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Joe Bonamassa Forum → Joe's Guitars, Amps and Gear → Zendrive
Does anyone have or has used a Zendrive pedal? Or can anyone recommend a dumble-ish pedal that actually works as advertised? Just wondering if a $250 +/- pedal will put me where I want instead of spending a heck of a lot more for a amp.
Any helpful input will be appreciated.
Thanks!
Spider
When A/B ing the Zen Drive and the OceanEFX Pearl Drive...the OceanEFX Pearl Drive was in my opinion..hands down the better sounding of the two. The PD has a creamy smooth over drive, very articulate which means it follows your right hand picking dynamics very very well. The Pearl also had considerable more gain to it. With the gain set at about two oclock it out right rocks. The Zen also didn't have the warmth of the PD.
There's a lot of "Dumble" type pedals out there. Seeing that THAT was the tone I was after I ended up buying a Fuchs ODS. The PD comes as close to the "D" tone as anything available. I added a PD to my Fuchs rig because it was so close to the Dumble sound. It lets the amps characteristics totally shine through. I use it as a in between Clean-Lead sound. It allows me to set the lead channel with much more gain using the PD as a medium gain sound and not losing anything in between.
Other options would be to look into the Fuchs Plush line of pedals. All are about in the same price range of $179 or so.
Spider
When A/B ing the Zen Drive and the OceanEFX Pearl Drive...the OceanEFX Pearl Drive was in my opinion..hands down the better sounding of the two. The PD has a creamy smooth over drive, very articulate which means it follows your right hand picking dynamics very very well. The Pearl also had considerable more gain to it. With the gain set at about two oclock it out right rocks. The Zen also didn't have the warmth of the PD.There's a lot of "Dumble" type pedals out there. Seeing that THAT was the tone I was after I ended up buying a Fuchs ODS. The PD comes as close to the "D" tone as anything available. I added a PD to my Fuchs rig because it was so close to the Dumble sound. It lets the amps characteristics totally shine through. I use it as a in between Clean-Lead sound. It allows me to set the lead channel with much more gain using the PD as a medium gain sound and not losing anything in between.
Other options would be to look into the Fuchs Plush line of pedals. All are about in the same price range of $179 or so.
Thanks for the info Danny. I'm way shy on funds so a Fuchs is way out of my league! Actually....
I was on the phone this afternoon with a friend who's bringing over his Ceriatone OTS for me to try for a few days. If I like it I wonder if he'll give it up cheap? 
Fat Chance!
In my experience for the "real" sound of a pedal to come through you must use it with a pretty clean sound. If I'm not mistaken you have a Jubilee right Spider? I think it would be hard for a Zendrive, Pearl Drive, Howie, Jetter etc to REALLY change the characteristics of the Marshall enough to get you in DumbleLand. Not to say that wouldn't still result in bitchin' tone! If you have a stereo 4x12 I would spring for the Ceriatone OTS. I absolutely love mine and haven't had a single problem with it. IMO the amp will get you wayyyy closer to the Dumble sound/feel than any pedal...the Jubilee/OTS combination would be killer for sure!
Spider, just to clarify. Fuchs makes pedals now, too that are great Dumble/Fuchs like tone in a box which sell for the $179 range. If you have a Jubilee on the clean channel I really think the Pearl Drive will get you close. It's got more gain than the Zen Drive which will match up nice with the gain on the Marshall.
In my experience for the "real" sound of a pedal to come through you must use it with a pretty clean sound. If I'm not mistaken you have a Jubilee right Spider? I think it would be hard for a Zendrive, Pearl Drive, Howie, Jetter etc to REALLY change the characteristics of the Marshall enough to get you in DumbleLand. Not to say that wouldn't still result in bitchin' tone! If you have a stereo 4x12 I would spring for the Ceriatone OTS. I absolutely love mine and haven't had a single problem with it. IMO the amp will get you wayyyy closer to the Dumble sound/feel than any pedal...the Jubilee/OTS combination would be killer for sure!
No, actually I was going to use the pedal with a fender twin or a blues deville. And yes my cab is split. I'm trying to sell some gear to fund the OTS, but nothing sells around here unless it's a $50 strat. Some days I really miss Tampa Bay! 
I don't usually put anything on credit unless I know I can pay for it when the bill comes due but I think I'm gonna just chuck caution to the wind and order the OTS. Do I need it? No. Do I really want it? Oh yeah! 
Thanks for the help guys. Much Appreciated!
I am running a VOX ac15. What pedal would you guys suggest would get into the dumble range? Zendrive? Jetter GSR? Ethos TLE? or something else?
Also I was thinking about running 2 15 watt amps cuz I have the marshall bluesbreaker 2 pedal on the vox now...was thinking about another tube amp and run a dumble pedal through that and a/b/y the two amps. what do you guys think of that and which 15 watt tube amp would you suggest? maybe something with 6v6's to be different from the vox or does it really matter with a dumble style pedal in front of it?
I am running a VOX ac15. What pedal would you guys suggest would get into the dumble range? Zendrive? Jetter GSR? Ethos TLE? or something else?
Also I was thinking about running 2 15 watt amps cuz I have the marshall bluesbreaker 2 pedal on the vox now...was thinking about another tube amp and run a dumble pedal through that and a/b/y the two amps. what do you guys think of that and which 15 watt tube amp would you suggest? maybe something with 6v6's to be different from the vox or does it really matter with a dumble style pedal in front of it?
Fender Deluxe Reverb + Ocean FX Pearl Drive/Zendrive/Howie/HAO Rumble take your pick. They all sound good and one can debate which gets closest til you're blue in the face. Why not get a Ceriatone Overtone 50watt 1x12 combo? IMO that would get you closer.
I have had a lot of luck getting great sounds from a number of pedals. I really like the Ocean EFX Texas Deuce. I cant say enough about the sound of that pedal thru a Fender Twin. Amazing with a Les Paul.
I also have a Barber Burn Unit that is a great pedal with a very natural sounding amp like overdrive. Plus its a two in one pedal so you can boost it with another seperate overdrive circuit with a seperate volume. Great pedal.
I have heard really good things about the FUCHS Plush Drive. 230 dollars. I am currently saving for one. Just got LASIX so I am short on music money.
The FUCHS is going to give much more of a dumble sound. Thats what they designed it for.
The Pearl drive from Ocean EFX is also a great pedal. Lots of gain on tap. Listen to Danny G about that pedal as he has figured out a really good way to use it with his rig.
I've never tried one myself, but I've heard nothing but good things about the Zendrive.
That being said, I've never had much luck getting a solid overdriven tone from a box. I prefer to use a good amp (a Marshall is fine for this 
) and I just add a TS-9 or a boost of some kind to boost the gain a bit.
-Scott
Nothing beats the ultimate solution of using different amps for different tones. But besides the expense of two, three or more boutique heads you have to deal with 1. lugging the stuff around, 2. phasing and polarity issues. 3. space on often crowded stages. Sometimes a good pedal is all thats needed to get you in the ball park.
Spider, again it's all up to your ears and what feels good to you. The Pearl is warmer and gainier than the Zen which honestly after A/Bing them both side by side is the way to go.
Sad to say, I have found that at the end of the day (or gig) no one but you is going to notice or care. I have spent hours upon hours tweaking verb and delay times, decays, hi/low pass filters, getting the right amount of top and bottom spin sounds on a leslie sim or rotovibe, using this cable over that cable, etc....and guess what? No one notices except us anal retentive gear heads.
Danny, I underline what you say to a certain degree.
I'm also such a gearnut. Tweak hours, days, months in rehearsalroom
to get my stuff right. Of course Marie Potts of Biggleswait isn't interested
about the gear I play at a gig. I could also play a stupid 15watt modeller, the effect
were the same.
But I enjoy myself to play my maybe overdimesioned rig.
Currently I love a Marhsall Bluesbreaker paired with a Budda Superdrive 30 head
into a 2x12 cab with EVM12L. Some peds like Wah, TS-808 and a Boss DD-3 in the FX loop.
Great setup. Its just fun rock on stage with it. By the way, on saturday we gig again.
Stage is 8 meters wide. Much space...
Rock on
Alex
In my experience for the "real" sound of a pedal to come through you must use it with a pretty clean sound. If I'm not mistaken you have a Jubilee right Spider? I think it would be hard for a Zendrive, Pearl Drive, Howie, Jetter etc to REALLY change the characteristics of the Marshall enough to get you in DumbleLand. Not to say that wouldn't still result in bitchin' tone! If you have a stereo 4x12 I would spring for the Ceriatone OTS. I absolutely love mine and haven't had a single problem with it. IMO the amp will get you wayyyy closer to the Dumble sound/feel than any pedal...the Jubilee/OTS combination would be killer for sure!
You are so right dude!! I'm now gonna try to get my friend to sell me his OTS. He dropped it off yesterday evening and as he was leaving he turned and smiled and said "Enjoy!". OMFG!!! This is a 50W and has plenty of headroom. A 100W in my opinion would be too much. This box has killer tone and totally works with my Jub. I'm in freaking tone heaven!!!
Hope he doesn't see this or I won't be able to talk out of it.
Out of curiosity, what are your settings?
That's cool man hopefully he lets that one out of his clutches lol. I am constantly fiddling with mine (only because my ears change everyday haha not the amps fault) but my current settings are as follow:
Into HI input
Volume -7
Deep-on
Mid Boost-on
Rock-on
Treble- 4.5
Middle-7.5
Bass-4.5
Drive-3.5
Level-2 (live in an apartment, this will soon change )
Master-1
Presence- 0-3 depending on the day the presence affects the overall brightness of the amp due to to the footswitchable midboost bypassing the tone circuit.
Power (knob in the back) at noon. Turn clockwise for more gain/saturation and counterclockwise for less gain and more articulation. Noon gives me a healthy helping of both.
Add a little reverb through the OTS and a DD-3 through the Jubilee and you'd be in business! Oh and the differences between the 50 and 100 watt Dumble style amps are really not that much due to the extreme headroom that the power section is designed for (HAD based his ODS power amp off of a Fender Dual Showman and Twin Reverb). Besides I get breathtaking tones with the level on 2 in an apartment so the mojo is all in the preamp IMO. They do sound cool cranked though, just not as dramatic a difference as with a Marshall circuit. Good luck Spider hopefully you can convince him to sell his OTS!!
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