Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive

Easy to use. Four knobs: Gain, Tone, Clean, Volume. Fairly quiet footswitch, and a red LED to let you know it's on.
No manual, just a sheet of paper telling you what each knob does.
Really cool paint job!

My search for an overdrive pedal is over. When I saw Voodoo Lab had just come out with this pedal, I bought one immediately, and was not disappointed.
Every overdrive pedal I've tried in the past ends up changing the fundamental sound of my guitar in a bad way. Especially Tubescreamers, they tend to suck out the bottom end and add a bunch of nasty mids (to my ear anyway). Not that this thing is any different if you use the overdrive by itself. It pretty much sounds like a Tubescreamer. The great part is, I can then use the Clean knob to mix back in some of my original clean sound and get back some low end and that nice tube amp "sparkle" (hence the name), that is missing.
Hats off to whoever thought this up! It's like running a two amp rig and being able to mix them together at will.
The overdrive is very good, with a slight compression and at full gain setting, a pretty nice singing distortion, and lots of boost. The tone knob does its job, as well as a single tone knob can..
This pedal is very versatile. Can be used as a straight Tubescreamer clone, or as a straight clean boost, or with them mixed together. I like to use it to fatten up my clean sound for crunchy rhythm parts, with just a bit of distortion in the background.

Seems very sturdy, all metal construction.

I've been playing over twenty years. I play rock, blues, surf, a little of everything. I play Strats through a Twin Reverb or Blues Deville. I?ve tried just about every overdrive pedal out there. I had settled on a Visual Sound Jeckyll & Hyde overdrive before I discovered the Sparkle. I still love my J&H, but the Jeckyll side always sounded a bit too midrangey for my taste.
The Sparkle Drive is a great pedal, and really helps me get the tone I have been looking for. If it were stolen I would track down the thief and force him to watch the Nashville Network until he begged for mercy and gave me back my Sparkle Drive. Yes, I would buy it again in a heartbeat.
This is a brilliant idea, I think they are going to sell a lot of these babies. Way to go Voodoo Labs!

The box has (4) simple controls: Overdrive, Tone, Mix, and Gain. The mix control is the unique to this pedal and acts much like the "send" control on a mixer board. It mixes clean signal with the overdrive signal, giving in effect two amps at once. The mix control has a very big impact on the overall sound of the device and little tweaks can make a large differnce.

My main setup is a G&L S3 (3 large single coils) through a Seymour Duncan convertible amp. I tend to favor a "turned up" sound where the distortion is very attack sensitive over a grunge or metal sound. I also have a Tech 21 Trademark 60, but have not put the box through that yet (although that's what I bought it for because I was not crazy about the dirty channel). The unit is extremely quiet, and the bypass switch is hard-wired and causes not signal degredation. All boxes should be this way. As a pure overdrive pedal, it's good, but not a match for tubes. But it's strength is the ability to create an overdrive sound and then blend back in the clean signal to restore the attack and dynamics that you loose with distortion. This is a really neat feature and is good for Santana-like stuff where you want the sustain of heavy overdrive, but not the heavily distorted tone. The gain control control affects the overall level, and I have found it somewhat feedback prone, especially when the amp is on a stand. The tone control has a very wide range and can make the sound go from trash-can muffled to very icy bright.

This is built well, the internals are very neat, and the case is solid. The footswitch is metal and feels very secure. No plastic bits except for the knobs.

Have not talked to them, but they have a nice web site with dealer listings. Had to look very hard for this unit. They seem to be flying off the shelves

I play mostly rock, R&B, originals, and the occasional Real Book tune, and have been doing so for over 20 years. Over the years I have used very few effects on a regular basis either because of sound quality or signal degredation. The Voodoo Lab pedal is a very live-able item because it can create natural and playable tones without forcing me to change my style of playing. Plus when it's off it does not kill the signal. It's geared towards a rock/blues type of tone and is too mild mannered for metal or hard rock. It's a great device for a slightly crunchy but detailed rhythm sound, or for use with an amp whose dirty channel just too over the top (most of them!). With the Seymour Duncan Amp I can live without it. But with the Tech 21, I can see myself patching through this and abandoning the dirty channel.

Very easy to use. Controls are: gain, tone, volume and the "clean" knob. True By-pass foot-switch and light to let you know when the pedal is activated. Comes with brief explanations regarding the operation of the pedal.

My set up is pretty minimal. Fender Strat (texas hot single coils), Sparkle Drive, Analog Chorus, input to Fender Blues Deville and / or Fender Blues jr Amp. Great sound, quiet pedal. I love the clean control. Allows a nice range of overdrive / clean boost.

This is my third Voodoo Lab pedal. I have the Proctavia, Analog Chorus and Sparkle Drive. All have excellent sound quality and are built to withstand life on the road.

Never needed to deal with the company...

I play mostly R&B, Blues and sometimes like to mix it up: Stones, Beatles, BBKing, Chris Duarte, U2, Styx, etc.. I have been playing about 25 years. I would replace if lost or stolen. I put this pedal at the top of it's category and for the price it's a steal compared to some of the other overdrives pedals out there. I have used a Ibanez TS9, Boss BD-2 and a Fulltone FullDrive pedal. While I am keeping the Fulltone (which is also an excellent guitar pedal) the others are long gone, replaced by the Sparkle Drive. The Sparkle Drive gives me a rich sound that allows me to focus on the music.

Fairly simple layout with the addition of one extra knob for the clean channel mix. Your usual gain, tone, volume and the "clean" knob. Nice footswitch and light to let you know when the pedal is activated. Came with a printed sheet with some brief explanations regarding the operation of the pedal.

This is an overdrive pedal based on the sound of the now classic 808 Tube Screamer. I've played through many 808's over the years and believe this pedal does a decent job of capturing that sound. The extra bonus of this pedal is of course the "clean" control. This feature allows three nice things to occur: one - it allows the pedal to give you a really nice clean boost. Two - it allows the user to beef up the usual compressed sound of the overdrive and add some bass frequency back into the signal that tends to cut out when the overdrive is used. Three - it allows the player to mix the overdrive signal with the clean signal to create sounds not possible with the old 808 pedal. I'm plugging my Fender American Std. Tele into the pedal and then straight into my Fender Custom Vibrolux Reverb amp.

The first thing I did was test the clean boost option. You simply dial the overdrive knob all the way off and the clean knob all the way on. You can then use the master volume knob on the pedal to control the overall volume of your amp. Plenty of volume and gain is possible with this pedal and these settings. I liked what I heard. It gave my amp a nice kick in the ass with just a touch of high end "sparkle" (sorry couldn't resist...). I am happy with the clean boost sound this pedal offers. I owned a Klon pedal for 8 months and give the clean boost edge to that pedal mostly due to the fact that you could control the tone with the clean boost on that pedal and you can not with the Sparkle Drive. The tone (EQ) knob on the Sparkle Drive only works in conjunction with the overdrive sounds and not the clean. A nice feature Voodoo Lab may want to consider is adding a small toggle switch that would allow the user to decide whether the tone knob will effect the overdrive sound or the clean. Just a thought... Folks wishing to use this pedal as a clean boost though will most likely be pleased. I was.

Second thing of course was to dial up some warm 808 type overdrive tones. The 808 was never known for being an overly high gain pedal and the Sparkle does not really offer too much more gain than the old 808. If memory serves, it sounds as though a bit more gain is on tap here than on the 808. Not a high gain pedal by any means though nor was it designed to be. The overdrive tone was nice and warm with no real "buzzy" or thin sounds. Like the old tube screamers, you will most likely notice a loss of bass response as you add gain as well as an overall compression of the sound. This is where the clean blend feature begins to come in handy. By mixing in some of the clean signal with your overdrive gain, you can recapture much of the lost bass response and restore some of the pick attack that is lessened by the compression. It works well and makes the overdrive sounds on the pedal sound much better. If you take the clean blend knob much past 10 o'clock you will begin to loose much of your overdrive sound as the clean blend will begin to dominate it and fade it to the background. This can also offer some cool tones as well though. Having the clean blend straight up at 12 o'clock and the overdrive at about 2 o'clock gave me a real nice mostly clean but with just a touch of overdrive in the background tone. The blending of the clean and overdrive sounds is really the key to this pedal and what of course makes it stand out from other overdrive pedals that are in the same 808 territory. Some real nice tones can be created with those two knobs. The pedal is true bypass and appears fairly well constructed. Comes with a 5 year warranty.

My main overdrive pedal is still the Blackstone Mosfet. It just sounds great through my particular rig and although the Sparkle can come fairly close to the Blackstones overdrive sound it is not as "transparent" to my ears and does not clean up as well when I roll back my guitar's volume knob as the Blackstone does.
The Sparkle Drive will be my "

If I had to Nitpick something it would be this: The four control knobs are very close together and it can be difficult to adjust one without nudging one of the others. I suggest Voodoo Lab consider moving the red "on" light down to the bottom of the pedal creating more room at the top. With this extra room, they could stagger the 1 and 3 knobs so they were like a half an inch higher than the 2 and 4 knobs therefore creating more room for fingers to fit easily around the knobs for adjustments. Also, the edges where the back plate fits onto the pedal were a bit rough and bumpy as though they had not been completely sanded or finished in some manner. This is strictly an aesthetic complaint but it seems like something they could work on with their quality control department.

My main overdrive pedal is still the Blackstone Mosfet. It just sounds great through my particular rig and although the Sparkle can come fairly close to the Blackstones overdrive sound it is not as "transparent" to my ears and does not clean up as well when I roll back my guitar's volume knob as the Blackstone does. The Sparkle Drive will be my "second" overdrive pedal on my board. I will use it mostly for clean boosting and to dial in some gain and boosting for solos along with the Blackstone. The clean control really helps me find a sweet solo boost tone when mixed with the Blackstone's rhythm overdrive sound. The Sparkle Drive was exactly what I was hoping for in a second overdrive pedal. Don't get me wrong though, It would make a fine first overdrive pedal as well as it does offer some great warm overdrive tones of its own.

To sum up - I'm very happy with this purchase and would recommend it to others considering a new overdrive purchase. The clean mix feature works as advertised and is a great addition to this pedal. The final thing I would like to mention that should be pointed out is the very reasonable price. $115.00 bucks for an overdrive of this quality with true bypass that offers a nice clean boost is in my opinion a great value! I've owned a Klon that was close to $300.00 bucks and prefer the Sparkle Drive. The Sparkle Drive gave me a warmer sounding overdrive and nearly as good clean boost for less than half the price of the Klon. An excellent value pedal no matter what you compare it to.

Fairly simple. Gain, Tone, Volume, and a Clean (boost) knob. LED indicator. Pretty straight forward

I just got this today, ordered it for MusicToyz.com. It's a pretty nice site. I guess it's not fair for me to rate this yet because I've only played it though my little Crate practice amp (it's actually a Bass practice amp, but I think it sounds pretty good for just something to play at home). My regular set up is a Mesa Boogie Tremoverb 100 watt head into either a Recto 2x12 or 4x12 cab, which I leave at our rehearsal space since the head and cabs weigh a ton. I'm using a Fender Telesonic through the Sparkle Drive and into the practice amp. It's exactly what I wanted, a smooth and very warm overdrive that lets each note ring out with great articulation and nice sustain. It doesn't have an over abundance of gain, but just enough. I really like the clean boost knob which mixes an compressed clean signal with the overdrive tone. However, once you turn the knob past 12 oclock the clean signal drowns out the dirt. So this pedal can serve a dual purpose; nice overdrive, or use it just as a clean boost. It's true bypass switching which is also a plus. Voodoo Labs says this pedal produces the same tone as a vintage '808. I've never owned a Tubescreamer so I'm not sure how close it comes to original 808, I just know I like it .

It seems pretty sturdy. Aluminium casing, heavy duty in/output jacks, metal switch. But only time will tell if it's truely reliable. So due to the "unknown" factor, right now I will have to give it an 8.

I've never dealt with them. So I can't say.

The band I'm in plays all original alt-hard rock, kinda progressive, sprinkled with a little Pop occasionally. I also like Blues and some Funk/Jazz. I've been playing seriously for around 12 years. I also own two Fender Stat models, a Big Apple and a California Strat, both with Seymour Duncan Custom Custom bridge pickups (great pickups). I bought this pedal to go along with my Telesonic which produces a more vintage sound than my Stats, and they really do sound great together. I'm imagine my Stats will sound good through it too, although I'm sure it will be different due to the higher output pickups. I can't wait to use this pedal with my Mesa, it can only sound better. If it were lost or stolen I would probably get another one. The thing that attracted me most about this pedel is the clean boost, which I think really sets it apart from the others in it's class.

Easy to Use , self explanatory.

Using it with a Strat and a Super Reverb,it has a hiss that is liveable with.It gets any tone you can think of aside from saturated death metal or beefy Mettallica tones.I will leave my TS 808 home for now on. Now I wont have to worry about some lowlife stealing it.

Built like a tank,I wish it had a battery replacement cover instead of 4 screws.I would use it with out a backup.But I have a TS9 in my gig bag.

Its perfect for me,it can cover all of the styles of music I am interested in. There is a reason why these are hard to find and most stores sell out of them right away.The reason is,its the best idea in a long time, of what an overdrive should be,an awesome rendition of a great pedal (TS 808) and a clean boost whic gives your clean signal alot of oomph with out crushing it lie a compression/sustainer does.If youre serious about tone and performance.Do what I did,Get a Sparkle Drive,a microvibe and a VOX wah,and forget about everything else.

This one is pretty easy to figure out. the manual is very explanatory. Most of the knobs speak for themselves. the drive side is plug in and play. It takes a couple of minutes to work out the amount of clean blend you want though.

i'm playing a gibson les paul into ->erine ball volume->vox wah (true bypasss)->sparkle drive->voodoo tremolo->mesa single rectoverb. I use C.B.I. cables (belding wire)good cables play a big part in your tone. This pedal has true bypass (very nice). No noise at all. It's like having two pedals an overdrive and a clean boost, and a clean/dirty amp setup in a pedal. The tubescreamer (clean all the way to the left) sounds great. It has alot more bass(fullness)than the reissues and originals i've played. This will be a relief for all you guys looking for that thick tubescreamer sound that SRV and Pearl Jam get. It also seems to have more gain available than the ts-9/808. Because of these two very important factors I think that voodoo labs may have stumbled upon the perfect overdrive. It has as little or as much gain as you want(higher gain levels comprable to my mesa) The tone control is give's you alot of sweep to adjust. You can drop the mids on it( something i could never get from the ts-9 or fulltones much more expensive fulldrive 2) It sounds good with both my les paul and '72 strat. The clean blend knob adds a very interesting aspect to this box. As you start to turn it up it adds a layered uncomporessed clean signal that is very evident. I don't use it up much past 25% It's very much like listening to two amps however above 50% the clean tends to drown the drive and you start to move more towards the clean only side of the knob. This is my personal taste, I wasn't looking for anything radical just a mild rhythmn drive sound. the volume can really slam the front of your amp if you want it. i play mostly blues and rock.

it's solid. all metal switch. metal case. if you can break it without opening the case you need to quit using pedals and get a rackmount system. otherwise you don't need a backup

i emailed them once to ask about an analog delay. they responded promply. no delay though.

this is a very creative idea for a pedal. I would buy it again if it were stolen. if you need an overdrive buy this pedal out. If you are tired of lugging an extra clean-only amp around check this pedal out.

Four knobs control the overall sound and make this pedal really easy to use. This OD has your basic gain, tone, vol, but with a unique clean/dirty mix knob to dial in just the right amount of dirt

I recently tried out the Sparkle Drive at the Digital Music booth at NAMM. I noticed that they discontinued the old overdrive and are replacing it with this new model. The Sparkle Drive was connected to a Voodoo Labs preamp, a Mesa 92/92 power amp out to an effects board with all the Voodoo Lab stuff. The guitar was basically a strat copy but didn't sound too bad at all. The Sparkle Drive was rich and sounded quite good at all settings. The OD on this pedal was modeled after the TS-808 so it has a very similar 'warm' sound without that lack of bass that Tube Screamers are known for. The real cool feature is the clean/dirty knob that allows you to mix the straight clean and the dirty signal together or have each individually. You turn it all the way to the left and its pure dirt but turn it right and you just get a clean boost.

I don't own this pedal since it isn't available yet but I do own some other Voodoo Lab pedals and they have been rock solid since day one.

Digital Music has great customer service and they're really down to earth. If you have any problems they'll help you out on the phone, email, or in person. I would have given them a 10 but since I had to wait 15 minutes at their booth waiting to be helped I'll cut em a bit short this time.

Since I didn't get to play the pedal with my setup I can't really give it an overall rating. However, through the setup provided the Sparkle Drive sounded great. It'll definitely give Ibanez and Fulltone a run for their money and is (to me) a much better value. All Voodoo Labs pedals are made in the US and all pedals have true bypass (unlike Ibanez). LEDs let you know the effect is on and all their pedals have cool paint jobs to boot. What else could you want?