Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive

Pretty straight forward- level,tone,drive,clean--the clean option is a nice idea but it should have it's own tone control.

You can get good sounds out of this pedal but when compared to my TS-10 and Boss OD-1 it sounds ordinary. It has a very hard, uncompressed solid state sound to it. I have two Warmoth guitars(Strat w/Van Zandts,semi-hollow tele w/Fralin P-90&PRS McCarty humbucker)I play through a modified 66 Fender Bassman head/Peavy classic 4x10 w/mojotones A/B'd with a modded Peavy classic 30/Mesa 2x12 w/greenbacks. Effects go Sparkle Drive-TS10-Deluxe Memory Man-Moogerfooger Low Pass Filter-Maxon AD999 delay-Boss DD-6-Digitech Digiverb.I am not using my OD-1 because it needs a new switch. What really seems to help the Sparkle Drive for me is running it after my TS-10. However this takes away the clarity of the TS-10, so I have no choice but to put before the TS-10. I set the clean at 9o'clock,Drive at 10o'clock and use it as little as possible.

No problems yet but I don't use it much-I've read many reviews where people have problems w/ the switch. I plan to sell it when my OD-1 is fixed.

I play alot of different styles of music-blues,jazz fusion,funk,prog-rock,prog-metal,celtic folk rock,etc.I play out regularly and record alot at home. This pedal acually sounds better when I'm recording at low to medium levels at home w/ a smaller amp. With my live setup I find myself wearing out the switch on my TS-10 and I miss my OD-1 dearly. When I bought this pedal I tried it through a Mesa Nomad,a Vibrolux and a Traynor and it sounded pretty good so maybe it just doesnt like my setup. I just think there are much better pedals out there for the price. TS-10w/JRC4558-$30 used.Boss OD-1w/JRC4558-$60 used. These are over 15 years old and I've only encountered one malfunction w/them.Acording to the reviews it seems the Crackle Drive only lasts for about 6 months before you have to replace the switch after moderate use. You can mod it but that would put the overall price around $200-not worth it in my opinion. If you you have that much $ to spend on a OD pedal get a Durham Sex Drive or 3 or 4 used TS-10s-not that the TS-10 is a great pedal but even the ones w/ the cheaper op amp chips have a more natural tube like tone than this pedal.

very easy to use..i found my "sweet spot" and have marked the setting.

I have a number of good OD pedals incluning TS808/TS9/Analogman and Keeley modded ts9/fulltone etc and this is as good as any. Its real strength is the clean boost which sounds extremely sweet and you can dial in just enough dirt to juice it up without losing jangle and ..well sparkle in fact!..the tubescreamer style dirt is good and in same league as the other pedals mentioned above.cleans up beautifully on turning down.used with cornford hurricane and BF deluxe and super reverbs.

well main reason for writing is to confirm the switch problem but also how well voodoo lab help out...I bought this used and have no idea how old it is and i told them so..despite this they were very helpfull and mailed me a replacement switch all the way to England..HOWEVER ,...ive now had the replacement switch go wrong as well ...and i dont mistreat them honest!..fitting the switch is a DIY job if you are careful but you need to carefully destroy the old switch so you can desolder its six contacts from the board so you are not going to do this in the pub,in the dark,between sets,after 3 pints of lager while chatting up the drummers girlfriend [nb bad idea anyway...drummers like hitting things!]

see above ..best service ive ever had..mind you the most times ive ever needed to contact a manufacturer.

This is an excelent pedal which is as good as any pedal of its type that ive come across.Its great for that singing sparkly just breaking up tone and works really well with a nice clean valve/tube amp.cleans up well and has something unique with that lovely clean sound to blend with the dirt.Guitar player magazine I think gave this an editors pick and they were right!..However there is clearly an issue with the switches breaking at regular intervals for some reason ..pedal is good enough to have a spare and replace the switch every so often...Id definately replace it if stolen..essential.

4 knobs...come on now.

this pedal is fantastic. if you have a blackface setup, this is it. i've done the whole maxon, ts808, sd-1...the whole gamut. this and the original marshall bluesbreaker and maybe the visual sound pedals are my favorites. it has a little less mid hump than a 808 and a bit more fidelity to the gain. this pedal sounds great low gain, boost or dimed out. I almost want two...but i use a cheaper pedal for the boost.

i have some quality gear and this is it...very good pedal.

Because of the massive versatility and array of tones on offer you may find yourself twiddling the wrong knob to find a rare and fresh sound, though getting a basic crunch or overdrive is pretty simple.

I'm using an Gibson SG standard and a Fender Blues Junior.
It produces anything from a clean boost to a rock crunch. Each note on my guitar seems to cut through. The pedal sounds a lot like a BOSS OD-1 (which is a quality overdrive), though the sparkle drive has more sounds on offer with it having a tone knob and clean knob. Also this pedal is true bypass and it works 100% great.

Built like a block of iron.

I hear VOODOO LAB are great with customer support though I haven't needed it.

I got it off Ebay for a bargain price though if it were lost I would by one new straight away, full price. It's a fantastic overdrive with millions of tones on offer and the true bypass makes it all the better. I recommend getting one if you are looking for a lifetime overdrive.

I've reviewed this pedal before, love it, read down for what I've been wanting to add...

Great, a little smooth for some tastes maybe, but that also depends on your amp and guitar....

so here's where I just wanted to add a new note...I'd had the pedal for about a year and a half or so, and the engage switch started wigging out...the "on" light would flare up, but my sound would just vanish...if you jiggled it, eventually it would come back on, but clearly I had the same basic faulty switch problem that everybody has had...bummer, but read on....

....so I called them, very friendly guy immediately answers the phone, I never registered this thing, they have no history on me or when I bought, and there going to do the repair and send it back to me for free....super helpful and nice. this is really important, because no matter how well your gear is built, and the sparkle drive is built as well as anyof them, the excrement is going to hit the appliance periodicly and your going to need it fixed...voodoo labs is the most helpful company i've ever interacted with. highly recommend their gear.

jazz, noisy fusion, indie rock, etc......for six years or so.
would def. buy it again.

Plug in and turn the knobs,You wont find a bad sound here

Ive been seaching for the ULTIMATE boost for solos,THIS IS IT!I have a Mesa Dual Rectifier ,Marshall TSL 2000,and 50watt JCM 800.This pedal KILLS on the Boogie.Adds great sustain without changing the sound of the amp.Very subtle,transparent and makes notes "jump" out of the cabinet.Ive tried many OD and boost pedals but this sounds the best by far.With the TSL its a little noisey,but still great.On the 800,which is a lower gain amp,it sounds good but ,like other reviewers stated,this isnt gonna change a lower gain amp into a screaming metal amp.But if your a metal player with a great high gain amp and an ear for great tone,this pedal will take solos "over the top"

seems tough enough,but I always seem to have problems with these type of switches,we'll see...

N/A ,havent had to deal with them

My only negative comment is that the knobs are close together and have a "loose" feel,they could easily be moved with your foot during a gig,havent giged with it yet,so I'll have to see..I own or have owned a Boss od-3,Boss super od,Ibanez ts-9,Boss graphic eq,Boss blues driver,Dunlop zakk wylde,dod yngwie,MXR micro amp,marshall guvner,proco Rat,and others and if you lookin to just give your amp a natural sounding "boost",this pedal is the best ive tried.

very easy. set your gain and tone then blend in clean or (articulation) as I think it should be called.

setup as follows.
gibson sg standard
sparkle drive
fulltone clyde deluxe
boss dd-6
boss ce-2
boss tu-2
eh holy grail
Orange rocker 30.

I prefer the sound of my dirty channel on my amp by itself. I use the sparkle drive to bring out my effects more. My amp is really stripped down and doesn't have a loop. because of this the Wah especially doens't sound as good by itself without the overdrive in front of it. I was using a tone sucking stock boss super-overdrive which actually sounded great with the wah, but nothing else. Anyway, long story short this pedal if more than i had hoped for. I find that i'm leaving in on all the time. it really breathes extra clarity and complex harmonics into your sound. sometimes i use it on my dirty channel to push me into the zakk wylde range. I'm glad I got this instead of the fulltone I was looking at. double the price.

Only had it for a couple of days now. seems solid. high quality parts throughout.

I've dealt with these guys once before. Awesome. I needed some different cables for my pedal power 2. they called me back within 5 minutes and sent me the stuff i needed for free. couldn't ask for more. Much better than Fulltone.

exactly what i was looking for.

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I submitted a review about a year and a half ago. I love the Sparkle Drive and use it primarily as a boost/light overdrive. I got the Keeley mod which perhaps gave the sound a little bit more gain and articulation, but IMHO it didn't change the sound as drastically as some reviewers said.
Anyway, the main reason I'm writing is because I'm mighty impressed with their customer service. The footswitch became faulty (intermittent) after about a year. I called Voodoo Lab and left a voicemail message - they called back in about 15 minutes. I sent the pedal in, and as it was still under warranty, they replaced the switch for free and got it back to me within a couple of weeks.
Unfortunately, the switch went again after a few months. No, I don't weigh 300 lbs. or abuse it!!! I called Voodoo Lab earlier today and again they got back to me in 15 minutes. Even though the unit is no longer under warranty, they are still going to fix it for free!!! As I have had terrible customer service experiences with other companies (Zoom and Steinberg immediately come to mind), it gives me hope in humanity when a company actually cares about it's customers.
I hope no one takes this as a knock against the quality of the footswitches that Voodoo Lab uses. I haven't read the hundred or so reviews so I don't know if this an issue, but shit does wear down and break in this here universe. Point is, they are going to fix it for free, and I didn't have to wait 2 or 4 weeks (or never) for a response and deal with any attitudes. Thanx Voodoo Dudes!!!!!

4 knobs which are easy to use. Ever use a Tubescreamer? same circut.

I use a fender strat or moded epi SG into a behringer GMX 212 set to a good clean sound or overdriven Marshall sound. in addition i have other pedals which suck tone or i thought they did. turns out it was the amount of cabble i use.
got this for about 50 bucks off a sale price. dont remember the amount but it was under 100. this thing has my tone in it. well no it doesn't but the clean blend is agod send to me because with the gain i'm looking for but the articulations and stuff i use in my playing i often had to sacrifice one or the other. Not any more. Now to the amp thing it doesn't sound like 2 amps although you can get a decent Keef sound with it. I have about 4 amps one of them being a vintage reverborocket.
overdriving the reverborocket and using the clean of the Behringer i tested the sound. the pedal just doesn't have that delay you get with 2 amps. but since i'm not looking for that i was looking for more articulations in a tubescreamer type pedal (which is why i have th BD-2 the trebly frequency lets more shine through than a TS9 just sayin). if you dont like the clean function the best reason to buy this pedal is that it has the same circut as an 808 but is made from higher quality parts than the current Ibanez reissue. all in all it sounds amazing in my rig and lets my tone shine through so i dont have to fight a pedal while playing.

well since i got a once in a lifetime deal on this and a small clone (bringing the total up to about $130) i guess i have to use it without backup being as i cant afford another an dont want another. it seems well made and sturdy and think about it if i can gig heavily with a plastic Dano pedal i think a metal encased pedal realy ought to stand up to the rigors. but it's to soon to tell

I play alot of things and i dont feel like going into it again. been playing abou 10 years come september and have always been able to get my tone out of most setups. What i like about my current setup ,which is mainly my favorite pedals, is that i dont have to fight through a pedal for my tone. what i disliked about my previous sources of dirt is that they all sounded like pedals and were a bit to muddy had to fight for my tone to get through. Well then i'm giving this a 9 because what ever i dont have to think about is a good thing.

very basic pedal

been playing for 15 years, and now we perform in a punk/psychobilly band, and our set up goes like so: either gretsch 6119 w/tv joneses, rickenbacker 330/6 with bigsby, or dearmond jazzbox with dearmotrons into that pedal, memory man, and a tuner into either a vox ac15 reissue, peavey classic 30 or an ampeg reverborocket, usually 2 amps! the sound is great! since were a big fan of layering guitar parts as george harrison did on certain beatles/solo recordings, we know how cool they could sound. with a good dirt amp, this pedal is a great boost for solos and all, since our mix is very very dense. it consists of a drummer, upright bassist and rhythm guitarist (using a les paul thru marshall combo) and a skitzofrenic singer. since our sound HAS to be very mid-rangey to have its voice heard in this mix, this pedal does a good job of getting it like so. we know its not common for a rockabilly guitarist to use pedals like so, but we like the sound we get from this.

voodoo labs builds em like rocks! we gig either with this one, or an ibanez turbo tube screamer

never dealt with them, but if necessary, we hear that they are good!

this pedal is a good match for rockabilly/psychobilly! no noe else uses it, cause theyre afraid of stubbing their toes on the pedals or something! weve been playing for 15 years, and own tons of kick ass gear! if lost,m wed definately get this or a reverend drive train, since we used to have that, and it is one hell of a pedal as well. the best feature is the blend knob, since layering sounds cool! we wish it had 2 separate outputs, so the signal could be switched between 2 amps. it definately helps us make the music, since its uncomplicated, and gets great tone!