Overdrives

Randy Beavers · Post by **Randy Beavers** » 20 Jul 2001 2:39 pm

I believe I've found the "Holy Grail" of overdrives for steel guitar. It is a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive. What makes this unit unique is that it has a clean mix knob that lets you blend in your clean signal with the overdriven one. Kinda of like having one amp "dirty" and the other one clean. You can mix in enough clean signal so that you can play chords and the sound doesn't fall apart, so it really sounds like an amp being driven to the edge and more. They are fairly inexpensive, $120.00. The biggest problem is finding one, the factory can't make them fast enough to keep up. Also, it has a "true bypass" so it doesn't alter your tone in bypass mode.

Buck Dilly · Post by **Buck Dilly** » 20 Jul 2001 4:32 pm

Thanks Randy, I have some nice boxes, but I have been wanting one with the clean capability. I'll have to try one. I use a Full Drive II. It is very smooth, very quiet and, best of all: all the bass frequencies stay in the sound. Buck

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Steels and Guitars. Emmons, Nationals, Dan-O's, ES 340, Tube Amps only! "Blue Sparks From Hell" and "Kings in DIsguise".

Randy Beavers · Post by **Randy Beavers** » 20 Jul 2001 6:12 pm

Buck, I'm a Fulltone fan. All their products are first class, especially the Choralflange. Although when I tried to use the Full-Drive 2 I noticed the bass strings lost their "presence" when I was just trying to get a mild overdrive. When I started turning up the drive and gains it sounded great but there was more saturation than I wanted. The tone I was looking for was like a small tube amp being pushed to the limit but where all the notes in a chord were still separated. I talked to Mike Fulton at the factory and he recomended cutting a wire that should bring the tone back to its origional sound. You might try calling him to get the details. I just wasn't willing to take a new unit and modify it. Also, the Sparkle Drive will get as "dirty" as you want.