Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive

I found this at a pawn shop today like new for $39. Didn't buy it, went home and read about it online. Rushed bach to buy it! Watched a YouTube video showing the ease of use- It's basically a TS808 with a blender knob (Clean) which lets you pan between the TS808 op amp (a JRC4558D, like the old Tube Screamers) and a clean boost sound which has it's own different op amp. Simple.

With the single-coils on my 2007 Reissue Gibson Melody Maker, the pedal gives you sounds like SRV or many other classic Strat sounds. I'm no longer considering pickup replacement for clean or dirty sounds. I've got the best of both worlds.

I had bought one of those Vox AC50CP2 hotrods with the EL34 tubes because it was vintage-vibe-cool-looking and they had 60% off blemished items at Musician's Friend Clearance Center ($191 plus tax for a 50-watt, 2x12 Vox with dual reverb controls and EL34 Ruby Tubes!), but I couldn't quite get a really decent sound out of it- UNTIL NOW.

I set up the clean channel of the Vox like an old single-channel amp, with the Sparkle Drive for gain boost and the amp came alive! It growls nicely when you hit it hard, and sings sweet when you lighten up your touch. WOW!! I can hardly Believe it, it sounds so cool.

Blending the clean sound in gives you a hugely expanded palette of timbres to choose from. I remember reading years ago where SRV said he knew it sounded crazy, but he could get better clean sounds with his Tube Screamer ON than when it was OFF. This will do that. You can get a Tube Screamer, but it won't have the Clean blend knob or True Bypass. This pedal DOES.

I don't know about reliability yet, we'll see- It works great so far.

I haven't dealt with the manufacturer, but they offer a 5-year warranty, so they must be willing to stand behind their product.

I'm basing this on the fact that I paid $39 for it. It's well over a $100 new. I still think it's an incredibly good pedal all the way around. I don't know how it reacts with humbucking pickups, but if you play a Tele or Strat, I think you will LOVE the sounds you can get with this. Listen to the YouTube demos, then rush out to get YOURS..!

very straightforward, simply dial in the tone you want

Very nice overdirve; no heavy distortion here, but also almost no background noise as well

3 - Switch broke after 1 year, gain pot failed after 6 weeks...

I also find it very annoying that you have to unscrew it to change the battery - this seems to be either a skimp on production cost in a fairly expensive pedal, or a cheap ploy to sell a transformer. Even my cheap DOD pedals have a decent battery door...

I too, dealt with a rep that must have been the same the "Josh" character, and he was an *incredibly* condescending jerk. Eventually it was fixed, but it took a month. As a result, I'll never buy anything from VooDoo Labs again. They are Evil.

Blues and experimental rock/ambient

15 years - G&L, Danelectro, Marshall JTM, Digitech 2101 LE, Victoria 5112; Moog ringmod, many stompboxes, Pignose...

It's a nice sounding pedal that seems very well made, but isn't nearly as reliable as its appearance would make it seem.

No

Nice sound - when it works

Customer service was the *absolute worst* I've ever experienced.

4 knobs, 1 in, 1 out, & a foot switch. . .

Excellent. I only wish it had some kind of A/B thing like a Jeckell/Hyde so you could bump the clean or overdrive or both.

Like many others, the foot switch went out after a couple of years.

5 year warranty. They were a little slow in getting it done, but fixed it for free even though I broke one of the pots (and confessed) while trying to fix it myself. I was very pleased. This is the kind of company I want to do business with. #@$@ happens, what counts in this world is how you deal with it when it does.

Play blues & rock in cover bands for almost 30 years. Have an assortment of guitars, Strats, Teles, Gibson SG & 335, Yairi & Guild acoustics, etc. Play mostly thru Fender tube amps. At $140, it's not the cheapest stompbox out there but it's worth the money IMHO.

i've owned this pedal for 6 hours.. been playing with it for about 2 hours at most. the switch is acting up.. muting the signal completely when trying to turn the effect on or off. and i'm not stomping hard.. or wearing shoes. completely. effing. useless.

we'll see.. i've emailed them. and i'll happily report back if it gets sorted quickly and efficiently. but this serves as a warning for any people looking to buy this pedal in the meantime.

essentially, buy this pedal knowing the switch will bug out and need replacing.

Relatively simple to use. 4 knobs etc. no doubt there are numerous other reviews to further simplify the dial in.

First, let me say I am a non professional but enjoy better gear and tone. I find my playing enjoyable and fulfilling. I am fortunate enough to have a good amount of gear but my main steady set up is as follows; Bassman Ltd, with a line out to a blackface Vibro-King, then using external speaker line into a Gibson Super Goldtone half stack bottom (2-12s an 2-10inch Celestions. Stomps now consist of a Fulltone Fulldrive, Fulltone Deja-Vibe and for a little extra depth, a Danecho. I play a Gibson 57 RI Goldtop LP with Burstbuckers, Gibson 56 RI Goldtop LP with P90s and a 62 RI Fiesta Red Strat with Customshop 69s. The tone of this setup is nothing short of the voices of Angles with serious attitude and I DO mean attitude. My main pedal (the reason for the review) USED to be a Sparkle Drive. More on that below. Remember the sound rating is for the Sparkle Drive, not my rig.

3 or so years into non pro use, the gain circuit began to fail and sent the pedal in for service. Not the end of the world, **** happens. Hence the 6

Heres where it gets ugly. Receptionist at VooDoo was very polite and accommodating.
I send the pedal back with a clear explanation of the issue. After the obligatory 3 week wait, I am told the "vacations, busy, we will get to it barrage of BS" I finally get the pedal back. circuit is apparently repaired but the volume control is ineffective from 0 to 4, then the climb. This is clearly not the way it worked and I call back VooDoo and request it be returned and properly repaired or replaced, which they agree to do. Thats great, thanks a lot. But to my surprise and customer reward, the "Head tech," Josh decides that I have a perception problem and I am obviously wrong as this is the way the pedal always worked for the last 3 years and cannot understand why I am not happy. After a lengthy and now rudely guided conversation by Josh, he clearly gave in, just to shut me up by agreeing to make an internal "adjustment" this one time. I feel they rude treatment is unjust and not professional. I have been playing a long time, have good gear and preeminent in my professional life. I do not applicate being treated like a fool by some self appointed "genius" who`s previous employment was most likely sucking the farts out of bus seats. Josh, you must learn that what goes around, comes around.

While the Sparkle Drive Pedal served its purpose in its day and got acceptable tone and vibe, the lesson learned here is 2 fold. Lesson 1; The absolutely rude and insulting treatment was enough for me to sacrifice whatever benefit the Sparkle Drive brought into my enjoyment and yank it on principle and feel completely justified to share with the musical community my "delightful" customer experience. Lesson 2; Yanking the pedal gave me the opportunity to audition and acquire the true upgrade to perhaps the best of the best in class, being the Fulltone Mosfet FullDrive. Honestly, if I remove Josh`s suckass attitude out of the equation, the Fulltome is without question a superior pedal, well worth the few extra dollars. In a perverse kind of way, I thank you Josh for guiding me to better tone with the FullDrive. Hence the 3
VooDoo, Give that Josh a raise as he really earned it this time.

Very Easy! Four Knobs... Volume, Gain, Mix (Clean and Dirty Signals), and Tone.

This is a great TS808 clone with the added benefits of a Tru Bybass and a Clean Level to mix a clean signal back in with the distorted signal. Very dynamic with picking nuances. Sounds like a part of you gain stage on your tube amplifier. Works best with EL84 and El34 power tubed amps. Very Quite when engaged.

So far so good! But I have heard that the switch can go if you pound it too much!

I play blues rock. Playing for about 25 years. My signal chain is Fender Strat with Fralin Blues Specials, Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive, MXR - Phase 90 - Dyna Comp - Classic 108 Fuzz, Boss Tremolo - Dynamic Wah, Maxon AD-9 analog delay, Korg Pitchblack tuner, into a Peavey Classic 30 combo w/ Celestion Vintage 30.

This is the only TS808 clone I will ever play!

Simple enough even for guitar players to figure out! Pretty bare bones. Less is more.

Fantastic. First, keep in mind, what it *is*, and what it *isn't*. It's a TS-808 clone, with an added clean boost feature / mix. It's an overdrive pedal, NOT a distortion pedal. If you've got big hair, pointy guitars, and spandex leg warmers, this may not be the pedal for you. It's also just plain not going to sound very good at bedroom levels - its forte is in pushing an overdriven tube amp. I've owned original 808s, snot green TS-9s, reissues, modded reissues, and for me, this is the best so far. The TS changes the sound so much that the "blend" control is so useful, even out the loss of bass and the infamous "mid hump" in the TS. With the blend control, this offers all the sounds of an '808, with far more flexibilty *and* true bypass, in lieu of buffering. For me it's a great improvement on the original. Sold an original 808, kept the SD. 'nuff said.

Heard problems about the footswitch. Assume this was on earlier models, no problems with mine so far.

Haven't dealt with them.

Overall, I think this one really deserves a "10". I've had original TS, reissues, and a plethora of other manufacturers' takes on the basic circuit - this is my personal favorite. Whether it's a '66 Super Reverb, a Tweed Bassman, or a Marshall (I'm fond of the Blockhead '63 Split Front and THD Plexi, myself), to paraphrase SRV, "use big strings, turn it up, and floor it".

This is an update to my previous review. See "Reliability" section.

See "Reliability" section.

The switch is starting to go bad......as feared, after reading many reviews. I bought my SD used from an eBay auction, so i saved some money; but not knowing what it went through prior to me, i knew i was taking a risk.

I e-mailed Voodoo Lab about it, and i got an encouraging response, which said i can ship it to them for a free fix (i pay one-way shipping.) If/when the switch goes completely, i'll take them up on this offer.

See my 1st (recent) review. Everything i said there still stands; but now that the switch has become an issue, my rating goes down.

The FIRST thing to understand about the Sparkle Drive (SD), is that it IS a TS-808. Pure and simple, it's a TS-808....INCLUDING the venerable "Mid-Hump". If you absolutely don't like the TS-808, you WON'T like the SD. Even WITH its "Clean" pot, you still won't really like it. You can find a way to live with it, but ultimately, you won't like it - it will lose its slot on your board, and you'll sell it.

NOW.... if you DO like what a TS-808 can do with your sound - the way its own overdrive circuit sounds; the way it interacts with your amp; the way your guitar(s) sound pumping their signal through it - then you'll REALLY like the SD, because the SD gives you much added contouring of your sound. The interaction of the Clean pot with the Gain is THE key to success with the SD. (You???ll also find that the "Tone" and "Volume" pots react very differently from your standard OD pedal, depending on how you use the Clean & Gain pots.) There's much to be had sonically in this regard ... from a boosted clean sound, to mild grit, to more saturated grind. Your guitar will retain its character with the SD. BUT.... i say this once more ... you've got that inevitable "Mid Hump" to deal with. (I had been away from TS's for a long time; and that mid-hump jumped out the pedal and bit me in the butt???..OUCH.)

SO.....that's my take on the SD. I like it, and I can live with the mid's. I can feed its signal into other pedals and get some really nice dirt. I can feed a booster into the SD and get some REALLY nice sounds that way. I can EQ it externally and turn it into a different-sounding beast altogether. I can get all manner of grit out of it, with clarity.

In short: IT WORKS.

See 'Ease of Use'.

No opinion, per se. I haven't had any problem with the switch, so who knows?

No opinion.

See 'Ease of Use'.

i got my sparkle drive about a week ago, and i'll say that this pedal is a steal. i sold a Visual Sound Jekyll and Hyde to buy it. i got it used at a local music store for 100 USD. Mine hasn't been modded and honestly i don't plan on it, ever.

I use a A.S. Fender Stratocaster> 1996 Epiphone Sheraton> Boss TU2> Line 6 DL4> VOODOO LABS SPARKLE DRIVE> Ibanez TS9> Boss Tremolo> 90's Peavey Classic 50. This pedal is possibly the quietest overdrive pedal i've ever heard, even with single coils. i run everything pretty much at 12 o'clock, give or take, i keep it on most of the time, and when i need a little more OD, i stitch on the TS9, which is run.. gain 25%>tone 50%>level 60%.. and its perfect for me, but if i had the cash for two, the TS9 would be sold in a heartbeat... Or maybe just docked for a while. I'll give it a 9 because who knows, there's probably something a little better, never know.

I read all the reviews about the switch breaking, and with that in mind, i thing a little lighter of a foot could be used guys, seriously, don't bash the damn thing.

But yes, I depend on it, and if it ever breaks, I'll send it off, and they'll fix it.

I would use it without a backup any day.

never dealt

I play blues, folk, lighter rock, nothing too harsh, MuteMath, etc.. its beyond perfect for me, a pat on the back for selling the J&H. I've been playing for 7 years, But i've learned alot about tone over the years, i mentioned the gear i have previously. i'd definitely get another one if it were stolen of lost.

I love love love the Clean feature.. The only thing i hate about it is that I don't have two.

I compared this to the Jekyll and Hyde, and Ibanez TS9, nuff said.

I just wish it had a Cloning feature that would at any wanted time clone another one for free. :)

i'll say it helps make music, you can't help but to souund good with this thing.

If you think this pedal sounds bad then I'll personally transport myself to your location somehow and stomp on your foot really hard and spit in your hair..

Very Straight Forward. The knobs are all very responsive. you can really fine tune what your going for in a sound. This has Not been upgraded. I bought it new and have had it for a year.

This thing sound great. I love it, love it, love it. I play a Strat with 2 area 58's and a virtual blues 2 by Dimarzio in the bridge as pick ups, through a Ampeg RR212 into the clean channel. Quiet as can be, you don't even know that its on. It actually makes the other effects sound a little better when its going. You can dial everything from Nashville to Austin and beyond on these. It doesn't get scooped metal saturation, but thats not my gig anyway. I originally used it in conjunction with a Radial Tonebone Classic, but shelved that and got another Sparkle Drive. The clean boost is flawless the overdrive is creamy and works super. when you want to clean up a little with your guitars volume knob.

So far know problems and i run two of them

Haven't had to deal with them

I play, Blues, rock, R&B, Americana, Country. If it were stolen i would miss my rent to get another one. I run a Vox Clyde Mcoy, a TC Electronics Nova Delay, A boss Rotary Simulator and 2 Sparkle drives and I use and adore the Voodoo Labs Proctavia. But thats a different review.It gets a incredible Tubescreamer sound when the Drive is up and the Clen is down. But the magic happens when you start blending in the clean. It makes amps sound better.

Non-keeley modded Sparkle drive. Great Pedal without a mod! Easy to use. 4 knobs. Very straight forward.

Excellent tones all around. From clean boost to hard overdriven tones. Easy to get great sound especially if you use it with cranked valve amp. Right now, I am using a strat plugged straight into the Sparkle Drive and then into a fender pro junior. Yes I am currently a minimalist. Clean knob is genius. I could switch from crunchy overdrive to a clean boost. Wide range of sound you can get from this pedal.

Hasn't failed me yet.

Haven't dealed with them yet.

Overall outstanding pedal even without the keeley mod. Great range of sound. Excellent for jazz, blues, and maybe even a bit of rock. Depends on how driven you want your sound to be. But I'm looking forward to getting mine modded by keeley to get more gain.

no rocket science here, just plug in n'play. easy to work out. Manual was a bit of a joke I thought, but then once you know what the 4 knob do, it's just experimentation from there. Apparently there is some firmware upgrade available for the unit , but haven't looked into that as yet.

This is where the pedal excels! the sound is unreal. Probably my favourite use of it, is to have it running completely clean ( knob on 100% ) and really punch the pre-amp. Volume knob up high as well (70%), and you get these gorgeous thick velvety sounds on clean channel of a tube amp. Also like running the same setup into the gain channel, and it really gives the gain channel a good hiding. At first, I didn't use the mixing facility ( clean/gain) much, but lately I've discovered a fantastic SRV sound, by running into the clean channel, with the gain knob on about 40%, clean knob at about 75% and volume to suit, tone on about halfway.
My set up is: Amer. strat into the Sparkle drive and then straight into a Carvin Belair. Also use a PRS Santana III, and a George Benson GB 10, but I think the hook up with the Strat ( single coils, seems to give the most luscious sounds.

First I thought it was only me, but after reading tons of reviews, I realized that everyone has been struck by that cursed footswitch!
Let me down several times in the first months on stage, pulling my few hairs out trying to work out the problem. What I can't understand is, why have Voodoo lab let this go on for such a long time????????????????
I have 15 other pedals & never had the switch go on one of them. ( except maybe a couple of home made ones !)
Mind you, the company is good as far as help goes. Sent them an email, and they sent over a new switch all the way to Australia!!
Only a 3 rating, because such a simple problem that hasn't been fixed can aggravate you big time, when you're counting on your gear.

As I said, pretty helpfull sent over a new part as soon as they were available all the way to Australia!!

Love older rock, blues, jazzy styles playing for about 35 years. Seem to enjoy it more and more as I get older!
If the pedal was stolen I would but another, but noy until they fixed the switch problem. I have an OLD green tubescreamer from years ago, and Ibanez used FET silent switching back then, and never a problem. Come on guys, this is 2007 !!!!!!!!!!
This pedal is PEREFECT for that clean full sound of the 70's, if you love country/rock and blues, this one will blow your ears off your butt !!

It???s pretty easy to get the sound you???re looking for with the four knobs on the Sparkle Drive. After only a few minutes, I dialed in the sound I was looking for. The GAIN and CLEAN knobs are pretty interactive, think of the CLEAN knob as more of a MIX knob that controls the blend between the clean and overdriven channels while the GAIN knob controls how much overdrive there is to mix in with your clean tone. Still, pretty simple and user-friendly.

Before anything else: I bought this pedal for my bass guitars and overall, I was pretty impressed. However, before I even bought this pedal, I had already planned on sending it to Keeley Electronics (www.robertkeeley.com) for modding. I posted a review of the modded pedal under the ???Keeley Sparkle Drive Mod??? section in The Effects Database.

***This is my PRE-MOD review.*** :)

I was searching for a pedal to let me add just a little crunch to my tone, NOT ???melt your face off, start your hair on fire??? distortion. For me, the Sparkle Drive did the job beautifully, but you can also get a much crunchier overdrive as well if you like and can actually get pretty edgy. The combination of the GAIN and CLEAN knobs is pretty sweet... The GAIN knob lets you adjust the amount of overdrive and then you can blend in as much or as little overdrive to your tone as you like with the CLEAN knob. The TONE knob does a great job as well, letting you adjust the overdrive from more smooth (counter-clockwise) to a sharper-edged tone that has more high end sizzle.

The Sparkle Drive had the crunchiness I was looking for while keeping the characteristics of my individual basses. They didn???t sound like the same bass... I???ve played four basses through it (Fender Jazz 4, Warmoth Gecko 5, Modulus Quantum 5 and a Peavey Cirrus 6) and they all keep their original tones, which is definitely cool.

My only minor complaint is that the low end frequencies are a little weaker than I???d like. Being a bass player, I definitely notice the low end weakness when the Sparkle Drive is on, but it???s not a big enough problem to warrant taking it off my pedalboard. Like I said, for me it was a minor issue and was less evident when I played a guitar (a Schecter Gryphon LE) through this pedal.

The Sparkle Drive seems like quite a solid pedal. The only thing I worry about is the footswitch itself, which seems a little weak when compared to almost all the other pedals I own, but I haven???t had any problems yet.

Haven???t needed to deal with Voodoo Labs yet.

The Sparkle Drive is a great pedal and I really like the way it sounds. It???s got a great gritty crunch and the harmonics/overtones are just enough to really add some great flavor. I???ll give it an 8 because of the low-end weakness, but like I said, it???s not a major problem.

Pretty easy unit to use. I found that it has a very favorable midrange that was useful cutting through the rest of the band; usually I play in a trio format or quartet(add keyboard player).

Very versatile pedal in the sense of using it as a multi-purpose jack of all trades pedal. I've used it as a regular overdrive, distortion, clean boost, and even boosting my delay volumes to make swells louder and tweaking the grit of the delays. It's a quiet pedal and when used with a loud amp, I could get a nice midrange and cool feedback to happen between my strats and tube amps.

I've used this mainly with 3 different strats all loaded w/ various Dimarzio Virtual Vintage pickups going through either Amp setup 1: Fender Prosonic combo, used on clean channel. Amp setup 2: Marshall 1987x Head. Amp setup 3: Fender 1963 Deluxe amp. Amp setup 4: strictly for bedroom practce, a Roland Micro Cube amp.

This pedal sounded great and works well on all of my amps and in conjunction with other overdrives too, and could get a nice SRV vibe goin on (it helps if you have heavy strings, I usually play 11-58's in standard tuning). Cool for funk and country as well, and had no problems w/ classic rock stuff. The clean knob is very helpful in getting unusual chord voicings to have more definition in the intervals that you play, when playing distorted. I rarely do obvious chordal voicings, so this helps a lot. This is not a metal high gain-scooped mids pedal, though you can get it modded to add more gain, but if you already play in a band chances are you won't need it and you could use another overdrive/distortion pedal to cover that ground and everything in between. I've messed with this pedal for close to 2 yrs and I feel you kind of have to for an honest representation of how it's goin to vibe w/ your gear.

Seems very sturdy and the switch was perfect.

Never had to deal w/ them.

I've been playing for over 25 yrs, playing a crossbreed of rock/jazz/blues/pop that is technical along the lines of progressive and also enjoy doin singer/songwriter stuff that requires sparse creativity. This is terrific value in doin various styles and getting a multitude of tones. If it were stolen, I'd probably buy another.

If you can't use a sparkledrive....you probably wouldn't last a day in the real world.

Didn't believe there was an original 4558D in there, so the first thing I did when I took it home was opened it up...and I'll be..a REAL ORIGINAL 4558D, not the chinese one used in the Re-issue808...YES, THERE IS A DIFFERENCE!

Great! I was skeptical of this thing because its "boutique" status and its bargain price, and even more confused when I picked it up because the aluminum case is very light!

I tried it out through a Fender Blues deluxe, with a Lace Sensor equipped A.S. Strat. Normally I don't care for Lace pickups, but they always sound the same; so they are a good reference point. Lots of presence, and a moderate amount of gain, the clean blend is a fantastic feature. Moved onto something more similar to what I play; a 62 re-issue...sold.

I use this as a clean boost into a Fulldrive II 10th ann. Mosfet.
I wanted another one of those for the comp-cut function, but this not only provides the clean boosted sound I want, but also another; different overdrive...
The comp-cut on the fulldrive is fantastic...but not something I really planned on using alot since I can't flip that switch and re-set my overdrive in the middle of a song! I love the variety of outragously good sounds you can get out that box though, OD wise, it blows the sparkle drive outta the water...just couldn't use the comp cut with the overdrive..as you can with the sparkle drive.....so now the sparkle drive replaces 1/3 of the fulltone. Has its own little place for a sparkley neat overdrive too.

True Bypass, and Malaysian 4558D's....something Ibanez needs to learn about, gettin beat at there OWN GAME, FOR LESS MONEY...should be ashamed of themselves!!

From what I've read the issues have been resolved, I use mine as a clean boost, so I'm not even worried about the switch failing.

For the money, I don't think you can do any better.
For (2x+)more money the Fulldrive offers alot more gain and flexability, but you can only use one sound at a time. This offers up a better tone out of my strat before it hits the fulldrive...without spending a fortune!

For the price, I'd repalce it the next day, if your tubesceamer breaks, don't bother fixing it, find one of these!

I was one of the first here to review this pedal, no doubt it is a great sounding pedal. The problem is you cant depend on it. I've had it for five years now and the switch has failed twice. Voodoo Labs always fix it quickly and for free, but why cant they just put a decent switch in? It cant be that expensive of a part. You never know at a gig whats going to happen when you step on the thing! Will it work, or not? Anybody's guess. Read the reviews on their other pedals, tons of peope have had the same issue.

They are very responsive. But why have great support, and products that break all the time? To keep their support people in a job I guess.

I probably wouldnt buy it again. If you are planning on making it a permanent part of your sound and leave it on all the time, then I guess the switch is not a huge issue. However if you plan to kick it in as a boost, like I do, then plan on a crapshoot every time you step on it.

It's extremely to use and the knobs all work as labeled.

Sound quality is great. I've tried alot of them and this one is the best. It sounds so good I now own 2. I replaced a Zinky True Grit and a tube screamer with these. When in use it's very transparent and open. Not squashed or fuzzy. Makes your fingers light and springy on the fretboard, I literally play better with it because it's so responsive and sounds so good. As mentioned here before, the blend knob is the key to dialing up an overdrive to taste. My Chain is Les Paul Standards>EB Volume Pedal>Vox Wah>(2)Sparkle Drives>DL4>Matchless Clubman 35.

Like other people here, my switch on my first one failed too. The guy at Voodoo Lab was great, I sent it in and had it back in less than 2 weeks. I've had mediocre gear that failed and I was pissed because not only did it fail, but it didn't sound that good to begin with....(think DL4) But this damn thing sounds so good, even though it failed, I bought another one!

the guy I spoke with was great and the follow thru was excellent. I'd highly recommend this pedal the company. No product is perfect, but as long as they make a sincere effort to make things right, I'd never fault them.

Top shelf pedal and company. This pedal is a true bargain sleeper. I actually like it better than my friends Klon. Better snatch up a couple as I can see these being worth something down the road.

Easy to use, to be sure, but I've noticed that what they say in their marketing lit is very true--the difference in sound and repsonse between different guits and amps is pronounced, to say the least. Otherwise, all you have to do is understand what it is doing, understand the 4 knobs, and understand that the tone knob only effects gain, not clean.

I am not an uber-purist. Or rather, I am, but I'm not geeky or particularly knowledgable about amps and pedals. I've now used it with 3 guitars (Strat+, a FrankenTele with standard pups, and a Les Paul Special from the 70s or 80s, with 2 P90s. And into 2 amps: a Mesa/Boogie Studio .22+ (1x12") and a circa '70s Bassman head through 1x12" Cab with a celestion on some flavor.

The bassman breaks up beautifully at very low volumes on its own (begins as low as 2 1/2 depedning on how hot the incoming signal is). So The Saprkle Drive tends to send the bassman into pretty rich and gritty territotry even if I'm running it entirely on clean boost. Not a bad sound, mind you, but if you're main reason for wanting the Sparkle Drive is as a boost pedal to add presence, volume, and a touch of grit to a fundamentally clean sound, I think you'll be happier using it with an amp like my Mesa/Boogie, an amp that is not BORN on the verge of breaking up.

With the Boogie I experienced the full range of the Sparkle Drive, and I was very impressed. It cleans up nicely, adds a very pleasant boost, dial in moderate grit to your liking. It especially likes the lower output pickups on my strat, and that's good news. Again, even if dortier territory, it sound very good, but for me it's allure is that you can get good crisp and very present clean-ish tones out of it.

And, as they advertise, it respond extremely well to attack dynamics. That might be the most pleasing thing about it.

I've only had it two weeks and haven't gigged with yet (very soon) but I'm pleased as punch with this so far.

No occasion to judge reliability yet. Read about issues with switch mechanism. We'll see.

I play quirky original pop rock along the Elvis Costello/XTC-to-Tom Waits spectrum. I'm the "tricky bits" guitarist in my present band Good vintage tones are desirable. I've been playing for more than 30 years, but what does that matter?

I wish I had compared it to the Fulltone Full Drive 2. That's really the only other one I was interested in.

This is a good sounding boost/drive pedal. In the right rig, it produces an excellent clean boost, and its distortion is very playable. For the densest, darkest distortions, you'd probably want to look elsewhere.

It takes a little fidling, but you can get quite a great bit of sounds out of this. I have to switch the tone out for singles/hbs, which has the upside of having convinced me to not be lazy and actually switch between two of my good guitars (Gretsch Duo Jet and Am. Strat) instead of using my less good coil split-equipped guitar (Dean EVO-FTX).

I actually own and use two of them. Typically i run one as a dark, ratty distortion (Gain - 60%, Tone - 40%, Clean - 35%, Vol - 50%) that makes a great blues sound esp. on a neck pickup on my Strat or archtop (Gretsch Tennesse Rose). The second i use *primarily* as a solo boost (Gain - 100%, Tone - 65%, Clean - 80%, Vol - 40%) on top of other distortion pedals. There's just so many things that you can do with it. These two pedals replaced my Boss Blues Driver and my Tube Screamer.

Never had a problem.

Never deal with em

Great match for any style of music except lo-fi or traditional jazz. I wouldn't use it as a *primary* distortion box outside of blues or bluesy rock, but it makes one hell of a solo pedal in any context.

I've been playing for 14 years and professionally for 8. I run:
Gretsch Tennessee Rose / Fender Strat (American) / Gretsch Duo Jet / Dean EVO --> Ernie Ball Vol. --> Cry Baby --> VoxWah --> MXR Phaser --> --> Line6 Liquaflange --> EHX Polychorus --> Q-Tron --> Danelectro Blue Paisley --> EHX Big Muff --> Line6 Crunchtone --> Line6 Dr Distorto --> SPARLKE DRIVE 1 --> SPARKLE DRIVE 2 --> Vox AC30 TB / Peavey Delta Blues ==> Line6 DL4 ==> Line6 Verbzilla ==> amps ==> SM57s

Out of all that, if i had to have one pedal it would be the DL4; but if i could get two the second would be the Sparkler.

It's pretty easy to use, and the controls are self explanatory. There's a range of good sounds, but most of the dialing in for me has been trying to replicate a particular sound since we play covers. No hard work, just a bit of trial and error. The overdrive is just that; an overdrive, meaning no extreme, "thunking" gain for uber metal, but for me, the Sparkle Drive's range of sounds is extremely useful when a full-out distortion is too much. I get compliments on my sound when using this pedal.

I've had luck getting great sounds from this unit. I use it with a Les Paul standard (through a modified Marshall JCM 600 combo), so the bottom dropping out isn't really an issue like it seems to be for other reviewers. I use it when the Marshall's gain (which I leave almost pegged all the time) is too much. It provides a nice, musical-sounding overdrive with plenty of presence with the "clean" control down. Lots of note clarity for chords. As you turn the "clean" up, it takes away the growl to varying degrees, but in a different way than just turning the gain down...it's hard to describe. It can sometimes sound dry, so I sometimes use a compressor and a bit reverb with it.
When I first bought this unit, I put it away for a while after fiddling with it, and then "rediscovered" it again after a year. Now it's part of my permanent effects board.

I had a problem with the switch when I began using the unit in my pedal board; it would cut my signal to half when switching it on or off, so the guitar sounded weak (keep in mind that bought this pedal about six years ago, so I'm sure they've worked out some bugs). But it was intermittent and it took a while to figure out that it wasn't a patch cord, which can be the cause of the same problem sometimes. See "Customer Support."

Once I was resonable sure that the drive was causing my signal problem, I contacted VooDoo Lab, and Adam got back to me on the same day. He gave me a reference number, and I sent the unit back. They fixed it promptly, and since then, I haven't had any trouble with it. Also, it's important to mention that he didn't ask when the unit was purchased, if it was abused (it wasn't), or any warranty information, which was really cool.

Like I stated above, I play modern rock covers, and the pedal is necessary tool for our set list every gig. I've been playing for about 27 years now, and have used lots of effect units from various manufacturers.
I primarily used two Les Pauls ('89 standard and '91 custom) to gig with, but I also have a Strat ("Highway 1") with a Warmoth replacement neck ( I don't dig fender stock necks), and a Tele. I play through a Marshall JCM 600 combo (now discontinued), which has been modified (half switch added, local amp whiz John Nau added some chime and sparkle to clean channel sound).
Pedal board consists of: VOX wah, Sparkle Drive, Analog Man Compressor & overdrive unit, H2O Liquid Chorus/delay unit, Boss graphic EQ...

Not really hard. 4 knobs, all easy to understand.

One word: Fantastic!

I use it with a gibson les paul studio, to a chain of effects to a fender blues junior amp.

This pedal is simply amazing. You can do so many things with it: turn the clean knob all the way up, it will simply boost your volume - sweet feature. Really useful if for example, you play a clean accompaniment, and then you have a solo, on a clean sound too. You put the clean knob all the way up, turn the volume as up as you like, and with a single switch you're in a solo mode.
This pedal can also be used as a pure overdrive, with the clean all the way down. The tone knob is the most versitale I ever heard. It sounds like an old tube screamer. It sounds even better when used on an already saturated tube amp (let's say - volume at half way) BUT - you can mix a bit of clean, to have an overdrive with a bit of clean. With the gain at half way and some clean (let's say, 9' o clock), it's perfect for solos with a bluesy tone, like pink floyd's "shine on you crazy diamond". Much better than the classic Boss Blues Driver (I used to own one of these. Sold it when I bought this pedal). It can also give you a great half-clean half-drive tone, sounds like you're using two amps at once, one clean and one saturated. And that's only a bit of what you can do with it.

It's not noisy at all, it is true by pass, no volume drop (Well, unless you set the volume knob at the wrong position) - simply perfect.

Well, a lot of people complain about the switches, but they (Voodoo Lab) fixed it on the newer editions, and it is working fine. I have this pedal for a few month now, and I have their analog chorus for a year, none of them ever had any problem. I giged with it with no backup many times.

Just beware, I wouldn't have bought this pedal second handed, because of the problems with older units.

never really dealt with them. I did send them an email about their new Wah once and they asked me.

Fantastic pedal, sounds great, versitile, everything I need.

Controls work well, they do what you'd expect. It's not rocket science, but it did take me a bit of fiddling to find useful sounds.

It took me a while to find useful sounds. The problem I have with it is that the clean sound is pretty flat but the more gain you dial in the thinner the bass gets. This actually works well for the neck pickup because it can have a bit too much bass anyhow, but I don't care for it on the bridge pickup. When you start introducing more gain it has a midrange bump and the bottom drops out just like a Tube Screamer. Not my cup of tea. Used as a clean boost with a bit of hair on it though, this pedal sounds great IMO. Anybody who's a fan of the Tube Screamer should love this pedal.

Well, the switch on mine went bad after about a week of light use, big surprise. I hadn't sent in my warranty card, but I contacted Voodoo Lab anyhow. Much to my surprise they issued me an RMA, no questions asked. My pedal was repaired free of charge and returned quickly. I've had switches go bad on numerous pedals, some very expensive ones too. This is unacceptable to me. If these companies want us to continue to spend $100~$200 on a metal box with $15 worth of parts inside they'd better put some quality switches in there, come on!

I've only had the one dealing with Voodoo Lab and it was a positive one. The fact that I hadn't mailed in my warranty card wasn't an issue and my pedal was repaired and returned quickly.

The failing switches seem to be common with the Voodoo Lab pedals. When I spoke to the VL rep on the phone I was told that they are using a different, better switch now. I hope that's true. Voodoo Lab makes some cool stuff, but if it can't be relied on there's no reason not to try somebody else's product. To me, what makes the Sparkle Drive unique is the clean blend control. If it didn't have that it would be just another TS clone. It's a nice sounding pedal, too bad about the switch.

Very easy to use and well thought out pedal.I love the blend knob!

This is a wonderful sounding pedal. It has a great blend function. As a clean boost this pedal can't be beat, the fact that it also has an OverDrive built in makes it a must-have pedal!

Now here is the MAJOR problem with this pedal(all VooDoo Lab pedals), the switches will(I don't mean might) go out on you. I have three VL pedals and they all have bad switches. I've sent them in to VL for repairs and they did it for free, but guess what? within a month I had the same problem with all three pedals again. Horrible, stay away!

I would have given them a 8 because they fixed them for free, but the problem wasn't really fixed. After they fixed them once they ignored all my e-mails after that. Horrible customer Service, stay away!

Great great pedal, when it worked.

This pedal has a rare combination: Extremely versitaile, yet exteremly easy to use. A volume, gain, tone and the clean blender. Nothing more.

My setup is: Gibson Les Paul Studio--->T-Rex Compnova--->Sparkle Drive--->T-Rex Mudhoney--> Voodoo Lab Analog Chorus--->T-Rex Replica-->Fender Blues Junior Amp.

The sound quality of this unit is fantasic!

With clean all the way up, you get the clean sound of the amp. Turn it down a bit, you got a great clean with a hint of drive. at 12 of clock, a very smooth half-drive half-clean sound. At zero, great tube-like overdrive. The tone knob is the most versitale I ever heard.

Gave it only 9, because the overdrive could have been fatter, but this can be easily fixed with the blues junior "fat" switch.

No problem so far. Build like a tank.

Never dealt with them.

Overall great clean blender, sounds fantastic! great overdrive too. Wish the drive would be fatter, though.