VS Route 66

Opinions on the VS Route 66 OD/compressor.I play Blues and country, mostly blues. Thanks

Opinions on the VS Route 66 OD/compressor.I play Blues and country, mostly blues. Thanks

I've had one for a long time and I like it. I did some Indyguitarist mods on it and it got even a little better, but it's fine as is too. I alternate between it and a HBE Power Screamer/Keeley Compressor which does the same trick but a little more hi-fi.

I have heard nothing but good things about them, you can get them separate now too, actually it is where I got my idea to do a compressor comparison, I was e-mailing back and forth with Zac of VS, he said the new comp was better than a Keeley, so I suggested that I get one from Keeley and he send me one of his and I would do a comparison, but he said he didn't have any in stock. So, I went after Analog man instead and He had no problem with it.
Visual Sounds pedals are made in China which is no problem for me, lots of great stuff come out of China, but to be a boutique pedal, I think it would have to be American made.
Jim

I saw one on clearance at Guitar Center, over the weekend. I think they're coming out with a new design (smaller box).

I have a friend with one and he really likes it. I collect Route 66 stuff. Maybe I should kill two birds with one stone.

I have had a Rt. 66 on my board for a couple of years now and have been more than pleased with it.

I had one for a while. The comp side was sterile, imho- bright sounding. The TS side had a great deal of gain and volume on tap. Overall a good pedal. My local shop was blowing out the older version (larger box) for $99.

Here's the link, it's not on there website, but you could call/email to see if they still have them. They had them listed in their March Madness flyer for $99 (along with the Red Jeckyl/Hyde box).

http://pnsmusic.com/c-9-guitar-effects.aspx?pagenum=13

I love my Rt66 !!
I travel alot and often don't know exactly what amp i will have when i get there but the Rt66 is the only tool i take in my gig bag.
The distortion i find is very controllable, it doesn't just do the screaming thing, it can be quite subtle and controllable from the guitar.
I think the comp sounds very natural and again is very controllable with the knobs on the pedal.
Often overlooked is the fact that it has a whopping clean boost so stick this in front of even a Twin and crank it up and the Twin will really sing !
I did quite a bit of fiddling with mine, especially combing the two effects but it's worth investing an hour to get it sounding the way it can.

The od side is supposed to be ts808 and the comp like a dynacomp, they have backed off some of their claims about how great their comp is, they have upgraded all their pedals to a 2 status, so all original stuff is on sale
J

.... they have backed off some of their claims about how great their comp is, ........

What ?, are they saying it's a POS now ? tee hee :lol:

Maybe it's not to everybodys taste but i like the fact it's adjustable so you can get rid of that awful 'sucking' sound that some comps have.

They were telling me it was better than a Keeley , sound wise.

I have one. It's real handy and a killer pedal for the $ - good sounding screamer and a descent comp all in one

Had Keeley mod the OD side with his TS 808 mod - sounds better now at lower volumes and has more gain range

I don't find the compression bright (the tone control is very usefull).

The comp performs really good at very squishy settings and is also usefull as a boost/clean boost. It's not as good at subtle compression for jangle guitars like the Keeley or Barber compressers are

I have the older original version with the bass boost switch on the OD side but without the tone on/off switch on the comp side

the only bad thing I ever heard about them is that with the wrong amp they sound bad. Dunno if I trust the person however but worth mentioning. Almost bought one myself, goodluck

I had one, and I loved it. however, the buttons were way too close together for my tastes.

Ben

So has anyone experienced the new one, and what's the verdict? How do you think it would work with a new PRRI?

I tried one out and to me it has a sound of it's own, it does not have the typical ca3080 chip, it has a more modern one. To me it did not sound like a ross or dynacomp, more modern, When you turn off the noise device to make it sound like a dyna comp, it gets real noisy, it does make alot of squish, but not much true compression, sent it back
J

I've used mine for several years now with my DRRI and Concert. I use the comp mainly as a boost. The overdrive , to me, sounds really good thru Fender amps.

I've used mine for several years now with my DRRI and Concert. I use the comp mainly as a boost. The overdrive , to me, sounds really good thru Fender amps.

+1

I run it into a BF Princeton Reverb and also a Trace Velocette. I run the gain most of the way down on the OD side and run the comp as a clean boost. Mine is paired with a Sparkle Drive which I actually use for the dirtier sound at the moment - I keep flip flopping on that - I find that the combination of those two pedals works well... just can't decide which to make more 'gainy'. My vision of 'gainy' is that thing that happen's right after 'put a little hair on it' - not real gainy by some folks standards.

' suppose I should note that I run a Weber 10A100 in the Trace and a set of JJ's dialed in for early breakup - it's a gainy little monster so I don't need much in the way of gainy distortion as I already have some of that on tap at the amp. Fender clean and EL84 breakup all at reasonable volume.. Nice and punchy...

I've had two, and the only thing I find problematic is that unity gain is around 9 o'clock on the volume knob. After that it must have 20dB of gain it can add.

Often overlooked is the fact that it has a whopping clean boost so stick this in front of even a Twin and crank it up and the Twin will really sing !

yo big john! i am just back from the rehearsal place and did exactly that. i had a bag full of other testpedals from the local dealerwith me to get a transparent overdrive out of my amps. my old route 66 won bigtime! no money needed to be spent. i just switched off the bassboost, drive all the way down and the volume so far up, as i need it. the compressor is really nice for clean slideguitar. think lowell george a bit. good pedal.

I love my Route 66 and try to use it whenever possible!