sharp and glassy. I can see how some people would like this sound but I want an overdrive sound that is rich sounding. Think of the tone that Jeff Beck had on 'Rock My Plimsole' (if you are old enough to remember...). That's what my setup sounded like with the St-9 SuperTubescreamer, and that's what I want. If I turn the BJ right up so it overdrives naturally it doesn't lose bass and get glassy. It gets deep and rich. I want a pedal that makes this happen without having to crank the amp, and the Sparkle Drive doesn't do it.

Very well built so I'm assuming it's worth a 10.

No idea.

I play abit of everything in a wedding/pub band. I need to go from one type of music to another quickly without a sudden huge volume or tone change and I like to keep things simple. A good guitar with a good amp with an overdrive for solos and raunchy songs, and maybe a little chorus sometimes. An overdrive pedal that changes my EQ characteristics when I turn it on is useless to me so I've sent the Sparkle Drive back. I'm not sure what I'll be getting next. I might try a Marshall Bluesbreaker 2.

Very easy to use. It's hard to get a bad sound although I must say that I don't like the sound with gain set to the max...but that's just a matter of taste.

I play a G&L Asat Special and an Asat Z3 > Boss Compressor > Sparkle Drive > Carl Martin Delayla into a Fender Vibroverb RI or a Fender Pro Junior. I play Rockabilly and Country but I'm not into vintage sounds. With gain set to 10 o clock and clean set to 12 it just gives me the extra drive I want.

Seems to be a well-built pedal. I leave it on most of the time so the switch will last forever I think.

I once mailed them for a cable for my Pedal Power II but never got a reply.

I mainly play Rockabilly and Country-type of music...or call it roots-rock if you want :-)
I would buy it again if it got lost or stolen. I've only compared it to the regular Boss, Ibanez and DOD pedals but they're just not my piece of cake. The Clean-control is a genious option I think.

Super easy to set up and dial in some great sounds.

Here's my rig: a '72 telecaster w/ Lindy Fralin pickups, Boss TU-2, MXR Dynacomp, SparkleDrive, and a Danelectro Delay into a slightly tweaked '65 Deluxe Reverb Re-issue with a Weber P12N speaker. I had been using a Mesa Boogie V-Twin for several years in more modern rock bands, but I've been slowly switching my rig over to a more vintage sound. I needed a pedal that could emulate the sound of my amp cranked to '11'-and this pedal does it in spades.
It's utterly impossible to dial in an unusable sound with the thing. Plus, the ability to blend back in a boosted clean signal adds a lot of complexity to the overall sound.
I've tried nearly everything on the market except some of the most expensive units, and the thing that grabs me the most about the Sparkledrive is that there is none of that 'boxy' mid-range honk that seems to be the major character of most 'tubescreamer' type stomp boxes. This pedal is tonally VERY subtle. It sounds like your good old tube amp cranked.
It is a little noisy as you crank the gain, but aren't they all? If you're doing a roots rock, soul, country or blues thing this is ideal and won't kill your budget.

Built like a tank. I haven't needed a back-up, although I always carry an extra stompbox just in case.

Haven't had to deal with them at all.

I play what you could basically call hot rodded 'Americana' music; a blend of country, roots rock, blues-rock, and hard rock. I'm a big believer in turning a small amp up to just-barely-breaking-up and relying on my touch to clean up the tone. I needed something to transparently boost the drive, and this thing does it right. I'd replace it in a heartbeat.

Very easy to use just remember there are lots of options with all blends that are available

Excellent for my use. (a Suhr Classic and a 67 super reverb) Far out does my TS9's all were moded and this pedal removes the mid boost, bass loss of the TS9 with the blend. Now understand this. Its a blues tone I was after and a blues tone I got. just a little crunch and gring with NO COLOR in my tone if the clean is blended in right. If you removethe clean blend it sounds just like a TS9 with the mid hump and tone change. But boy with that blend its amazing and just what daddy wanted!! NO HEAVY overdrive unless you want to color your tone

Looks and feels like a tank...but we will see

Not sure....there getting kinda big now so we will see.

For a blues player this is the stuff to have on floor. Since it blends tones, it controls the loss of quality that was what you bought your rig for in the first place. But it adds sustain and control that you can not get from a normal OD Pedal. I am not sure what this would do for different styles. But if you want that cranked tone with out blowing out the windows. Its here and worth the money. If you rig sounds poorly now, I doubt this is gonna fix it.

Well Let me start out by saying that this pedal is very sensitive, and it will magnify every mistake you make, although that is a chance I am willing to take. Because the tone is outstanding, it kicks my ts-808 out of the arena. and the knobs are easy to use and very functional. I am giving it an 8 because you have to tweak a while to find the sweet spot.

The sound is absolute king, with a rich yet nasal tone that screams out of my blackface pro reverb, and slverface twin. The tone makes my fenders sound almost like a dumble.

10 all the way

this unit is, well like a tank, I is heavy with reinforced metal casing. Can't bust it

Don't know, Don't need it

I am giving this pedal a 10 because it beefed up my sound giving me the confidence to be a better player. and get the tone I so desired

Easy, intuitive. I like the manual; no longwinded explanations, no useless "recommended tone settings" (anyone who does not experiment with their effects to get their best sound is a doofus, IMO).

This is a brilliant take on a tubescreamer clone. Good stuff. Sounds better than my reissue TS9, plus is has a great, clear clean boost that can be blended in or used alone. I often use the clean boost alone with weaker pickups for a stronger signal. Doesn't QUITE sound like tubes because it doesn't use tubes, but it cops the 'screamer vibe quite well. I give it a 10 for accomplishing exactly what they say it will do.

Tough. You could play this at a gig, beat someone up with it at the setbreak, and it would still work for the second set. Reliability: ask me in 10 years, but I am confident.

No idea. Never spoke with them.

I play all kinds of music, I've been playing for about 12 years, numerous amps, guitars, effects. I would buy another if lost/stolen. This pedal makes the tubescreamer obsolete, and it was cheaper than my TS9 reissue. I give it an 9 because of small design/ergonomic issues (battery access, knobs kinda close together).

As far as overdrives pedals go, you'd have to be an idiot to mess this one up. I like the layout of the pedal and the position of the knobs. The clean boost is totally awesome. I can't believe that this isn't done more often. If your into blues/rock and love those tones associated with that than this is the pedal you need.

I play US vintage reissue strats with Van Zandt pickups through a '59 bassman reissue. The tone I am going for is pretty cut and dried. When I bought this pedal I had 3 pedals in mind to choose from. The Fulltone 2, the maxon 808 and this one. After playing all three extensively I felt that this pedal was the overall best for what I do. I loved the tone of the maxon but it doesn't have the versatility of the sparkle drive. Granted, it's hard to beat the fulltone, but for price and ease of use I went with the Sparkle Drive. The drive on this pedal seems to have more definition than any other in it's tonal class. I now use 2 and I use one as a muddy boost and then I have the other set on full overdrive with only the clean set on about 2. The tones are very layered this pedal and seem to really have alot of life. With most overdrives, when you push the limit on the drive the definition tends to get lost. This pedal keeps it's clarity throughout. I think a large part of this is the addition of the clean boost. I play alot of Texas style blues and this pedal seems as though that's what it was made for. If you love SRV, Chris Duarte and even Ian Moore, this is a great pedal

The only trouble I have ever had with this pedal was something that to this day I don't know what happened. For a period of about 2 weeks I couldn't get a sound out of it when I engaged the pedal. I could never find a bad connection on my pedal board and I tried each pedal individually so it was the sparkle drive. One day it worked again. I still don't know. Since then I haven't given it a second thought

When the pedal began to act up, I was going to call but I never got around to it until the pedal began to work again. This cat. remains to be seen.

I hate to rate this a 10 because nothing is really perfect. But, when you consider the price and the quality of the materials, it really is a great value. I now own two and I would replace both if they got stolen. I love the clean boost most of all because it really adds life especially at high volumes when it pushes the amp. I think this pedal as really made me better because I am so comfortable with the tones that I get out of it. I never catch myself preocuppied with the pedal during a show. I've used alot of overdrives (blues driver, SD1, TS9) and for the value this pedal is by far the best.

the sparkle drive is THE overdrive for recording for me so far. The clean knob was a brilliant addition. I am a pedal freak. This is my "go to pedal". My one complaint...the words level, tone, drive...should be BElOW the knobs guys didn't you R&D this??? Fulltone DID!!

Sound quality is great, super warm/smooth. I've used it with various amps vox, fender, bogner, Meas boogie, trace elliot(vellote), crate (vintage club), seymour duncan... And guitars: Les pauls, Rickenbackers, Fenders... sounds great every time! I love the Beatles and classic rock, new artists that are inspired by the bands of the 60's (who isn't?)... Sheryl Crow, Jellyfish, wallflowers, Hendrix.....

It's built like a tank!

N/A

I play rock, pop, etc... Playing for 20 years, own a recording studio...would replace the minute if it was stolen, I love the clean knob, Don't love the artwork ( the whole "voodoo scheme" looks goofy).
Compared to Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Menatone, Maxon, Ibanez...
Definately the most helpful pedal I own to date! (the Bosstone runs a close second).