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.

I'd say it's very easy to get a good sound out of it.

Greco strat -77/Fralin VH neck pu w baseplate - Fulltone Clyde - Sparkle Drive - Fulltone '69 - AMZ Booster - modded/"blackfaced" Fender Concert -83 top - THD 2X12 cab

A little bit noice whith full gain and my drivechannel on high gain, nothing to mention.

Sound quality is awesome. Perfect combination of texture and coloring. I plugged it in whith every knob at 12 o'clock, and they are still that way...

Before I heard it I had a little doubt over the "layereffect", but the clean and overdrive blends perfectly.

Whith everything set at 12:

On the clean channel I get what I missed on the Fulldrive 2:s FM mode I sold a while ago: The sparkle and feel and edge and bite. Tonal coloring about the same.

On the dirtchannel I get raw crunch, clear, but yet whith bite. I hear every note. When I increase gain and blend I get a more searing leadtone whith some harmonics. But I don't use it whits that setting.

I'ts a 808, you can't miss that.

Havent used so long, only a cuouple of months at gigs and rehearsals. I't has the stompswitch attached directly at the board inside, which, have I understood, could be problematic if you should have to repair it. On the other hand, it comes whith a 5 year warranty...

I play in two cover bands, thats covers the most: Rock, soul, pop, disco, funk, from the '60s to nowadays...

I've been playing guitar for 30 years

Would by it again, I'm thinkin about bying another one, and get it modded by Keeley, using it after this one. The "blendingthing" realy made it happen for me. No more mud, only beatyful tone, which I can adjust after taste. Very versatile.

This baby made me think realy serious about getting a Barber Tone Press.

This one came after many OD pedals, example given: BJF Baby Blue, Fulltone OCD, Fulldrive 2 and Distortion Pro. This one I keep.

For the price, its a fantastic value

very easy to use. Blend control is gradual and tapers well. Not suddenly one way or the other.

I saw a lot of reviews that seemed to be guys running them into cleaner amps and commenting on not a ton of gain available. I run mine into a 70's 2203 Marshall usually running the preamp at about 12-2 O'Clock, using Gibsons. It has a perfect push on top of the Marshall. I can definitely play metal with this pedal and the Marshall together. Into a Twin or DRRI, probably not. I love the blend control. Tuned to A440 I only use the clean boost but if I tune down, usually to C#, being able to blend in some of the OD circuit is great for getting some top end snap back. I use the "808" side as an EQ basically.
Overall the pedal as many have said, is quite natural sounding and doesn't obscure the guitar. When boosting I still hear a LP into a Marshall just ballsier and more sustain.

It has True Bypass....a must. I hate using pedals without it now.

It also worked great on Bass as the blend helps you keep the low end together.

It worked solid for over 2 years and has recently had some issues with the switch. Sometimes when turned off the bypassed signal is weak. I would recommend a backup if your sound is designed around this pedal. I have used it live and in the studio many times over those 2+ years so it was really used if you know what I mean.

Here's where it really counts. I have never experienced a better customer support experience than with Voodoo Lab. They return emails very fast and have hooked me up in the past with cables for my Pedal Power and are also going to take care of me on the Sparkledrive's switch, pronto. No muss, no fuss.
It's a given things will go wrong and things will fail. What really matters is how are you taken care of when this happens. Voodoo Lab is obviously all about complete customer support. Make a great product and back it up like it was your own.

I play bluesy hard rock and metal from AC/DC and NWOBHM stuff to COC and BLS. This pedal is great for these with an already driving tube amp. For older Metallica and other similar type stuff I would use a more distortion orientated pedal.
Been playing for 22 years. I also have a Dunlop Dimebag wah, Boss Hyper Fuzz, Line 6 DL4, Boss DS-1, DOD 250, Boss CS-3 and Boss TU-2 tuner. Main guitar is an '83 Gibson Black LP Custom with a Burny Japanese copy as backup.

I also use their Pedal Power (first series), GCX Audio Switcher and the ground control. All work top notch.

I compared it to the MXR Zakk Wylde OD and MXR Distortion + and a few "boutique" choices that GC had. I picked it because it was true bypass and priced better than the other "boutique" choices (also sounded better). The ZW-44 did sound great. In it's own way as good as the Sparkledrive but not better.
If it were lost or stolen I would try another pedal, only for variety, knowing I could always return to the Sparkledrive as a tried and true choice.

If your looking for a better tubescreamer but with a kickin' clean boost as an option that has a well tapered blend feature then this is a stand out choice. I'll give it an 8 instead of a 10 as the switch should have lasted longer but if not for the excellent customer support it would have been a 6. Great company and product.

Pretty straightforward. It's an Overdrive pedal, nothing here to tax the brain too much. Mine's the stock model, with four knobs: gain, volume, tone, and clean. The only issue is the balance between Gain and Cean, which is the whole selling point of the pedal.

When the Gain is fully engaged, the Clean is overridden, and vice-versa. With Gain turned right DOWN, you have a Clean Boost pedal. The tone control only affects the Gain, not the Clean.

The manual explains all of this, and includes some soundclips on a CD.

Voodoo Labs admit quite openly that this is basically an original 808 Tubescreamer, but with a twist, in the form of its 'clean blend'. The Sparkle Drive doesn't give spectacular gain, but it will take you further than the (admittedly very good) Keith Richards sound the reviews spoke of. It takes you into dirty Classic Rock territory as well: Van Halen /AC-DC/ Gary Moore, if you want to go there. But anyone looking for an extreme killer distortion/ hooligan death-metal device has got the wrong box here.

As a gain pedal, it is pretty damn good. A nice, full, throaty overdrive; tight, but not too compressed. I'm playing it mostly through a small Mesa-Boogie combo, and occasionally a Fender Twin. At rehearsal and small gig volumes, I prefer it to the gain channel on the Boogie. Some overdrive pedals make your sound very thin and compress the hell out of it. This sounds broader somehow, more valve-y and authentic-sounding. Likewise, it is quite transparent and *drives* the signal, without colouring it. My Boogie still sounds like a Boogies, my Twin sounds like a Twin. This pedal does what it should and creates a righteous, overdriven amp tone, not the sound of a gnat in a jam-jar that has just flown into your speaker cabs.

The Clean blend is a good idea. You can go all the way from a mildly overdriven pop/country-rock sound, to full-on growly rock, as mentioned above. This innovation helps keep it more articulate sounding, and also more realistic. There seems to be something about turning UP the clean as opposed to just turning DOWN the gain.

I use a combination of single coil and humbuckered guitars and it seems to cope well with both. On cleaner settings, the single coils shine, as you would expect, but using a 335, for example gives you lots of sustain.

I hear some of the available mods will give you more dirt, which I guess would make it more versatile.

I play varied stuff: blues, rock, country, jazz; rootsy kind of music. I'm not looking to emulate any one particular artist.

Only had the pedal about a week, so I would hope to use it w/o backup. Very sturdy casing, but there seems to be an issue with this type of switch - people claim that they crap out eventually. I guess manufacturers use them to distinguish their product from the ubiquitous Boss design, which seems to have it about perfect.

Brand new pedal, never dealt with the company. There was a form to send back within ten days, giving a 5-year warranty, which sounded fair. Living in the UK, you always pray for good service, as it is a drag to have to deal trans-Atlantic.

I have played guitar over 20 years now and used a whole bunch of overdrives: Boss, Marshall, Ibanez, etc, etc. This is up there with the best of them, if not the best. The Fulltone Fulldrive is supposedly the Holy Grail of overdrives, but based only on the soundclips I have heard, the Sparkle Drive seems to be well in the neighbourhood.

I chose it because I was intrigued, basically, and thought intuitively that it would suit my sound. So far, I am not disappointed. Not a vast amount of gain, to repeat, but very rich, tubey, and authentic-sounding. The Clean blend is a simple but valuable feature.

I am being generous and rating it 9, which is really 8.75. It *is* expensive for what is only an overdrive pedal. Just one switch, no different modes or settings. It's not like a modeller, with patches and bells and whistles, or a rig that makes your cappucino and gets your email. I got a slight discount, but ??100 or more full retail is a lot. Why gear in the UK costs so damn much is anyone's guess, I suppose we're all too polite to say anything about being consistently ripped off.

Simple to get a great sound out of. Solved my love hate relationship with the Tube Screamer. This will be the highest rating I ever gave anything. I'm a stickler.

I can't BELIEVE more people have't caught on to this box. It's got that kick ass TS tone, but with a knob that allows you to keep your pick attack. the Original TS sucks for rythm, and does this wierd compressy thing that steals the edge of your original signal.
It can be used like a top boost to give life to Dark amps. I leave it on most of the time !!!

Had a voodoo vibe for a couple of years (Which is also a great pedal.) never had a relibbility issue..gigged with it ALOT.

I tweaked a lil' pot inside my Voodoo vibe that you aren't suppose to touch. I sent it back to them..they re-adjusted it and mailed it back free of charge. Very cool.

Play Zep, Hendrix,Rock ,Jazz, Blues, playin 20 years. Owned a zillion Pedal Boutique to Boss. This pedal is a Rock n Roll pedal. I prefer pedals that don't have the switch,pots,jacks mounted to the circuit board, I can't remember if Vodoo does this or not.. and dont feel like breakin out a screw driver rite now, But if It aint broke.....

Playin a Tele through it. I use Vintage tube amps. Love this thing.

a breeze to use. if you're familiar with overdrive pedals at any level, this will be simple to use. similar controls to tubscreamer with the added clean boost knob. the manual kinda sucks, but thats probably because they didnt have to write a thesis on how to operate it.

wow, this is where it shines. i have a few modded Keeley pedals, and i know that he mods this, but i still havent sent it off yet! thats how good of a pedal this is. a friend of mine had a keeley tube screamer, and i was blown away at how awesome that sounded. when i was considering buying one for myself, i was hesitant, because i really wanted something with true bypass this time. there was "a sound" that i still wasnt getting from any other pedal thus far. i bought the sparkle drive with the intention of getting it modded, but was taken aback at how rich and perfect the sound already was. its sounds the best with a strat, but its not "guitar specific" like some pedals are. it really sounds great with all my guitars. the really great thing that im just finding out is how great the harmonics are. it does have a midrange focus, but doesnt sound thin. it still has a warm and fat sound. the drive is just right for almost every style. sometimes i do need a tad more gain, but thats only with a few songs here and there. ( i know the keeley mod doubles the gain.). its obviously geared more for bluesy/classic rock/rock players, but you can find a setting for some other styles. the clean blend is fantastic, and really brings out some articulation when playing. you can get a really phenomenal clean shimmering sound with the two mixed together. every overdrive pedal is a little noisy, and this does have a slight hiss with extreme settings, but it sounds quieter than any other overdrive i've ever used. this is by far my favorite overdrive. for being a TS9/TS808 clone, i think it sounds a lot better. i actually hate the tubescreamer. i think it sounds like garbage. but this! this is heavenly! its sonic ambrosia!

it seems really sturdy. havent had any problems. im gigging without a backup, but if it died, i would probably cry

never dealt with them

i've been playing for about 10 years, play a lot of rock music in my church, and have a few keeley pedals. by itself, this is the best pedal i've ever played. im somewhat of an audiophile when it comes to overdrive, so im critical of many pedals, but this is just great. i hope its never lost or stolen. i would go out and by another. this is just a memorable pedal. this is one of those pedals that if you sold it, you'd look back and say, "man, i wish i didnt get rid of that thing!"
like i said before, i think the only thing it could use is maybe a tad bit more gain for the sole reason of playing a couple more songs. this really does inspire you as you play, as cheesy as that sounds. i know people on this site give tens without much thought, but i really do mean it. this is perfect.

Very easy to use others have stated what it is so I wont waste your time

I use a goldtop 56 re-issue with P-90's and a G@L ASAT tele, 335 and a DeArmond MT-77 with a blackface super reverb. Pro player with over 25 years experience have done studio and touring in a roots rock blues format. The reason I purchased was to find a pedal that could complement my sound being a tad oldschool I really never liked distortion boxes or compression, my view was to get the air moving by running your amp hot. Still nothing better than a superreverb on 5 or 6 and a great guitar you get a classic full rich tone. This pedal will achieve some of that at lower volumes and I do like the ability to dirty the sound up when called for. I find it very versitale and has many possiblilties. purcahsed it to replace my Fulltone boost pedal

Have had it for over a year, at times the light will not work and the on off switch sticks a bit also replacing a battery is not as easy as others have stated

no comment have not had to use them

As stated above (gear and styles) I like the pedal and think it is a great value and will solve the problem if your working clubs amp need a nice full round sound at lower volumes

as already stated, just blend amp tone and 808 style overdrive.

no complaints about the tone. i also own fulldrive 2, Analog man silver mod TS9, Xotic BB pre-amp and the sparkle stands up well with them all a great TS808 sound. i play strats into Cornell (dc-developement) class a amps.

Here we go! Dont bother. i loved the sound but sent it back twice within 3 months to have new switches installed. in the end i trashed it. i've also owned a microvibe which again sounded great changed the switch on that 4 times!! and i'm not heavy footed i've had most of my other stomps between 2 and 10 years and they've never gone wrong.

sounds great in manchester (UK) were great and kept replacing the switches for only #5 a time and seemed as frustrated as me apparently they have V.lab stomps sent to them on a weekly basis.

It's a distortion stompbox with a parallel clean boost. Very easy to use if you know what you have.

I've used the Sparkle Drive with my main rig, which is a Koll Custom DL Thinline into a Vibro-King.

This pedal is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the ability to blend a clean tone with the distorted tone gives you a way to get some "hair" on the body of the note without totally flattening the attack. That's a good thing if you believe, as I do, that much of your expressiveness comes out in how you attack each note. This blended clean/distorted trick works really well if your amp is already running hot enough to respond to differences in touch by sounding more distorted as you dig in; the Sparkle Drive works with your amp to fatten up the body of the note while still letting some clean signal through so you can control your amp with your playing dynamics.

But it's the interaction of the Sparkle Drive and a cranked amp this really brings out the magic. You won't get creamy overdrive tones at low amp volumes; without the amp's natural overdrive to smooth things out the Sparkle Drive sounds a bit harsh and fizzy. That's *not* a point against the Sparkle Drive, as far as I'm concerned. It's just a matter of understanding the limitations of the pedal. If you're going to play a stage volumes the Sparkle Drive is a wonderful tool. If you need creamy overdrive and dynamic touch response at conversational levels you should look elsewhere. To be fair, this is true of all "old-school" distortion stomps...

I haven't abused it, and it hasn't broken.

Never had to deal with the company.

I play a variety of music that borrows from rock, folk, classical and jazz. I play mostly fingerstyle and pay a lot of attention to dynamics, voice leading and chord voicing.

I've been playing for almost fourty years - seriously for the past seven.

My main rig is a Koll Custom DL Thinline into a Vibro-King. For effects, I'm particulary hot on the Toadworks Redux and the Blackstone MOSFET Overdrive. I have a few other effects that get hooked up on an as-needed basis.

Honestly, I don't think I *would* replace the Sparkle Drive. It's not bad, but it's not good enough to have a permanent place in my rig. At the moment my wife uses the Sparkle Drive as a clean boost in her bass rig.

That said, I'd still *recommend* the Sparkle Drive to anyone who's already pushing their amp and needs just a bit more oomph to fatten up their lead lines. The idea of mixing the clean sound in parallel is brilliant, and really works well with a pushed amp. The clean attack hits hard to bring out all the dynamic character of the amp, then the distortion fills out the body of the note. It's a winning combination, IMO. But it's not the only way, and I have a different approach to get that kind of response over a much wider range of volumes - everything from coffeehouse to club volumes.

not easy ( because it's a really oustanding pedal ). Seriously - I have owned mine for 3 yrs - steady use in medium sized bars/clubs - I didn't find my "perfect tone" until about six months ago - it was worth the experimenting and being a slow learner - so it loses 2 pts

knobs a little close together - when you turn one knob , you bump into another one. - one more point off

I don't do reviews much but this time I really want to because I have come up with a really cool set-up with this pedal - it only applies to strats into fender boxes. If you play anything else my review is a waste of your time - so skip it.

my setup strat ( EJ model for past year ) >>>>> any good compressor ( subtle amount of compression ) >>>>>> Carl Martin drive/boost
( maybe other hybrids of distortion and OD would work at this place in the chain - OD pedals DON"T work for this plan. - I set the drive level only slightly up and the volume up enough to increase overall volume when engaged >>>>> sparkle drive gain - off ( that's right - all the way turned down counter-clockwise ) tone - all the way rolled off ( yep ) clean - about 10:00 volume - up enough for slight increase when engaged >>>>>>>>> tweed 4 10" bassman re-issue with the tone settings very bright and with hi treble ( presence and treble knobs way up )


WARNING - IF YOU DO THIS YOU WILL LOVE THE BRIDGE PICKUP ON YOUR STRAT. Heres the deal: with the sparkle drive on with the bridge PU in a medium size club I get awesome punch with just the right amount of hair - it sounds FAT!! ( that's right - a fat sounding strat bridge PU - but SWEET fat - not muddy fat like a less paul.
- I use this for rhythm and then add the drive/ boost pedal for solo tone - the secret here is LOW gain settings

NOTE: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SUBSTITUTE A FULTONE OCD, KEELEY MODDED TS-9, BUDDA PHATMAN, ETC FOR THE SPARKLE DRIVE - IT DOESN'T WORK - YOU NEED THAT CLEAN KNOB.


what's cool is this - I have that wonderful clean strat into tweed 10" speaker swirl sound for a lot of songs - various pick-ups. AND I have an over-the-top killer bridge PU tone when I want it. I sometimes use the sparkle drive with same settings on mid PU or PU
#4 - so I can produce 'out of phase sweet hair' also!

no humbucker bridge PU or other single coils or other overdrives do this - no need for you to experiment - I did all the research for you!!!! ( you're welcome )

3 years of heavy use.

35 yrs playing - last 10 in a fairly busy cover band ( pop-rock - R+B, rockabilly,funk - fun dance stuff )

other gear: a gazillion other overdrive pedals gathering dust.

this is pretty-much a perfect OD pedal for me - once I figured out this set-up.

Despite having four seperate adjustment knobs on it's face the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive is pretty darn easy to dial in a good tone.

From left to right the knobs are "gain", "tone", "clean" and, "volume". Most of these features are pretty standard fair for od pedals so the only one that needs a little elberation is the "clean" feature; dial the "clean" knob all the way to the left and the "gain" setting will become more pronounced, all the way to the right will lessen the amount of "gain" presence in the signal and will also enable you to make use of the pedal's "clean boost" feature.


Voodoo Lab's manual is a good overview of the general capabilities of the pedal but unlike some other pedals there isn't any recomended presets so to an extente you are on your own.

The key to success with this pedal is sublty, cranking the gain setting or tone settings to either extreme can make the pedal sound a little harsh but working with in it's broad and very usable mid range settings is very rewarding.

Personally I like setting the gain at about 3 o'clock, the tone at 10 o'clock, the tone anywhere between 10 o'clock to about 5 o'clock and the volume is set just so I get the slightest amount of boost when clicked on. By using the clean knob as opposed to the gain to increase and decrease the amount of dirt in my signal I can get a broad sweep from classic od sounds to "low fi" indy sounds to just enough breakup to add some desired "botique" tone to a clean signal or used in conjunction with the amp's own gain settings.

Got a Les Paul and want to make it sound like you are actually playing a big box jazz guitar? Use the clean knob with a fairly high gain setting but dial the clean knob just so you get a nice break up just as the note begans to decay. Very taisty.

I've tried the Sparkle drive through five amps, an old but hotrodded all tube Fender Princeton, a newer trannie Fender Princeston, Mesa Boogie Mk1, a Fender Super Reverb reissue, and last but not least a Rivera M60 112. Used with any of these amp will give you very nice results even with an amps onboard gain settings. If you dig the kind of gain you can get from a Matchless, Savage, Bad Cat, or Carr then you are right in it's tonal range.

Each amp retained it's tonal characteristics, each guitar did the same; ie, a Strat still sounded like a Strat, a Les Paul still sounded like a Les Paul.

That said, played through the trannie Princeton was pretty awful. No, I shouldn't say that, let me just say it was "uninspired" and go on from there.

For an analog od pedal, even used with tube amps, single coils, and in a room that has fluorescent lights and a crt monitor this pedal is incredibly quite. Awsome.

I also use the Voodoo Labs Analog Chorus. Any one looking to duplicate an old Ibanez TS 1. I recomend using both together if you are trying to get "that" tone. Sure, it's been said that the Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive is based on the old TS 1 but I don't hear it. To me it's much more useable and flexible, especially with the clean boost and clean blend features.

If you have tried either the Barber LTD or the Toadworks Mr Squishie then you will probably like this pedal. This pedal is is about as flexible as the Barber LTD but has a broader tonal range than the Mr Squishie.

If you are looking for the ultimate high gain, super saturated 500 megaton distortion pedal of ultimate death - this is not for you.

Yes and yes.

It seems, as of now that Voodoo Labs has adressed it's infamous on off switch issue so there shouldn't be any problems.

For rock, blues, jazz, and country this is a very usable pedal. No need to lug around a huge amount of stomp boxes to jam sessions or to recording sessions unless or if these situations require high gain rock tones.

I've tried a good number of offboar stomp boxes including the Barber LTD (awsome but hard to find in stock and in a store) the Toadworks Mr Squishe (great tone, nice compression but you only get that one great tone) the Mesa Boogie V Twin (god's own od pedal- no longer being made and very expensive even used) the reissued Marshall Guv (great for "Marshall" tones, amazing for high gain distortion, not so hot for lighter shadings) and last and least Visual Sound's Jekyll and Hyde Overdrive (shit).

Short of running multiple stomp boxes the Voodoo Lab's is a jack of all trades. If I had to sum it up in three words they would be "subltle", "musical", "flexible". Would I buy this pedal again? Oh, heck yeah. If a Boogie V Twin and a Sparkle Drive were the same price would I have stil bought it over the V Twin? No, I may be an idiot but I'm not a moron.

If this were to be turned into the ultimate od pedal I wish it had two things 1) more saturation for metal players and 2) that it resoponded a little better to increasing the guitar's volume output for it's gain output. Tube amp guys (and gals) you know what I'm talking about, tranny amp people... you don't know what you are missing.

Make no mistake, this is a good chunk of change for a stomp box. I highly recomend that when you check it out that you do several things 1) bring your own guitar espcially something that's hard to distort like a Strat or a Tele, 2) bring your own amp to the dealership, 3) bring any and all other stomp boxes so you can set up your own signal chain so you can hear how the pedal reacts to other effects 4) try the pedal back to back to other stomp boxes within + - $50 of this effect's price range.

What really prompted me to buy the Voodoo Labs over any other is 1) how it worked with the Analog Chorus 2) it's incredibly good "botique" tone.

I all ready was using the Marshall Guv but the Marshall did not, or could not communicate well with the Anolog Chorus. But since the Marshall Guv has a slight chorus to it any way the point is somewhat moot unless I really wanted a grand mal phsycedelic freak out sound.

This is a follow up review, mostly to address the pedal's relability. But, sure, it's easy to use.

Yes, sounds pretty great. See below for more on sound...

As stated elsewhere here, the switch failure is an issue. See below...

Their email kicked me back an auto-reply directing me to call. On the phone they were polite and informed. I got the pedal back from them in 2 weeks, which is pretty good turnaround, though had it broken mid-tour, I guess I'd have to hit up a shop for a back up.

Still, nice and friendly folk, willing to discuss the products.

Just thought I'd lend my thoughts here: Even though the switch went south I still think this overdrive deserves a good rating, the clean blend goes a long way and makes it a great tool, for overdrive and clean boost and the best is in between. After mine went bad I initially lost faith and tried literally around a dozen other pedals to replace it, and none got me just what I wanted. I settled on a DOD, surprisingly, called a Juice box, which is remarkably nicer than I'd thought DOD pedals to be. But when I got the Sparkle Drive back in the mail and threw it in my rig I was really pleased with how great of a fit it is. I've tried almost everything (TS, boutique, fulltone, etc) and there's nice alternatives out there, mostly on the expensive end, but nothing I tried was quite as right, the Sparkle Drive is the one I like best. Easy to dial up just the right amount of drive and clean to sound great. The best thing is that it's not changing your guitar tone or eq when engaged. It's very smooth and easy to get all the extra grit I need.

I called them when I got mine back to ask about the potential for future switch problems, and they said it's unlikely that it will go bad again. Obviously it's hard to trust something that's gone bad in the past, but I believe they're aware and invested in their product's reliability at this point. Lucky for them I'm so sold on the sound and function. Hope they keep an eye on quality, reliability is very important.

The Bottom Line is:
I tried to replace this while waiting for repair and couldn't find anything as good for what it does. I hope the company is bankable and that the repair holds true, because if it fails again I will have to let it go. But right now, it's fixed and reliable, and I'm very happy to have it back.

Recommended.

read on.....

great...read on.....

You guessed it...FAULTY SWITCH!!! bummer

good ,theyre replacing the switch,but like the other reviewer said,why should i have to pay the shipping on a brand new pedal??

The other reviewers pretty much sumed it up,great subtle overdrive.If this happens again though,Im ditchin this one...

Easy to dial in a variety of sounds. Every knob is clearly labeled so twist away until you get what you are after. One page Manual which descibes the knob functions. One complaint is I hate needing a screwdriver and removing 4 screws just to change the battery. Minus -1 for that.

Running in the effects chain through a Traynor or V-Series tube amp straight into the amp input. I play a Texas Special Strat or a Gibson Les Paul. I prefer the pedal on the amps dirty channel for a solo boost. This pedal delivers exactly what I was after. The Tone is perfect and the boost is right on. I love/hate this pedal!

Here is where the love-hate realtionship begins. The first two Sparkle Drives I received were both faulty. Switch problems right out of the box. I am now on my third one in a month. Luckily this one seems to be ok. Normally I would say screw it after this many malfunctions and find something else, but the testimony here is that I like this pedal so much that I'm willing to deal with the problems!

I did speak to Voodoo Labs on the phone and they were more than happy to fix it for free. But rather than be out the "to them" freight charge I opted to return both units back to Musicians Friend for a replacement. Each time MF issued a call tag for the defective unit and picked up the freight expense. Kudos to MF. I give Voodoo Labs a 5 rating here because if a brand new pedal arrives that is faulty out of the box I think the customer shouldn't be responsible for ANY freight charge!

I have been playing Rock, Blues, and Praise music for 22 years. The VL Sparkle Drive is an amazing pedal...when it works. I have to recommend it even though there are issues with it. It sounds that good!

It's easy to dail in the tone you are looking for. After playing around for my first 20 minutes with this pedal, I was able to find 2 or three nice settings with some simple knob turning.

My guitar of choice is a G&L hollow ASAT (Tele style) with dual humbuckers installed. I feed the signal through a 120watt Crate Vintage club head on top of a 2x12 loaded with a Vintage 30 and an Eminence Legend.<br>
I mostly set the clean fairly low and the gain up around 2 or 3 o'clock. My tone setting is set around 1-3 o'clock. This gives me a great hot 'n balanced attack that reminds me of a Keith Richards, Joe Perry, or Tom Petty rhythmn sound.<br>
The response is very even. The clean boost really helps the treble sing and to bring out each note when playing individual strings. When compared to a TS9 TS808 (which I sold after being pushed off of my pedal board by the Sparkle Drive) the bass response is fatter and the mids less harsh. It's quieter too. Same goes for the Boss DS or OD pedals (a couple of my buddies on more of a budget play these) You can't beat the high quality analog circuitry of this pedal.

No issues at all after a couple years of use. The switch and knobs still operate like new, and the durable case seems to be very resistant to wear.

Never had to deal with customer support. The packaging and simple manual is nice and their website is sensible and useful. Judging by that, I would guess that their customer support is rather adept as well.

I play all types of rock music from classic to more modern, but mostly rock in the style of the Ramones, the Jam, or U2. Sometimes I play Beatles, Stones, and Zeppelin style rock. I mainly play bass, but I record some rhythmn guitar tracks as well. This pedal is versatile enough to work quite well for pretty much anything I play that requires a bit of a harder edge or requires more of a hard rock vibe. It can do both very well. I haven't done too much experimentation with a straight clean boost and less dirt, but it works very well at doing what I require it to do.<br>
I would [i]highly[/i] recommend this pedal to anybody who might be considering an Ibanez or Boss pedal. The price is higher, but the sacrifice in dollars is really made up for in quality and depth of tone.

It's very easy to use its just got so many possibilities in terms of setting. Not at all an "all knobs on 11" type pedal just cuz' thats not its thing, but also engaging the clean all the way will make it into a clean boost only.

I have to rate this a 10. Silly it seems but i've been without an amp for quite a while and just was reading these reviews and remembering how much fun this thing is. It definately has a tube screamer sound but idk, it's hard for me to just call it a "clone screamer." When i had amps i had a Marshall DSL 1x12 combo and a little 10 watt crate practice amp. I'd say that overdrive at about 3o'clock and clean at about 9-11o'clock was my favorite setting, i liked its tube screamer sound with the clean added in to add some bite, like real complexity to the sound.
My cousin (old enough to be my uncle with kids my age) happened to score an amp off an old lady. It was broken as far as she knew, and he didnt and doesnt really know amps (counrty music guy all acoustic) so he bought it off her for 100 bucks. Its only problem was the power cord needed to be replaced: IT WAS A VINTAGE BLACKFACE FENDER SUPER REVERB!!! He lent it to my dad to play around with a bit and when i plugged the sparkle drive into that bad boy GOOD LORD! Instant SRV i kid you not lol! My dad played with it more than i did when i did this, he even liked using it for country and kicking it in for quick little solo runs when he and my cousin and their band (all related) played out... borrowing it for days at a time and once in a while forgetting it at my cousin or uncle's houses...
Oh btw almost forgot a word on guitars:
Fender Jag-Stang with stock neck and Seymour JB, sounded good nice rock feel throught the DSL and was the first way id experienced "Stevie" in my kitchen with my dad and the Super LOL(i was the biggest nirvana fan at the time)
Washburn Bt8: stock: marshall: again a good sound with humbuckers driving it tho this guitar still needs to be fixed as the bridge cuts out.
Cousin's American Strat: Super:WOW! read above! this was awesome, for me it was damn near religious lol.
I played all these guitars with the pedal through the crate too, it did its thing well enough at bedroom levels but it shined with just a little more push from the louder amps.

Well i can't really give an opinion here. I never gigged with it tho my dad did and it held up well. I'd heard bad things about the switches even when i bought it but its been without batteries in the bottom of a milk crate collecting dust for quite a lil while unfortunately.

Never dealt with them.

Man i loved this thing. I play rock of all sorts and i love the blues. For a blues style this thing is killer, and my dad even liked it for his country. For rock or harder rock (i liked bands like Nirvana, Foo Fighters and a bunch o' punk guys at the time tho havin a country guitar playin dad my tastes were always broad)its good for a mellow sort of feel. I've been playing about 10 years now, and i have a bunch or crunch pedals. I have a Hot cake, a Rat, a Sustain punch creamy dreamer and they are all just different animals. As i said i've been between amps for quite a little while. At one point i stopped playin little shows with my friends and since they all had one amp or another (most louder than my little Marshall dsl even if i loved that thing) i figured what the hell i need money for my student loan i'll sell it and just use ev1 elses amp. The crate was my sister's boyfriend's who became her ex-boyfriend: bye bye practice amp. And the Super Reverb as never mine to begin with tho i had more than my fun with it.
And that brings me to the big point and the reason i wanted to "Gush" on this pedal after having it for so long: FUN. Playing with this pedal was so much fun wish i had an amp just so i could break it out again. It has alot of range and the mix of sound is pretty wide, tho its not a do-all pedal like the hotcake which can go unbelievable clean boost-crunch-distortion-raging wall of fuzz. And this thing, i dunno how to say it. It doesnt make your gear sound like your gear, it makes it sound like your gear played through THIS pedal, tho thats kinda any 808 Tube screamer in my experience.
anyway to me this pedal was alot of fun and i recommend it to any1 looking for a ts808 ts9ish sound, or just lookin for a "Stevie" sound. LOL! Cyall later

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4 knobs...come on now.

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

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

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

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

Built like a block of iron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

N/A ,havent had to deal with them

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

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

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

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

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

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

exactly what i was looking for.

n/a

n/a

n/a

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

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

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

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

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

very basic pedal

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

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

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

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