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).

4 knobs. Gain, Tone, Clean, and Volume. Start with low settings, ring a couple of adjacent strings, and bring each knob up at a time until you find your sound. Do this for each knob trying different combinations until you find the right ones.

I play a Jay Turser JT-135 into a Line6 1x12 60Watt combo amp. The sparkle drive has true bypass and is as quiet and covert as the amplifier. I can get from classic Rock (Eagles) to Blues (you know the ones) with this pedal. A quality sound at any setting.

Hand made in California. Analog Circuitry. I should not need a backup for this.

Have not had to deal with them.

I play Contemporary Christian (Third Day, Audio Adrenaline) to classic 70's Rock (what a decade!). Been playing for 30 years and this pedal can cover the styles I play. If it were stolen, I would get another Sparkle Drive. I love everything about this pedal.

4 knobs. Gain, Tone, Clean, and Volume. Start low with guitar ringing, bring one knob up at a time to where it is to your liking. Keep tweeking different combinations 'til you find the right one.

I play a Jay Turser JT-135 through Sparkle Drive into a Line6 combo with the amp delay around one second. This pedal has true bypass. It is as quiet as the amplifier. Nails classic Rock (Eagles) and Blues (you know the ones).

Hand made in California. Analog Circuit. A high quality unit.

I have never dealt with them.

I play Contemporary Christian (Third Day, Audio Adrenaline) and classic 70's Rock riffs (what a decade!) I would buy it again if it were stolen. Losing it is not an option. I love everything about this pedal.

Very easy to get the a great blues or rock tone. I haven't found a setting that wouldn't sound great for something.

I keep it pretty simple: American Fender Texas Special --> Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive --> Teese Wah RMC1 --> Peavey Classic 50 2X12 (I know it's a Peavey, but I thought it was better than anything else out there in the same price range).

I bought the Sparkle Drive over several others for a two major reasons 1) I thought it sounded just as good as the Maxon OD808, but thought the Sparkle Drive was more versatile (i.e. I can get the SRV sound very easily, but can get more grit as well) and 2) the Sparkle Drive is True Bypass. This pedal gives me SRV, Clapton, Hendrix, Buddy Guy, you name it. I am very happy with the sound.

Light gigging (for the last 3-4 months) and I play without a backup. Come to think of it, I can't think of anybody I know in the whole "band scene" who has a backup for their pedals. I think I can depend on it.

No need yet.

Been playing poorly for 20 years, some gigging, but mostly a hobbyist. The more I play, however, the more concerned I've become with the tone (i.e., I'm always looking for THE tone). I tweak the settings on the pedal occasionally, mostly the "clean" knob, and have never ended up with a tone that I didn't like. If you're looking for SRV, Clapton, Hendrix, Buddy Guy, etc. this is a great sounding and incredibly versatile pedal.

Very easy to get a great tone from this pedal. Really no bad sounds.

Unbelievable tone with gain at about 85%, tone at 70%, clean knob at 20%, and volume knob at least half way. I play a Godin Solidac into a Tech 21 Trademark 60 and this pedal is UNREAL for getting a really compressed, clear-sounding, bell-like tone that sustains for days. I've had two Tubescreamers and various other overdrives/distortions, and this one honestly blows them all away.

Don't really know, but have heard alot of good things about them.

Seriously, as for the tone, I'm DONE looking for overdrives. This is it. The only thing I could nit-pick about is the fact that you have to unscrew 4 screws to change the batteries. That's the only bad thing. A very versatile pedal.

It's got 4 knobs. If you don't know how to turn a knob or step on the switch, then pedals might not be the way to go for you. If you need further explanation, the instructions explain stuff pretty clearly.....if you are literate.

I've read both positive and negative reviews. Some may be manufacturers, some may be experienced players, some may not know what the hell they are talking about. All pedals are different and unique. I think a good sounding pedal doesn't take away from the amp's natural tone. I doubt all these tone experts know what good tone is. I see people describing their rigs who say the Sparkle drive lacks tone and they have a whole load of effects and other crap in their rig. Most of these people don't realize that they are playing through crappy amps and they probably don't realize the lack of tone is in their fingers!

I have tried many different setups over the years. Currently I use a Matchless cheifton from 1995 and a New Fender "evil" twin. I only use the clean channels(Matchless is only one channel, and the Twin's clean is the only one worth a damn.) I have a '57 reissue custom strat and a custom les paul. My old setup was a mesa triaxis and 50-50...etc. I have become disillusioned with modeler and rackmount "amps".

I think the sparkle drive sounds great. I'm not sold on the clean blending, maybe because it doesn't suit my particular style(mostly pop/rock and rock.) I beleive in playing dynamics. I crank my amp so that it sounds clean when I play soft and slightly dirty when I pound on it. By the way, to achieve this, you need a good amp. Class A is the way to go , but any tube combo may be sufficient. Definately get away from solid state or modeler amps. The sparkle drive adds just enough overdrive so that it sounds slightly dirty when you are soft, and nicely distorted when you play hard. The true bypassing is the way to go if you don't want big changes in tone when you shut off the pedal.

Here is a bit of experience coming at you. When I've been in the studio or working with a good producer, I noticed that they know what amps sound good and most producers know what sounds they are looking for. Try binging in your line 6 or triaxis to the basics session. It helps to lighten up the mood. I got my best "distorted" tones ever from a 63 Vox Ac30 and a 95 Matchless dc-30. Clean channel, cranked. Now thats distortion. The sparle drive is not the same overdrive as a fully cranked amp, but it gives you good distortion at lower volumes.

As far as live is concerned. Again, its all about a good amp and a good ear. Every live situation is different. You won't know an original ts808 from a sparkle drive from your ass live, and anyone who says he does, needs to try playing live. The best rigs are simple. Guitar, amp, a good overdrive and effects sparingly. Raw cuts through the best. People who use tons of crap that muddy the dynamics need to see what "the pros" are doing. You'd be surprised.

I know I haven't talked much about the sparkle drive. I like it. I'm using it on an indefinate trial basis. If it suits my needs, it will be in my rig until it doesn't. I read all these reviews and many others, as well as talked to people who have used it. I'm happy I bought it.

I hope I can depend on it. Things aren't made like they used to be. If you want one that is, original ts808's are going for $500+ on ebay right now.
If I have issues, I'll give Voodoo labs a chance to right it and update my review here.

Irrelavant, but I've heard good things.

I think if you've read this far, you know where I'm coming from. Try stuff out. It may or may not be for you. Remember that simplifying is the key. Start with a good amp and guitar. If you are happy there then start adding stuff. If you aren't happy, nothing is going to help it, like many say.
Try thinking about dynamics, clarity, and musicality. If you aren't sounding good clean, practice.

If you buy it, submit a review. I've found some of these to be helpful. You can tell who are the honest submitters.( I think the guy from New Zealand is hallarious!)

If you are playing solid state amps, or using digital modeler anything, this pedal isn't for you.

Straight foward to use. Anybody 6 years old or above could use this.

With a reissue Fender deluxe reverb and an older Les Paul Classic, it gets a great overdriven tone. I mainly use tube screamers (TS10's). The Sparkle Drive can give a little more breakup and distortion. I don't think it has quiet as much midrange punch, but it comes very close. Overall in a band situation, I don't think you could hear the difference. Its that close. Crank up the volume to the 2 o'clock position and set the gain at about 11 o'clock, tone at 10 o'clock and clean at 9 o'clock. It sounds great with the Deluxe Reverb and Les Paul.

I don't see how anything could go wrong with the Sparkle Drive. Solid metal housing and heavy duty switch. I really like TS10 tube screamers but they are not very solid. I've had to resoilder the input,output and 9V battery jacks a dozen times. The Sparkle Drive is pretty much a TS10 but built to last.

Never had to deal with.

I play anything from southern rock, classic rock, country and blues and this pedal does them all very nicely. I've been playing for 26 years and half that on the road. I wish I had bought one of these before I did. For the price, if it were stolen, I would definitely buy another one. Just remember when you buy a pedal, alot of the tone and sound comes from the amp and guitar, but most of all the one playing it.No pedal will do miracles.

4 knobs to do so little is a bit of overkill

Absoute crap. I read everything I could about this pedal before having it shipped to me in New zealand and found it has lived up to none of it's expectations. Tone control is piss poor and the overdrive effect is mush. I now seriously question the authenticity of "rave" reviews at sites such as these.
I tested it through a Marshall 50 watt tube combo with a Rickenbacker 330 and a Gibson 335.

I'll never use it enough to find out how long it lasts

The only good thing about this was how quickly they shipped it out to me in New Zealand. If I built crap like this I'd want it out the door as quick as possible too.

I've been playing for 25 years and have tried loads of these pedals and this rates as one of the worst. Do not buy this pedal. Get either a Tube Screamer of hunt down a Hot Cake (hand made overdrive pedals that beats them all-hands down) from New Zealand

There are Four Controls which make it a little more challenging than your average Overdrive pedal, especially since it allows you to mix in a clean signal. Overall though, you can get the hang of it in about 15 minutes, but sometimes you may be tempted to back off of the tone control or add with the tone control without simply adjusting your clean level to add dullness or brightness.

This was a good idea for an overdrive, unfortunately it didn't quite give me the results I was looking for. I a/b 'd this against my current re-issue Ibanez TS-9 (un-modded) and the TS9 won out. The Sparkle drive definitely has the TS9 vibe in the distortion end. I could almost clone the sound of the TS9 with the Dparkle Drive, but the Sparkle Drive has some added headroom in the highend whereas the TS9 is very midrangey and throaty. If you need a little more high end, this may be the pdal for you- I use a Danelectro U3>Maxon CP101 Compressor>TS9>Boss NS-2 Noise Supressor>Fender Princeton Chorus>Voodoo Lab Tremolo and Akai Headrush in effects loop. I have the sparkling high end covered and I am looking to my overdrive to add fullness to the rig. One reviewer mentioned that the OD sounded "fizzy" on this pedal, well, overll it sounds very good-but yes the top end sounds "fizzy" to me as well. I wanted to like this pedal more- I LOVE the Voodoo Lab tremolo, it sounds like part of the amp! But I'm sending this one back and trying a modded TS9 (I recently sent back the much hyped Maxon OD808 as well) I still haven't quite got the Overdrive I want, but my TS9 reissue is still beating more expensive pedals in my (very clean solid state) rig.
If you are using tubes or humbuckers, maybe the tonal response would work better. I like my solid state rig, although it could use a little tube-like warmth, the TS-9 has done it best so far.

I like the way Voodoo Labs constructs their gear. Good warranty, made by hand in USA. Good, true bypass switches, nice cases. I trust it.

Never dealt with except one email-they were lightning fast with a response so I'll give it a 10.

Overall, this is a decent pedal-the blending of a clean signal was a good idea, it just didn't compliment my rig the way I wanted it to. 13 years on club circut, owned a bunch of stuff-I sent this back. i'm going to check out a Keeley moded TS9 or maybe go back to a Real Tube (had one once-sounded great, just a little heavy I remember...) Voodoo Lab makes great stuff and their tremolo is awesome (4 knob version) so try this out next to your OD, it mey be just what you need.

Simple. Tone control only effects gain though. Probably a good thing
since the clean boost is so transparent.

I run a variety of guitars into a Line6 DL4>Sparkle Drive and into
either a Fender 4x10 Hot Rod DeVille or a Mesa 1x10 Suway Blues driving a 2x12 close-backed cab. The "DRIVE" channel of the Fender is
pretty nice, but a little loud if you want to balance it with the superb clean channel of the 4x10. The Sparkle delivers a wide range of
great overdrive tones which can be matched with the excellent lower-
volume range of the clean channel. The Mesa Subway Blues 1x10 and cab
is a great combo, but the dual EL84 single channel amp prefers certain
sweet spots on the volume dial which don't always cut through a noisy
band. Now I can dial-in the sweetest low-gain tones for either my single coil or humbucker guitars than simply boost the clean signal until the amp lights-up. Sweet. Never buried again and the signal, clean or gained, is more than enough to make any good valve amp start to sweat. Now I can take my "little" rig to play out and cut-through
easily with room to spare in most situations.

No problems so far. Voodoo has a pretty good rep when it comes to build quality, reliability and service.

Never had any experience with Customer Support

This is an incredible buy for 119.00. I play Surf/Blues/Roots music and enjoy clean tube tones, juicy reverb and twangy echo. The Sparkle
rules when it comes to articulate, lower-gain overdrive and is a godsend for those who have a great little tube amp but need a potent
clean boost to kick it up a notch. BAM!

Very easy and intuitive knobs. A short manual is included.

Awesome. I brought my fulltone dp-1 into a store to compare to the sparkle drive because I wanted to hear if I could get my dp-1 to mimic a smooth overdrive. When testing the two I found my dp-1 to sound harsh and choppy and within 2 minutes I knew this pedal was what I wanted. It gave a smooth overdrive with the ability to blend in a clean sound, it doesn't sound like two amps but it sounds very good. I can get clapton(the man) to hendrix (god) to srv (demi-god). Actually, it doesn't sound like any of them, but it sounds damn good. I can't hear any annoying amount of noise from it either.

I don't know yet, but it seems as sturdy as any other good pedal.

Man, what a pedal. It's not as versatile as the dp-1, but it sounds so much better. I traded the dp-1 straight for it and lost 100.00 in the process. I wish I hadn't bought into the hype surrounding the dp-1 , but this pedal makes up for it. I run my clapton strat into this into my 71 deluxe. I'm a very happy man, dialing in the clean with the overdrive is sweet but the overdrive alone is worth the money.

Extremely easy to use. It has 4 knobs - Gain, Tone, Clean and Volume.

I use an Ibanez (like a Gibson 335) and a Washburn Nuno through a Peavey Delta Blues amp. The amp's clean is excellent, but the overdrive is pretty bad, so I needed an overdrive pedal. The only noise I get from the Sparkle Drive is when I turn everything up, which I really never do. I listen to Jeff Golub, Chuck Loeb, Larry Carlton , Terry Haggerty, James Vincent, and a variety of others, from jazz to blues to rock. I love a nice crisp, clean sound, as well as overdrive and sustain. The Sparkle Drive is perfect. It does exactly what I was looking for. I had tried the Boss BD2, Ibanez TS9, Marshall BB2, Mesa Bottle Rocket, and others. But this one nails what I hear in my head. If you're looking for very clean and crisp, but also want a nice crunch or smooth sustain, this is your pedal.
All other pedals made my sound muddy or were not very versatile. This one does it all. And it's true bypass.

I haven't had it that long to know if it will last forever, but it seems to be built very well.

Haven't had to deal with them...and I hope I never will.

I play light jazz and blues mainly. This pedal, I would think, would be great not only for the music I play but for rock too. I first picked up the guitar 37 years ago. If the Sparkle Drive were lost or stolen, I would definitely would want another. I haven't found anything near as good in this price range...or even a little more expensive. I love the tone. It's all about tone, and this has it! The clean has a nice bite, and the overdrive is smooth.

Simple layout, 4 knob control just like other Voodoo Labs Pedals. Gain, Tone, Clean Blend and Level.

I use various guitars, PRS, Ernie Ball, Tele's and Godin's. Planet Waves cables, Fender Tube Reverb unit, Phase 90, Various SansAmp products, Soldano HR50XL head and a Marshall 212 cab with Green Backs. I got this pedal to use on the lo-gain input of the Soldano, I like that input cause it gives me more of an old Marshall Tone I also have a reissue TS9, the Sparkle Drive comes thru cleaner and clearer with more presence and cut than the TS9. Nice and quiet with its hard by-pass. I run it with the power supply .It adds a nice crunch, I don't go for the heavy saturated lead tones, although I have them on tap with the lead channel of the Soldano. Each guitar comes thru with it's own character clearly. I set it from clean boost, to a dirty crunch. The best feature is the clean boost , I can blend the clean guitar signal into the drive which again helps the character of each guitar come thru.

I took it apart and its clean and tough. I dont mind the battery access cause I use an adaptor anyway. Im a big guy so I need to make sure when I stomp down on something it is going to survive. Having looked inside, I know it will survive a pounding, I treat my gear with respect and with care. It will last.

I bought it from Long & McQuade Scarborough Ontario. I also deal with Digital Music Corp on a regular basis. They are great to deal with. John A has been a great help. I know they woulden't leave anyone high and dry when it comes to their products. Im planning on adding more of their effects to the lineup. I wish they had a Phaser ( to replace my MXRthe Microvibe and Chorus pedals dont do it for me) and an analog delay like a good MemoryMan.

I play blues and rock. It fits perfectly. I would buy another if it ever went missing. I compared it to a TS9 reissue, several Boss pedals, Marshall and various other boutique items. Cost, sound and build quality all make it a winner. Its a single effect pedal so it gets a 8 .

Four control knobs, vol, gain, tone, and clean and true bypass. The clean control obviously is what blends in the boosted clean signal. The gain, and tone controls do not effect the clean boost, which is how you want it to be.

This pedal deserves the ten mark here. A chameleon it is. There are numerous sounds to be had with this pedal. Many different shades of overdrive, edgey clean, and even a bit of crunch using the tone and gain controls. However the magic really is with the clean boost. Have all the overdrive you want, and add in just the right amount of clean boost, well...you can hear everynote in the cord with just as much gain as you would ever use. My setup is Les Paul, TX Spc Fat Strat, into Vox wah, Sparkle Drive, VL SuperFuzz, straight to a Peavey Classic 30 1x12 w/1x12 ext. The Sparkle drive does great things when used infront of my Superfuzz as well. I have honestly never used an original 808 unit before, but they say this is basically the same guts with more tonal range and the clean boost added. Who knows if it is, I do know this pedal smokes like popeye.
This pedal with its array of incredible usable sounds, is suited for everything from, blues, jazz, funk, to rock, also a nice feature is to use it as just a solo boost with the gain at 0 and the boost turned up as needed. Remember the gain and tone controls do not effedt the clean.

Reliable? Do you take care of your the things you own? The unit is built as tough as they come, as strong as any Boss pedal or better. Metal casing, heavy plastic knobs, switches seem durable. The knobs are not to big, and shouldnt get in the way much to be kicked. With a five year warranty, you cant go wrong.

Have'nt had to call.

Like I said, an array of sound to be had with this pedal. I'm into playing blues, classic/hard rock, Hendrix, Stones, Aerosmith, STP, Alice n' Chains, Allman Bros.,Clapton ,Zepplin ,Nirvana etc. Great for this music and more. Again, never played a real 808, but this is what I have been looking for. The price and the warranty combined with outstanding sound makes it a winner. Two of thes would be really cool, using one for clean boost only.

Im not kidding. I got my "grail" tone in 20 secs. This pedal is absoulutely amazing. I could kick myself for not getting it sooner

Great! It was just what I was not looking for at all..but I found it anyway. I went to the voodoo site and listened to it, and it hit me: this is "THE" pedal. I love it...can you tell. I set the gain at 9, tone @ 12, clean @ 1-2, vol @ 12. I think it is every bit as good as my Fulltone Fulldrive, and at $120 you cant go wrong. This thing is sonic butter

ehh...It is good as long as youre gentle (just dont beat it to a pulp)

I highly recommend this pedal. I got it here in town at guitar heaven. I got 3 overdrives: FD2-SPARKLEDRIVE-voodoo overdrive. This is my favorite. It makes my strat and PRS sing.

Fairly straight forward Drive Tone Clean and Volume. Nothing to get lost on. Getting a good sound is another matter. No manual with the one I have. I'm not aware of any upgrades.

Very much a let fown. I had heard all the hype and, in theory it sounded good. The 'ol blend of a clean sound with dirty to get that SRV "Little Wing" thang, yadda yadda... Having had several nice Tubescreamers of various vintages including a TS-808, and having several BF Fender amps and a decent Strat or two I can say with assuredness, the Sparkle Drive aint no Tubescreamer. More like cheesy fuzzy buzzzy noise. IMHO there is nothing "sparkly" about this unit. Then again, I generally think of amps when I think of sparkle. Good BF or Tweed Fender or Groove Tubes Soul-O comes to mind to name a couple. The unit is reasonably noise free, but I can't help it, it's also "tone free" as well. In fairness I suppose the buzzy tone it renders could be good for something, though nothing I can imagine for my own use. I wouldn't use it for a good blues tone or a good rock tone. Maybe something experimental? I tried it with my BF Deluxe Reverb and Super Reverb with equally dismal result. I have a Marshall Super Lead, but after the Fender run I just didn't have the heart to continue. Maybe I missed something huh?

Very well made. Nice compact package, good layout, though the knobs are fairly close to one another. It seems dependable enough.

No opinion. Never dealt with them. Because I tried another Sparkle Drive other than my own I knew I didn't have a dud. So, I never bothered to call them. Any mfr can rationalize why a particular person doesn't care for their products. I fully understand that others may greatly appreciate the same tone I find to be lousy.

I play mainly Blues, Rock, and Jazz/Blues. Been playing for 25 years, and presently have a '59 Tweed, '65 BF Deluxe Reverb, '66 Super Reverb, '70 Marshall Super lead, '74 Boogie MK I, a nice Les Paul and Strat and a pack of pedals. Honestly, I don't know what I would compare with the Sparkle Drive. I can only describe it as a somewhat compressed fuzz with no real definition like one might expect from a Tubescreamer or comparable OD pedal.

Knobs are self explanatory & most settings are useful.

I have 3 strats all rosewood necks, a '62 reissue japanese fender with no alterations(a quality guitar), a Squier silver series with Texas specials and a mexican with '54 reissue pickups, so it's important to me to retain their excellent clarity of tone. I use a Fender Blues DeVille 4x10 for gigs and an SJB Ant 1x12 with valve reverb,(an excellent 19W all valve british made amp). The only digital effects I use are reverb/delay and lezlie type effects which I find are acceptable for my needs, I use an Alesis Midiverb 4 for this. Setup is Strat>Colorsound wah>Crybaby wah copy>Boss CS-3 Compressor>Home made TS9(Lo drive setting)>Home made TS9(Higher drive setting)>Midiverb4>Amp. (the midiverb is used in front of the Ant and in the effects loop of the DeVille.) All effects are true bypass except for the Boss and Midiverb. I have used the Sparkle drive to replace the 1st TS9 and that's now my backup. I use combinations of the 2 drive pedals and volume on the guitar to vary the mount of drive. Yes I do play SRV stuff, but I play lots of different styles besides, such as Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top, Robben Ford, Buddy Guy, Offspring, AC/DC, so it ranges from jazzy clean to electric blues to hard rock/punky type stuff, quite a mixed bag really.
The Sparkle drive is very quiet in operation on it's own, but obviously adds a little hiss when used along with other pedals because they have noise of their own so this is expected anyway. Excellent quality overdrive and the clean control is a masterstroke as other users have said. It sounds great with my kit with one reservation, it sounds far better used with the normal channel of my amps as opposed to the bright channel because it sound a bit thin used like that. This is no problem for me, because I use this channel anyway, I find the tone is far better for me. The pedal is a true bypass regardless of what previous doubters have said. The way you can test this is to remove the battery and plug in guitar & amp with it in bypass. If you still get a straight through sound, it's a true bypass, and it does do this. Unpowered electronics will not pass uncoloured signal if any at all, and this does! I have a considerable amount of experience building my own effects and have built Ts9s, fuzzfaces etc all with true bypass features to retain the original guitar tone when bypassed,(I hate fet/electronic switching because it artificially brightens or boosts the sound level, but sometimes you have to put up with it if you have no alternative. I'm referring to the Midiverb of course, which is not too bad I suppose!) so I do know what I'm talking about regarding the points about true bypass. I don't know how they got the LED to work and have true bypass with a DPDT switch, but they have.

The quality of this product is excellent. The individual who criticised the build quality of this pedal must have a problem with spotting genuine quality when he sees it. The comments he made actually contradicted themselves. Yes, the footswitch is PCB mounted, but its also screwed firmly to the box which supports the PCB rather that stressing it. The box is a sturdy metal one, so that's no problem then. The comment about the LED is a puzzle too, board mounted LEDs are far more reliable than flying leads, in fact the more leads you have floating around the more likely it is that one will come off, I have had this happen in one of the pedals that I made, so as far as possible I minimise flying leads. The comment about the connectors is in the same category, you can easily get replacement PCB mount 1/4" jack sockets, and these support the front of the PCB too so I don't understand the concern here. The PCB itself is a quality Fibreglass type board, unlike the crappy, brittle SRBP boards you find in most of the other effects I've looked inside, so this persons critical comments are not really valid. I work in the electronics industry and I know quality components when I see them, and I see them in this pedal. Incidentally I have nothing to do with the company or UK distributors, I used these reviews to decide on whether to buy the product or not, so I have no axe to grind(if you'll pardon the pun)! It's not my intention to criticise the person who sent in the review in question, but his views did aggravate me, because they could mislead people who didn't know any better.
I haven't had it very long, but having seen inside it I would gig this without a backup if I didn't have one.

I haven't needed to contact them so I can't comment here

I have been playing about 15 years and I have been apalled at the cruddy quality of some devices I've seen and I have returned some in disgust before now. It's fantastic to see that there are still companies out there who still care about quality and can do a quality product at a reasonable price. If I lost it etc. I would buy again at the drop of a hat and I will be recommending it to my musician friends into the bargain! Keep it up Voodoo Labs, I'll be checking out some of your other products before long. A comment my wife passed made me chuckle(she's the bass player in our band), She said that the Sparkle Drive looked like something that I would put together, which I thought was an interesting observation, but actually quite accurate I suppose. Although the Sparkle Drive was definitely nicer looking than anything I've put together, limited resources doncha know!

Simple. Like most overdrive units out there.

I have an array of guitars I use but my favorite is the American Deluxe Fat Strat. I use an Ampeg SuperJet(2x6L6 tubes, 2x12AX7 tubes)which is a great amp by the way. It doesn't have an overdrive channel so I use a couple different overdrives. I have two seperate effects chains. The first(in order) Boss BD-2..TS9 Turbo Reissue..Cry Baby Wah..Guyatone Chorus..and a H&K Replex. The other is a Boss CS-3..Sparkle Drive..Line 6 DL-4 and a Boss EQ. I use the first effects chain for most of my lead work. The tone out I get from the TS9 and BD-2 together is just outstanding. I never bypass the replex so it's always on reverb or delay. When I picked up the Sparkle Drive it didn't necessarily blow me away but it is a good pedal. The clean boost is nice. Definatly doesn't sound like two amps, but it does add clarity if used correctly. For me I use it when creating loops on my Line 6 Delay Modeler because it can be set to have that bluesy edge without loosing clarity in chord progressions. I also use it for a lot of riffs when I'm playing with my band. To be honest, I'm an effects junky. I love to try them out and use different ones for a time. But the only one I've ever fallen in love with is the Replex. Running that TS9 though it is the most beautiful thing you'll ever here. I'm into SRV, Dave matthews band, and phish to name a few. I take my influence from almost any music just too stay sharp. And I would say that The Sparkle Drive is very very versitile. Especially if you learn the clean control's function and use it to your advantage.

I have read some junky reviews on this things reliability. I haven't had any problems yet so I'll say it's alright. Feels sturdy.

N/A

I'd say this one is good to buy if you have another overdrive pedal. I wouldn't use it as your only tone source. But some may disagree. Anyhow, if you're into smooth overdrive and you like to hear everynote in those big chords than you'll love this pedal. If you want one that you can use to scream out metallica riffs you won't find it very useful. Try setting it with the gain all the way up, the clean set pointing at the LED(a little less than 50%) and the volume at 12:00(I'm running to a small tube amp through a clean channel). See what you think.

Pedal is very easy to use, four knobs, everything is self explanatory. Easy to tweak on the fly, this unit really does not make a bad sound.

I have five guitars, they are as follows: Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean, Fender Custom Shop Strat, Limited Edition Hot Rodded American Series Strat, Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Strat, and a Jackson DK-2 Dinky. I use this pedal only with my strats for a nice bluesy sound. I play through a Blues Jr., a Deluxe Reverb, and a Hot Rod Deville 212, and use the sparkle drive with my Boss Delay Reverb Pedal for some ambience. I have owned several tube screamer type overdrives, and this one is my favorite hands down. The tone is there, it does not make a bad sound. This pedal features a knob that enables you to blend in clean sound over your overdriven sound. This feature is just awesome, you can get anything from a nice smooth saturated blues overdrive, to a clean sound thats just a little hairy around the edges for some bite. The tone control on this pedal is very well balanced, it responds well to tweaking. Great for anything Blues, SRV, Clapton, etc. Pedal does not have a lot of gain, so if you want something really crunchy and in your face, look elsewhere. If you want tone and a great smooth bluesy overdrive, then this is your pedal. This unit uses the same Op amp chip as the ts-808 tubescreamer, like I said earlier, the tone is there!! Best of all, at $119, its no more expensive than all of the other tubescreamer clones on the market, and its HAND MADE IN THE USA!!! Gotta love it!!

This thing has a 5 year warranty like Boss pedals have, and is built like a tank. I expect no problems.

If your after the tube screamer type sound and your tired of everything else on the market, try this thing out, its the best tubescreamer type pedal I have ever heard. Pedal makes a nice variety of blues type sounds, and works great with some nice tube amps and some strats. This unit HELPS ME TO MAKE MUSIC!! GO TRY ONE OUT!!

The Sparkle Drive is very is to use it has 4 knobs Drive,Tone,Clean and Volume.
But I wish Voodoo Lab would make batttery acsess a little easier.

I use a Fender Strat(Noiseless pickups and Boost) through a MXR Dynocomp and the Sparkle Drive through in to either a old Musicman Valve combo,Fender Blues Jr,cheap Yamaha amp or a Boss stage monitor.
You can get a really clean bluesy overdrive with that bottom end crunch.
You can also get those SRV tones.

It seems to be very reliable the knobs are sturdy and the metal casing is tough but I still wished there was easier battery acsess on it.

The customer support sucked on the net I tried getting info off them by sending a E-Mail but they still hav'nt given me a reply.

This is a Voodoo Sparkle Drive bought new a couple of months ago. Fairly easy to get a good sound, although you should have a good idea of what you're in for here... Not a high gain pedal, but one that gives you a moderate buzz ala Walter Becker or John Jennings (Mary Chapin Carpenter's lead guitarist). If you're looking for the big buzz, forget it. Nothing complicated about the pedal, and I'll defer to previous reviewers as far as the features.

I use a disgusting array of guitars, Reverend, Strats, and an old PRS Standard, into a bewildering array of amps (Mesa Mark III, Rivera Jake, and Budda SD 30). So far not nearly as noisy as my previous favorite, the Morley JD10; in fact, this is close to dead quiet. I can now nail lower gain lead sounds like the above mentioned players, along with that infamous SRV stuff, if I needed to.

I'd depend on it, although I can function freely without it if need be. I use it with no backup all the time.

Never had to consult with them...

I don't know much about the old TS808 sound that people crap themselves over; they say it's in this box, with a clean undertone. Whatever. I never really GOT that boutique thing anyway. But this is a great sounding, low gain overdrive that gives you a great tone without much onboard volume knob twiddling, or sweet-spot-locating on your Boss or DOD or Rat distortion box. Tailor made for jazz rock, modern country, or blues players. I REALLY like the clean control, which lets you open up your distortion and lose the boxiness that you get with most overdrive units. This also functions as a pretty decent clean boost for solos, and adds some nice saturation on an amp's distorted channel.

Easy

The Sparkle Drive plugs into a THD Univalve, great overdriven sound. No noise. Sounds like me. Here's a tip, plug this into a Creamy Dreamer, crunchy sustain for days with fantastic definition and no noise!.

Switch got flaky, sent to Voodoo Lab. Sent back to me via UPS at light speed. If only all companies were this way.

See above

Play all styles, have been playing over 20 years. It's a good pedal that is more versatile than a Tubescreamer, but costs around the same. Essential pedal for lots of styles. Would buy again.

This thing is easy to use. It has 4 knobs. Gain, Tone, Clean, and Volume. Doesn't get any easier than this. They are pretty self explanitory, so I won't go into detail.

I am using this with a Fender Strat, a Jackson w/ humbuckers, a solid state Crate, and a small tube amp. It has a little noise with the Strat, but that is expected with single coils. I love the sound this thing puts out. I have not been fortunate enough to use an "808", so I cannot tell if it truly sounds like one. That is Voodoo Lab's disclaimer. The Clean control adds a nice punch to the overall sound. Turn it up too high and the overdrive disappears. Mix it in a little and you get a clean distortion of sorts. It has very good note definition. If you are looking for a metal distortion, go somewhere else. This is great for blues and rock. It sounds sweet with a little chorus. Just get one and see for yourself. Using it as a clean boost is great too. It has enough oomph to overdrive my tube amp. The only thing that would be great is if the Tone control worked on the Clean too. It only works on the Gain. Maybe next time. I have to give it a 9 because there is no perfect pedal.

This thing is rock solid. Built to last. No need for a backup.

N/A

I play mostly in the blues and rock genre with a little funk and jazz mixed in. I would recommend to anyone who is looking for a versatile overdrive pedal to go and buy one. I would definately buy another one under any circumstance. I forgot to mention that it is true bypass. All in all, it is a great pedal for $109.

Since others have submitted complete reviews I will just get to the meat.
First of all, beware that if you see any reviews that tout 100% satisfaction it's probably been submitted by the manufacturer, or someone close. I have had problems and because of these, it is difficult to troubleshoot and use.

I have tried this with mostly tube amps, and I can say it does do OK when it works.
When the unit is off, the signal drops out and I have to nudge it on the floor to get the signal back. So something that sounds like an 8 is really a 1 when it constantly gos intermittent.
I've tried other cords, so I decided to open it and have a look. Let me tell you what I found.

On examination of the unit I found the footswitch to be board mounted, all of the pots are soldered to another board and flex wired to the main board. The connectors are also soldered to the main board, and they are the crummy PC mout style. You can't service these. If your plug is not hitting the contacts right, them it will drop out signal. Even the LED is soldered to the board.

They seem to be responsive since I have heard this from other reviewers, but why should I have to servive a unit I paid 100+ for?
I think many of these manufacturers need to wake up and realize that mass manufacturing techniques applied to overpriced effects pedals is not a good way to insure their future. Of course there will always be the new unsuspecting customer that they thrive off of.

If I sound harsh, it's because I think they deserve it. If they intend to apply mass manufacturing techniques, they should do failure analysis or something before pushing it off on the consumer. They way after 1000 hr of analysis, they would find what I found in 5 minutes.

I don't think I'll buy from them again.

I have to say, at first I didn't like this pedal and was considering sending it back, but after some tweaking I came to like this pedal. I think that this is due to the fact that I am a very impatient person, I just expected it to sound good right away.
The clean boost works really well with tube amps.

I mainly use this pedal with 2 different amps, a 50 watt Marshall 2x12 combo, and a Carvin X60B 1/2 stack.
For guitars, I use a Strat, a Gibson SG, and a couple of old '80s Kramers, and it sounds great with all of them.
It is not a high gain distortion pedal at all, but it's a nice overdrive pedal. With my strat, I can pretty much nail Stevie Ray Vaughans sound (but not his technique).

As far as I can see, it's built pretty well, I have only had it a couple of weeks, so who knows.

Never dealt with Voodoolabs.....

I play blues and hard rock, and this pedal suits these styles pretty well, although I do have other pedals on my board.
I have to agree with the others who say the knobs are too close together, but it's not a big problem.
I compared it to the Ibanez TS9 tube screamer and I think it is a much better pedal.

Bog standard operation, can you turn knobs?, then you can use this pedal. It gets only 9 'cos the knobs are too close together

I run Peavey Wolfgangs into a recently purchased Heartbreaker Combo. Set-up as follows: Guitar>Akai Vari-wah>Sparkle drive>MXR Phase 100>Boss LS2>Boss Pedal tuner>Boss CE2>Boss BF2>BossDD3>Boss NS2>Amp.
I brought the Sparkle drive to beef up Heavy sounds on the amp but without changing the Amps superb tone. Suffice to say, it does this and then some.This is surely one of the most organic sounding OD units out there, it will not colour your sound but it will enhance it.Do not buy pedals to make you sound like other players as they will not. Use your imagination and try to sound like YOU!

At one hundred english pounds it had better be reliable, but based on Voodoo Labs rep, I would be suprised to have any Problems

Never dealt with them

I play in a Rock/Blues Covers band, and we try to to put our own slant on songs rather than reproduce them exactly. I have been playing for 20 years and have a great many influences but I have always tried to sound like ME!.I believe that this pedal is one of the best ever, but decry people talking about the SRV Tone, by all means try one and buy one but please do not think it will make you sound like any of the well known TS9 users 'cos it will not.Be happy,be intuitive and BE YOURSELF, that is how great music is made.

It's an easy pedal to figure out, and the one-sheet instructions explain it all; the gain only affects the OD amp, etc. Once I got the concept down in my head, the controls made perfect sense. Other reviews go over the control functions so I won't bother. I do agree that the small knobs are a bit unwieldy, but only compared to other Voodoo Labs pedals--definitely less so than a Boss or Ibanez pedal

My setup:
Guitars: G&L ASAT Z3, EB/MM hardtail Silhouette w/HSS EMGs, old Steinberger GL w/HH and TransTrem.
Amp: I've ditched them all except for my 1X12 Boogie Mark I reissue combo.

The Sparkle Drive is very quiet in operation and in bypass. While I agree with another reviewer that this effect cannot be "true" bypass, it is a pristine bypass and shouldn't be overlooked on this technicality.

The overdrive effect is excellent. I don't worship at the temple of Tubescreamer, so I can't compare. I would describe the overdrive tone as ranging from "a little dirty" to "hot." Yes, there are no metal tones, but I know enough from reading about Tubescreamers that when a pedal advertises its sound to be similar to a TS, I should not expect metal tones.

Here's my take on the clean control: I am a one-amp player, but I played for over a decade in a band where the other guitarist always went stereo. He could have one amp running with low gain and another with high gain; the sonic characteristics of his guitar and his picking came through. THIS is what the Sparkle Drive does for me--it gives me one of the benefits of playing with two amps while only using one.

After searching for my perfect tone for many years, I've finally settled on a formula: I set the Mark I on "Tweed" and keep it clean so I have instant access to a clean tone (It is not a channel-switching amp, but none that are have come close to matching the Mark I's tone). I got out from my guitar into a Teese RMC-1, a vintage Dyna Comp modded with a 3PDT, a Tech 21 XXL (for more extreme distortion tones), the Sparkle Drive, a Voodoo Labs Micro Vibe and an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal. Power is from a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power. Depending on the song I'm playing, I'll tweak the Sparkle Drive to either use it to dirty up my sound (say, for a rock song with arpeggios), give me a bluesy distortion, or to boost the XXL.

The Sparkle Drive matches up best with single coils in any position. The "twang" of my Z3 can be preserved and give me a great country sound with just a little bit of dirt.

I also use a Boss VF-1 for headphone practice and the Sparkle Drive works great in this capacity as well.

I must stress again that this is not an all-in-one pedal--the amount and type of distortion is not suitable for styles where a Wes Borland or Kirk Hammett type of sound is required.

I've owned a bunch of Voodoo Labs gear (Pedal Power, Proctavia, Micro Vibe, Sparkle Drive) and have played with others who have owned Voodoo gear, including the Ground Control system. Neither they nor I have ever had any problems. My only beef is that the battery isn't held securely enough in the housing, but since I don't use batteries, it's not going to be an issue for me.

Voodoo pedals seem designed for players who mount their effects on a pedal board. There are no rubber feet, just a sheet of thin rubber stuck on the bottom. I DO use a board, so I just take of the rubber and put on the Velcro. If I were just putting this pedal on the floor, I don't think the rubber would last long.

I have dealt with Voodoo Labs via e-mail and they were very responsive and polite. I bought this and all my other Voodoo Labs gear through musictoyz and that guy has been great, too.

I play many styles of music, including punk, metal, country, lounge, pop, disco, and polka. The Sparkle Drive is already proving to be the most valuable effect in my arsenal, whether as a solo boost in a metal song or to give a pop song just a little bit of edge.

I've been playing for around 21 years and have owned an embarassing amount of gear, including solid state, digital, and tube amps and effects.

If some bastard stole this or if I was stupid enough to loose it, I would buy another in a heartbeat--this one is a keeper for sure!

This is without a doubt one of the most musical guitar effects I have ever played. I would love to see a future version with high-gain distortion--I'd use both!

Front-mounted jacks and LED definitely a plus. Four-knob operation; only drawback for me was that once I got the knobs where I wanted them, it was too easy to bump one out of position while tweaking its neighboring knob. Minor issue...

First of all, those of you with solid-state amps: this will work! I demo'd this on my Roland JC-77 and was pleased. I wasn't looking to overdrive my preamp here; not a good idea on solid-state. The clean boost is transparent, with plenty of gain, but what I was looking for was the "in-between" distortion sounds. I like the Larry Carlton/Robben Ford/Mike Bloomfield tones. I don't have the need for clean boost; I use a volume pedal. However, if you want to slam the front end of a tube amp, it does it very well. I tried that on my Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket...Regarding the quality of the distortion: very smooth and round. You can make it edgier (and increase the sustain) by cranking up the tone knob. Sounded much less boxy than the lead mode on the Rocket. Very nice sound. The draw for me with this box was the ability to mix clean with dirt, and capture those elusive "in-between" sounds. It didn't do that to my satisfaction: just not enough sustain...

Beautifully made. All the others reviews give this a high rating. Will give it a nine based on reputation. Yes, would use it without a backup.

No experience here...

Been playing almost 40 years. (Anybody catch the Mike Bloomfield reference?) Played professionally for twenty. Enjoy all styles, but consider myself a rock/r&b player. Use a Zion strat with Seymour Duncans (lots of switching options) and an Ibanez 335-type, also with Seymour Duncans. I am addicted to the Roland's stereo chorus. Been using it since they came out, and have gone thru a number of distortion/od pedals looking for the right one. Had the original TubeScreamer and didn't realize it would become a collector's item. Good unit. Used a ProCo Rat for a long time. Still use a Scholtz Distortion Generator occasionally. Unit of choice has been the original Hughes & Kettner Tubeman. Haven't been able to improve on that so far. Bought the Subway Rocket off Ebay on a whim. Like it a lot, but that's another review. I didn't keep Sparkle Drive. Bought it from Musictoyz.com, just to try them (him, it's a one-man operation) out. No problems with the return. Just not enought sustain for me. Wanted to submit this review as way of saying thanks to all those that have contibuted; I have spent many hours reading the critiques of effects, guitars, and amps. It's nice to have a perspective other than the magazine reviews...

Fairly simple operation.....takes a little tweaking to get it just right for personal taste(as with any product)

Im using a les paul standard and a rivera knucklehead 100.The dirty rhythm channel resembles an old marshall kind of sound and in my opinion,this pedal works perfect with that.The biggest advantage of this pedal over the "tubescreamer"is the clean knob.It really delivers notes that are very "defined".

havent had it long enough to tell but it seems like its built well.

havent needed any yet....

I play heavy new alternative and classic rock.Fits nice for what I do.

It's a "no-brainer" to get a good sound out of the Sparkle Drive. You have gain, tone, clean, and volume controls to noodle with. Go for it! A simple one page instuction form came with it - but honestly, it wasn't necessary and if you NEED one...you shouldn't be playing.

I own at present: A maple-top, goldtop PRS Standard with Dragon II pickup's, Yamaha 904 (USA made) Pacifica with custom Seymour Duncan's,
Fender Roadhouse Strat with Texas Specials and a 1987 G&L ASAT Special. My amp is a 1999 65 Twin Reissue. With each guitar there's a sweet spot for sue, but my joy is I got what I was looking for - a pedal that kicks out blues tones with clarity and tone. I'm not after my favorite artist's sounds, but my own. However, this pedal gives you the best SRV clone job out there in an instant. My number one goal was to has a fat clean tone with just an edge of OD. You can get high gain if you want it too. High marks for not sounding as "transitorized" as a Tube Screamer does.

Very rugged case and switch. I'm not worried about it breaking.

Haven't had a reason to call yet.

I play all styles and I get all the OD sound I need for jazz, blues and country styles. If I want super crunch and metal I'll use my SansAmp box. I've been playing for 36 years. I definitely want another one if this one disappears. One way they could improve on it is to have a seperate stomp button to kick in the clean boost. I'm so glad I waited out the 7 weeks it was on back order.

Just like any other OD (gain, tone, volume) except it has the clean "blend" control, which is the whole reason for this pedal's existence. Dialing in the right amount of clean can take a little tweaking, but once set, I think it works for varied levels of gain.

WOW! This thing should have been invented a long time ago. The blend control makes this thing the most useful OD pedal, IMO. I am using it with a strat and tele with a twin reverb (JBLs) and a princeton reverb. The twin is far too loud to get dirty tone at a reasonable volume. The sparkle drive allows you to get some smooth overdrive without losing the attack, snap, and feel of the guitar you're playing.

All other ODs I've tried color the guitar sound too much and give an unnatural muffled sound to the string attack. The clean control lets you add in a bit (or a lot) of uncolored guitar tone to restore bottom end and string feel. If you dime the blend, the pedal becomes a fully transparent clean boost. Plus, it is true bypass, if that matters to you. Why spend $300 for a Klon when this does the same and much more? I hate to give a 10, but its about GD time somebody made something like this!

Brand new, but looks to be built like a tank.

Never dealt with.

I play country, blues, and rock and roll with fender guitars and amps. This pedal is the holy grail for me. Never before have I purchased a new effect and knew instantly it was EXACTLY what I wanted- until now. If you want your amp to sound like it should at less than ear splitting levels, this pedal can do it, plus more. The versatility is amazing. It can be a tubescreamer, a clean boost, or anything in between. It sounds good through a cranked amp, or one turned down to 1- few ODs can do this. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

You must read the manual to get a feel for how the clean function interacts with the gain. It's not hard to learn though and it becomes very easy to get a great variety of useful sounds out of it.

Excellent tube screamer-like tones with the added versatility of a mixable clean boost. This pedal sounds incredibly close to an old TS-9 pedal when the clean knob is at minimum. Then you can dial in a clean tone which gradually reduces the mix of the gain tone the more you increase the knob. Very useful and I find myself running just a touch of the clean tone with the overdrive sound for a nice clarity of attack not found in other pedals.

Seems to work very well with single-coils or humbuckers, but singles are great because this is a moderate gain bluesy sounding pedal. This is not heavy gain though it has as much gain as my Fulltone overdrive.

No problems after two months of use. Seems to be built sturdily.

Have dealt with Voodoo Lab on other issues through the years and have always received fast answers from the staff.

I have many pedals and have been playing for many years in a professional context. To say this pedal is a fantastic value is a huge understatement. The Sparkle Drive is as good as some other things I own costing more than twice as much. I am very satisfied with this purchase and think the ability to mix a clean sound with a warm and articulate overdrive makes this a great choice for a blues and rock player. Country players will surely flip for this one too. I think is the best overdrive unit released in a long time.

Hey, This is a follow up review to my previous review. Now that I'm used to it, I don't even have any ease of use problems.

I've had it for roughly three months now, and haven't had to change the battery or nothing. Sounds really good as an overdrive. The setting that I use currently is Volume and Gain about 2:00, and Tone and Clean about 10:00. I find this gives me a great overdrive sound, with enough kick to start driving the tubes. I use a TS9 reisue (a friends) after this, with the gain down, volume up, and tone at 12:00. It just gives me a big ol boost for solos. Funny thing is, that since my amp is so low wattage (15 watts.), the amount of overdrive from the TS9 slamming the front end of the tubes, and the overdrive from the Sparkledrive is almost the same. When I turn 'em both on and solo, watch out!! Blues city. Makes even me sound good. And for $110, you can't beat it with a stick!

Three months, and still kicking. There was that incident with the first one though, so I'm hesitant to give it a good score. I don't gig at all, but I also don't play without a backup (TS9).

www.gtrheaven.com Great stuff! Free shipping on all orders over $100, and really good prices.

Overall, this thing gets a nine. If I had two, or they built two into one (one for overdrive, one for boost) It'd get a ten. This thing cooks pretty well. Another thing that bugs me (and I know that this is a tubescreamer, so it's not even supposed to do this at all, but) I can't get super-over-the-top Distortion out of this puppy. (What can I say? My first pedal was a Ibanezz TK999 Tube King. That thing was a beast!) Works great at what it's built for, though.

Really easy. Knobs for GAIN, TONE, CLEAN, and OUTPUT. If you have any experience with stompboxes, it's a cinch to experiment to find your tone.

Played through a Strat and Tele, the overdrive (OD) has a very nice Tubescreamer vibe to it.

The great thing is the blendable CLEAN control. VooDoo claims it's like playing through a clean amp and a distorted one at the same time, but it sounds more like the distortion is blended out and the clean tone comes through at the same time. The tonal character that you end up with is Tubescreamer + Clear Pick Articulation.

With both GAIN and CLEAN all the way up, you lose a LOT of the OD, but it's still a cool sound, lots of beef to it, but still clear. Turning down the CLEAN reveals TS character.

Remember: this unit is not for metal. No extreme sounds.

I use it for direct recording with a J-Station, and it nicely complements the Blackface model (which doesn't have much gain on its own).

I also use it in front of a Reverb Deluxe II, and it does just what it needs to. The unit really helps to keep pick attack strong when the amp is distorting.

The TONE control rolls off treble. The range is perfect. No mosquito sounds or "amp-under-a-blanket" junk.

In fact, it's hard to find a combination of any of the controls that is not valid for some conceivable tonal goal.

I rate it a 9 only because, of course, the perfect pedal is always the next one you're gonna buy. Right?

5 year warranty. Owned one month - no problems

n/a

Blues / Rock tones galore. 14 yrs exp. Would definitely buy again. CLEAN control very useful and takes this box out of the TSceamer clone catagory.

I feel inspired by this box. I'm playing new things. Box Good.

Well, this was the first pedal, that as I was playing it, I thought it deserved a ten. Every pedal I've used, the controls are very interactive, and it takes a little while to get used to. I was very suprised when I started using this effect. Sure the controls are interactive, but they all do EXACTLY what you think they should do! Gain, Tone, Clean, Volume. Gain controls amount of gain, tone functions like every tone knob on every overdrive effect I've used. Clean blends amount of clean, uncompressed, unaltered signal in with the gain signal. Volume adjust amount of volume when thepedal is engaged. Here's why it gets a nine: Last night when I used it in a live setting for the first time, I couldn't remember which setting I liked, and it took some tinkering to get it to sound right. The manual is one sheet of green paper, and would probably answer all of my questions if I had any, but I don't.

Well, first, let's start with setup: Currently: Custom American Std. Strat. (Fat Strat style.), or Ibanez Ghost Rider with Duncan '59's--> Voodoo Lab Sparkledrive--> 1965 Blackface Fender Princeton (Brimat NOS output tubes, Weber p10r speaker). If it sounds like I should have more stuff, it's because two months ago all of my stuff was stolen, including: Fulltone Fulldrive II, Fulltone Supa Trem, Vintage (73) Mutron II Phasor, Ernie Ball Mono Volume, Sabine Chromatic tuner, and Arion SAD-1 Stereo Delay (all analog delay: $35.), a ton a cables, strings, a power suply, a capo... All this stuf was in a backpack in the trunk of my car, parked in front of my house. ANYWAY!!!! I ordered this before I had all of my pedals stolen as a clean booster, because it is $50 less than a Fulltone Fat Boost, and almost $200 less than a Klon. Well that was two months ago. I just got this last Thursday, so I have to use it as an overdrive. Lets just go down the line: Boost mode (Clean all the way up, volume just a bit louder than your main signal.): Absolutely gorgeous!!! Very trasnsperent, just makes more signal. Completely awesome! Drives tube nicely! Clasic TS-808 Mode: (For this, I turned the gain to about 1-2:00, and the clean knob off. The rest of the knobs suit to taste.) A while back, I borrowed a friend of mine's Ts9, that has been moded to a ts-808, and I noticed that is sounded crappy with the gain all the way up, so I backed it off 'til about 3-4:00. This pedal has more gain, to for the classic sound, I had to turn the gain lower. Very nice! Still Tranparent! Great overdrive! Classic! Now (The fun part) crank the gain all the way: 1) still sounds transparent 2) pretty darn good crunch (For a 808 clone) 3) Really fun to play. Now back off the gain just a bit, move the clean knob to about 10:30, and man-o-man!!! Watch out!!! (Sounds best when amp is on 6-7) "Most killer overdrive I've ever heard!" (You can quote me.) exactly the overdrive I am looking for: more than my clean signal, not as much as a Boogie. Artists it helps me to sound like? Well, I'm not good enough to me compared to any of them, but it sure helps me find my own sound!

Here's where this pedal falls short. Like I said, I ordered this before all of my stuff was stolen. It was on backorder for two weeks, then took five work days to get here (A whole week, Frickin' UPS), and once it got here, it was defective. This effect is supposed to be true bypass, but first, it doesn't have a 3PDT switch, and it does have an LED, so I can't see how it could be. And second, the one I got was crap! Every third-tenth time I would switch the effect off, my guitar signal would shut off with the effect. Turn it back on: Oh! There's the signal again! Not to mention, that it didn't sound too hot, either. So I sent it back to Mark at WWW.Gtrheaven.com, and he shipped it off to Voodoo Lab. After another two weeks of being on backorder, he shipped me another one, which AGAIN took five Work days to get here (Frickin' UPS!!!!), but now I have it and am happY1

This is an update to a review I previously submitted. After using this pedal for a couple of months I'm still very pleased. However, the way I use it is different than I had originally intended. I use this pedal primarily with a Mesa Boogie Tremoverb head into a 4x12 Recto cab out front. I use it in conjunction with my clean channel to get an overdrive sound. I set my clean channels gain at about the 10-11 o'clock position (which is still pretty clean, only breaks up with hard strumming). Then I set the Sparkle Drive's gain to only the 7-8 o'clock position (barely up at all) and it drives the power tubes just enough to get a really nice sounding overdrive which is very transparent, but not completely (just a slight midrange boost to my ears). The cool thing is that if I kick on my distortion channel (I use the Modern Gain setting) while I have the Sparkle Drive on, it only seems to give a noticeable presence boost to the channel, and only a slight gain boost. It doesn't change the overall sound that much at all which is very useful. I also use the Sparkle Drive with my Custom Vibrolux Reverb, and it sounds really nice. Anyway, it's become an important of my set up, and overall I'm very satisfied.

No problems to date. I gig without a back up.

As I stated above, very satisfied. It a great value in my opinion.

This is as easy to use, but it's gets complicated with the amp(s) you use. The reason is using high gain amps like Marshall, some Fenders in fact a lot of modern amps, the OD effect is minimized by the character of the amp, especially if it has an onboard EQ.

I use Mesa Boogie, (which doesn't need this) Marshall DSL (also doesn't need this), Bassman (I use it here). The short of it is, if your amp has a decent distortion you don't need this.
On the Bassman I like a TS9 better. I have no dea why except a TS9 sounds better on this amp, go figure.

I would never have a single effect drive my entire sound so this doesn't apply.

They have great customer support. They return your emails usually.

The basic thing to remember is everything you add is usually an unknown because it depends on you, you equipment, your power supplies, etc. If you get a good sound out of your amp you are there. This will not make a solid state amp sound like a tube amp. The only amps I have not tried this with are vintage Fenders, I suppose it will fatten the sound a bit. If you turn all of the knobs to '10' it will most likely sound awsome until it fries the output tubes. I give it a six for that because there are a lot of old crusty terrible sounding amps out there that need to be fried...ha ha. I rate this lower than a TS9 in sound, but give it points because it has true bypass.

If you can use a TS-9 you can use this. It gets a 9 because some people might be confused buy the clean knob.

Wow! Use this anywhere you would use your TS9/808/SD-1 and you won't be disapointed. It also does a transparent clean boost sort of like the old MXR Micro Amp. Or you can blend the two. I don't think I would use it as a stand alone overdrive into a dead clean amp but then I wouldn't use a TS9 for that either. IMO the Fulldrive 2 is the best pedal for that. I have always liked to run a TS9 or Boss SD1 in front of a tube amp that is alredy distorting to push it over the top and give a little extra upper mid cut. The thing I didn't like was how they changed the sound of my old Strats when they were off. Well let me tell you I'm one happy camper now! I can get everything I liked about the TS9s out of this pedal plus more. And since it's true bypass, when I switch it off it' like it's not even in the line.

It looks pretty solid except for the plastic in/out jacks. I would have prefered metal jacks but for the price $109 I'll put up with it. Plus they come with a 5 year warantee.

never talked to them.

This is a great pedal that will give you all your TS9 sounds plus more if you blend in some clean boost. And it doesn't affect your sound when its off. Very musical sounding pedal.

Dead simple, gain, level and tone like most others, with the wicked addition of a blendable clean boost.

I use Les Pauls and a strat, Fender, marshall and rivera amps. Oh wow, wow, I've been a dedicated 'vintage tubescreamer' user for over 10 years, never thought I'd find anything better, but here it is. With the clean blend turned off, I a-b'd this with my 70's ts9 and my 808. Believe me, it's right on the nail. It's a lawsuit model - just right there. they even advertise it as a straight copy including the 70's op-amp. But here's the thing, turn up the gain higher than you would on your TS, then dial in the clean boost to about 11 o'clock. You get the warmth and sustain of a cranked TS, but with a clarity and cut that the TS can't deliver, really the best of both worlds. True bypass too - the cost here is a slight click when switching, its worth it though. If you're into TS's go and buy one, you won't be disappointed. I was sceptical until I got mine home.

Who knows until its been gigged for a few years?

Never dealt with them

What can I say, i'm blown away and can't see using a tubescreamer again. Never thought I'd say that. The price here is less than a re-issue tubescreamer.

Fairly easy to use, as easy a a TS9 or any stompbox. I didn't get a manual, but it doesn't matter. I rate this equal or better than any other stomp box in the $100 dollar range.

I use mostly Strats with active P/U's, the passive ones are a little noisy. Using actives it get kind of "middy". The tone is really more sensitive than the TS9. During a session, I noticed the sound make a major change and I looked to see I flipped on the neck/middle P/U from the neck P/U. I think the drive gain is equal or lower to a TS9, but it has clean boost op amps inside so that gives it a little more clean boost.
The clean boost is not important to me, when I use it I want TS9 like gain, not clean. The tone control gets a little strident (as opposed to warm), they use newer components (caps and resisitors) that are different than the vintage TS-808. I believe that model uses carbon style resistors. A little thing, but it may cause the difference in sound, but realistically it could be the circuit design. The "blending" of clean boost is really just hype, it sounds nothing like 2 amps.

The input jacks are the cheap plastic type.
The design of the case is metal, but you have to take the back off to get at the battery, 4 screws, which is a hassle.

I haven't dealt with the company so I can't comment fairly.

I play classic, blues, some fusion, some metal. It's only good for the first two. It doesn't have enough crunch for metal. I also have not really put this thing to the test, which is played thru a 100 wt amp, that's where the rubber meets the road. It sounds OK through all of my other amps. The true bypass is a bonus and a feature the TS9 does not have, but if you are using long cords, the buffering effect on non-true bypass can be a benefit because it smooths the sound even when the sound effect is off. This is a benefit when you use an amp that has too much low end and you're stepping on the bass player, like metal, but it's not a good effect for metal, there are better choices.

Great control -- the Volume pot is 75% boost and 25% cut instead of just all Boost -- a useful feature. Check it out at http://www.voodoolab.com/sparkle.html

Great Tube Screamer-like overdrive, and even cooler Clean boost. Mix the two for a really great end result! This thing sounds wonderful.

5 yr warranty -- built like a tank.

Have never had a need -- use their website (voodoolab.com) for info on their poroducts.

Got a great deal from J&S Music (http://jsmusic.com/). They have the best prices on the Planet! Have purchased several items from them -- great service and resonse!!! The only thing that would make the pedal better would be a way to switch between the all-clean and distorted settings.

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?