Way Huge Red Llama Overdrive

Extremely Easy.

This was played into a 69 Silverface Twin Reverb through an american tele with an alnico pro II humbucker bridge pickup. I've owned countless overdrive/fuzz/distortions during the quest for the ultimate overdrive/distortion pedals, including a lot of self-made pedals. These include a DOD250, TS-808, Big Muff, Muff Fuzz, Rat, Turbo Rat, Hotcake, DS-1, SD-1, Fuzzface, Bronx Cheer, Dist+, Ross, Shredmaster, Blues Breaker, Guvnor, MXR Dist III, Fulltone, Klon, and countless others in the past 12 years.

Needless to say, I've heard a lot of them. This one was nothing particularly special. If anything, I was a bit disappointed. I was expecting a nice warm transparent overdrive, but instead got a treble-booster with top end clipping. In my particular set up, it sounded like I flicked the bright switch on and added a not-so-great overdrive/dist. pedal behind it.

Of all of these pedals, I've kept my handmade slightly modified version of a DOD250 as my light overdrive pedal, a Hotcake for normal overdrive/distortion, and a Handmade Triangle Big Muff with some tonality mods as my heavier fuzzy distortion. Also not in my live rig I have my TS-808 clone, Muff Fuzz Self Build, Bronx Cheer Self Build, and a couple other random dist/overdrive projects I've built. But the rest were sold on eBay through the years.

Build quality is good on these. They appear to be carefully assembled.

Don't believe the hype on this one. It's not worth the price people are paying for them. Same goes for the other Way Huge pedals. There are comparable and better pedals for Way Less. Just the other day, I saw a Aqua Puss go for $1150 on eBay. For that price, you could buy an original AD-80, a DM-2, a MXR Carbon Copy, a Memory Man Deluxe, an ADA Delay, A Maxon AD-900, and still have $200 left over in the end. Or better yet, you could buy a killer new guitar.

Um, yeah. Volume and gain. If you can't figure it out, then maybe you change hobbies/professions.

So I guess this where my review is going to differ. This review is geared towards the tone I personally use and I dedicate it to all the low end craving low mid driving junkies out there. Yeah, I'm alkint about you stoner/doom metal guys. I run this thing in front of a vintage sunn model t. Those who know the nature of the beast know that that head drives low end like crazy. A bit muff becomes big mud on that thing. I've tried turbo rats, almost anything eh has put out, fulltone and on and on, but definition seemed to be nearly impossible. I mean, overdriving the cab sounds amazing, but the volume you have to reach is thunderous. So here we come to the review. Sort of. The only thing thusfar I have found to get that tone aside from the modded rats my buddies use is a diamond fireburst. I was pretty happy with it. I'm still fairly happy with it. But the red llama. Jesus. I can play a chord and you can hear the notes. Wow. I almost forgot what that was like. And the pedal has another weird element. I play a chord, and then when I play notes out of it, they're DEFINED. Almost as if they are pushed forward and brought to the forefront. And yes, it's an overdrive, but it seems to have almost a fuzzy background to it when cranked. Not a hum. I mean like when you are playing it's like there is a warm fuzzy undertone to it. It gets that nice open drone tone that we all crave. One guy said it was too trebly. If you find that to be, send it to me and I'll use it. My favorite pedal of all time. Ironically, it made the fireburst pedal sound the slightest bit trebly and tinny.

The Bakelite stomp switch and knobs are sort of scary but it's survived this long, so I'm not too worried. The pots are those nice nice nice type that turn smoothly but offer a little resistance. You know the type. You turn them and the feel just screams quality parts.

Jeorge Tripps. Nice and responds to emails within a day usually. Even told me where i could buy clones if I didn't feel like paying the going rates. Can't wait to see the full bore in action. The new pedals are pretty great as well!

The final synopsis: I play Ernie Ball MusicMan Silhouettes through a 74 Sunn Model t and orange 4x12. I run the fireburst, red llama, malekko e600 light, moog 12 stage phase, and kory dt10. This pedal is worth the money. Due to the fact I an selfish I would not recommend this pedal to any one. The less people buying them the more I can stockpile. And I really don't recommend it for model t owners. It is now my sound so stay away from this combination. If lost I would replace as fast as possible. My favorite pedal. If a fire broke out, I'd save my gf, daughter and dog, then go back for my rare autumn redburst silhouette, my toy zebra I had since I was a kid and this pedal.

Very easy to use. Typical overdrive configuration of knobs.

Okay, I don't like writing negative reviews, but this has to get one. This is without a doubt the largest let down I've ever had with a pedal, much less a boutique pedal. I was very excited to get this pedal after having an extremely positive experience with the Saffron Squeeze compressor.

Well, here we go. If you want a massive amount of volume boost, with an increase of nasally treble - look no further than this pedal. Good gravy! Comparing this to a Klon? Well, yeah, it does have the severe amount of volume boost on top that a Klon has (I owned both pedals at the same time), but the overdrive on tap was exactly what you don't wish to hear - nasty treble.

I have owned Fulltone's, Barbers, PedalDoctor 4-speed overdrives, HBE's, Hotcake's, all the Vox drives, all the Boss offerings, Lovepedal, Frantone, Menatone's and still have an original vintage 808. My rigs are vintage Tele's, Strats, and SG's, and a '68 345, into vintage Fenders, Bogner's, Tone King's, and a '65 AC30.

This was flat-out an unusable pedal. I really can't think of a format or genre of music that could use this pedal. Maybe a bassist that was trying to get a boost with some odd treble sizzle? Maybe.

I expected soooo much more.

Excellent build quality.

I guess they are going to be Dunlop-made with the new issues.

Wow. I still bristle at the great raves this pedal receives. The might be trying to justify a big cash outlay for a rare pedal is the only answer. I've owned my share of quality drives, this one was a huge miss for a great pedal maker.

If you want a great Way Huge search for a Saffron Squeeze, Aqua Puss, maybe the Blue Hippo.

close your eyes and use your ears. 2 knobs makes it very easy. I Love OD pedals without tone control.

Best OD pedal I've ever tried and owned. These are worth every dollar!! though they are hard to come by.
I have a huge selection of different high end OD pedals. I use them for differently for different things. Depends on what I want to do or sound like. Well live this pedal is the first pedal I go into!. Next is a vintage script logo mxr distortion plus. Those 2 pedals does it all for me.

no problems yet.

tried to email mr huge regarding some problems with my aqua puss delay - but couldn't get through to him. well he's out of business so what could I expect.

I've been playing for 17 years and owned a lot of gear. This is a keeper. I will never let this go. If you ever come across one - buy it - or sell it to me! :-)

pretty easy to get a good sound if you like distortion. This effect has almost a 3 dimentinal sound. Here is a seceret: All of the way huge pedals are clones (I call them Super clones) and this is a "Super Clone" of an MXR Distortion + (script). The one thing that W.H. has done with all of their pedals, is to add much more headroom than the original.
If you A/B this with the MXR D+, you will get the exact same effect. Some may not like that or disagree, but it is a fact. W.H. has in fact improved upon the effect by making their pedals, louder, cleaner, and giving them much more head room. Not to mention true bypass.
So, yes, it is easy to get a good sound out of it, and yes it sounds fantastic. But it is simply an improved version of an old favorite

as I said: TONS of head room. GREAT sound. TRUE by-pass. Even when cranked it is not "noisey"
I use a Mesa Boogie .50 caliber (no longer in production)
Yes, you can get the Jerry Garcia sound circa 1977. I call it 3-D distortion. Very cool.
Jerry used a MXR D+ as his distortion of choise in the 70's & 80's

Sure. Never had a problem. As far as back ups, with the prices W.H. are fetching now days, who can afford a back up?

Jeorge Tripps will fix any W.H. pedal for $50 per hour + parts & shipping. For someone of his caliber, he is incredibly accessable

I was lucky to find this one for under $400 in 2005. I think this might be one of the more commen W.H. units. I just love the amount of airy headroom this pedal has and the lack of noise compared to the MXR D+. At first I was not very impressed with it, but after getting to know it and learning how to apply it, it has become one of my favorite W.H. units. The looks are beautiful too. I love the color.

Very easy to use, you can't get a bad sound really... Volume and Gain.

I usually play a Tele with a variety of tube amps (Fender tweeds and a variety of Burriss amps). Let me go ahead and say this is a very impressive overdrive. I love its clean boost capabilities and I love the overdrive. I reminds me of the Klon Centaur.

I am actually wanting a backup of this pedal since Way Huge is out of business and the Red Llama is getting hard to find. I'm currently having Burrissamps.com make an exact clone of this pedal, if that's something that you're interested in you may want to email or call them.

Seems really well made...

n/a

Fantastic, kills a tube screamer. The CMOS circuit is where it's at!

The pedal is get a blond in bed easy. Two knobs. Volume and gain. IF you cant make this work I wouldn't trust you with a spoon and a bowl of cereal, you might hurt yourself. It has two functions for me. The first is as a clean boost. ITs perfect. To achieve this you use the volume up and the drive down. Next as an overdrive, volume down drive up. True bypass, led light tells you its on. Blog likes pedal, uhhh... pedal gooooood..

This pedal is by far THE BEST overdrive out there IMO. I have used Tube Screamer, Fulltone Distortion Pro, DOD overdrive, Boss Blues Driver, Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive, AC Booster and more. The Llama is the best. IF you can find one, I dont care what shape its in, BUY IT! I purchased a second one as a back up cause I cant live without it. It is so clear its astounding. I doesnt mess with the midrange like so many overdrive pedals do. Why o why do all these pedals want to create this mid spike in the tone? Drives me crazy. On a low gain setting you cant even tell its on sometimes. Although it has this buffer effect on the highs and makes this snappy thing happen. Just awesome. Sometimes I keep it on a low gain setting and leave it on all night. It allows the character of whatever its plugged into to be improved. It is very dynamic, expressive, clear, KILLER!! People who are into the individual character of their guitars, pickups, and amps, who just want a clear boost, smooth gain, and the perfect amount of cut will love this pedal. Its almost like an amp itself in the way it behaves. Its not mushy, and it doesnt make your tone settings go to hell. Nobody can tell its a pedal when I play unless they look. How about that? When I play Hendrix style guitar and need the right amount of clean moving into overdrive when hit hard this pedal is invaluable. I can get very Robben Ford and even Landau type tones with it as well. For over the top sustain this pedal can go there but your amp needs to help. This pedal is not a fuzz face. Sometimes I use both my Llama's at once and get the gooey drive. That is a ride! It interfaces with the amp and creates an almost indetectable line between them. Its that good. I once played a Jim Kelly amp with its gain up and then played the Llama and the tone was almost the same. And this pedal has no tubes. I have used this pedal with , Fender Super's, Twins, Peavey Classic 30's, Line 6 AX2, Flextone and Duoverb, Two Rock Sapphire, and Divided by 13 FTR 37. The pedal behaved differently with all of them, and brought forth each amps best qualities. However if you do not like your amps particular distorted sound the Llama may not be perfect for that amp as I stated because the pedal works with your amp instead of covering up a bad sound. I love the Llama and would not part with it. It sounds best when used with a 9 volt adapter. It loses sustain big time when the battery drains.

Its cool, red, and rockin!! I did have a switch go on me. But not a big deal to fix.

Way Huge is out of BIZ. Make nice with your local electronics guy and hope for good communication.

I am a pro guitarist. I tour, play sessions, and teach. I play all types of music. I am a guitar junkie and I need HELP. I learned my first chords in 1978 / 79. If I lost the pedals I would replace them. If they were stolen I would not replace them because I would track down the filthy sinners and rape their minds! I would punish, torture, and demand slave labor from them! I would squirt cheeze whiz up thier nose until it came out thier eyes! The perfect pedal compliment would be 1 Llama and a Varidrive, or a Llama and a AC Booster, or two Llama's. Really with that you dont need more unless you are a death metal scoop mid guy who needs superfast attack and buzz.

Very easy to get a very cool overdrive sound as there are only two knobs: volume and gain - nothing can go wrong with that.

Wow! After a sheer endless oddyssey including all kinds of tubescreamers (too tame and soundchanging), Big Muffs (too mushy), Rats (not enough volume boost), Love Tone Brown Source (great great pedal, but like the rats, not enough volume boost for me), Snarling Dogs pedals and so on I finally found IT! Sounds absolutely great with just the right amount of fuzz and yet enough clarity PLUS a huge volume boost if needed. Used it with a Vox Ac 30, Music Man HD410, Hiwatt Custom 50 - works great with all these amps. I have checked other pedals after I got my Red Llama but nothing has matched it yet. Even bought a second one to be on the safe side on tour.

Bought myself a second one after the footswitched failed me on stage on time. Unfortunately a 9 pole footswitch has to be used in this pedal, to keep the LED working. Those footswitches are quite hard to get here in germany, so I had to go through some footswitch-changes until I found some that seem to work steadily. The only weak-point in this pedal - yet a crucial thing: at least it's the only switch you'll have to use! So you'd better have a more reliable one. Internally everything ist fine - but the IC Numbers habe been blackened to keep plagiarists in the dark, literally. But service personnel as well....

Had it sent back to Way Huge when they were still in business - lifetime warranty. Got it repaired and back in time - but as I live in germany you don't want to keep sending small parcels around the world to fix a footswitch. Now that the compa'ny's aout of business I expect them to still fix their pedals. So if anything really bad would happen, I'd trust them to get it back working again. For sleeping well on tour I still have got the second one as a backup, though.

I play wild rhythm and blues and need a fuzzy overdrive sound that's still clear enough to be able to hear what's going on.
Still haven't found anything better yet to my taste. If it were stolen, I'd be sure to get another one- luckily I have already. All I'd whish for is a tone control sometimes. But as I really dig pedals that can do ONE thing very very well, I can live with that. 10 for the sound 6 for the footswitch problems makes an overall rating of:

Stupid easy -- two knobs.

Les Pauls, Srat, Tele, Harmony Newport -- this is a great pedal that sounds like nothing else, and I love it -- but I don't agree that it's the most versatile OD. It just sounds very very good on many guitars. It's a bit on the bright side and doesn't work great with my Telecaster thru some amps. I'm not going to give it a 10 because I wish it had a tone knob to roll off high end.

Absolutely dependable, no problems in over two years of gigs.

They are gone, forgeddaboudit!

This pedal is killer for crunchy overdrive with an edge. I'd use it more for rock than blues. I still keep my TS808 around for bluesier stuff. But tone is hard to describe, I LOVE what the Red Llama does especially to the low strings of the guitar, it's magic. I can see why guys like them for bass. I'm giving it a nine because it doesn't do everything, but it's great, try one. If it was lost or stolen I'd probably have to find another one and pay thru the a** for it, because nothing else I've heard sound like this pedal.

1 good sound easy to achieve.

i use a wide variety of guitars and tunings. mostly an es335 in a 'g'
type tuning, and a jimmy danelectro in 'd'. my amps are a blackface super, a vox top boost, and a 100 watt solid state which is a slave used to power a vibratone, and or cabinets depending on the venue.
the llama works well with singles and humbuckers, although it takes a little treble from the singles. the pedal is a great rhythmenhancer
it gently morphs your clean sound into a bassier chunkier entity, while maintaining the sound you bought your (my) overpriced amp for.
it works with a wah pedal which is a must for me. it sounds a bit germanium but doesn't have the drawbacks like bad rythem sounds and 'turbo lag'.it kicks the 69's ass, as well as most other overdrives(i have played many and own many). for solos some may need more sustain, but it's enough for any stones, crows, or zep gal.

so far no pbs

unknown, go to you favorite wizard. as far as i know way huge is roach gone.

the llama is simple to use, and sounds great. it is all you need.
try not to pay too much. an alternative would be to build one, that's what i would do if mine were stolen. and i would add a tone pot. to give it a ten under this criteria(overall rating) it has to be a good value, at 250 a pop i can't grant a ten. but the circuit and sound warrant a high rating. so a 9