Lovepedal Superlead...meh

Took it home last night for $97...going back today. I tried this pedal when it first came out and remember really liking it...maybe my ear has changed. It's Marshally I guess...doesn't have much gain until about 2 o'clock...a bit bass heavy for my liking and the mid boost switch wasn't very exciting...boosted mids, but took away a bit of the distortion.

Anyone else ever try one?

Bye,bye .........next!

Ironically, it sounds best to my ears going into a Marshall type amp

Took it home last night for $97...going back today. I tried this pedal when it first came out and remember really liking it...maybe my ear has changed. It's Marshally I guess...doesn't have much gain until about 2 o'clock...a bit bass heavy for my liking and the mid boost switch wasn't very exciting...boosted mids, but took away a bit of the distortion.

Anyone else ever try one?

Ive been saying it for months since I sold mine. Dont buy one!

Mine fills a very specific tonal hole that I had in my board. With the mid switch to the right and the gain around 2 o'clock it does ok, but really takes the clean boost in front of it well. However, I have a Catalinbread DLS mkII on the way, so we shall see if the Superlead stays around.

Sounded pretty generic to me. Although the price was nice.

It's basically a V1 Marshall Guv'nor, or maybe Crunch Box is more appropriate, since it's a Guv'nor with a single tone control instead.

...the mid boost switch wasn't very exciting...boosted mids, but took away a bit of the distortion...

The mids switch selects between either the stock Guv'nor LED clipping, or a pair of epoxy rectifier diodes (similar to plain silicon diodes, with just a little more compression). When you switch to LED clippers, you get the volume and bass jump, and the drop in clipping/distortion.

You could actually get the Allums kit for the Daddy-O (also a Guv'nor clone), which has a toggle to let you choose the rectifier diodes instead of the LED's. I think a used Daddy-O is about 20 bucks, and the Allums kit is probably just a little more than that. So at $97, that's not much of a deal, IMO.

Or get one of the Joyo pedals that copies the Crunch Box or the Suhr Riot. The CB only has LED clippers, but most folks seem to favor those in the Guv'nor-derived circuits. The Riot gives you 3 different clipping diode selections with its toggle.

Or get a Turbo Rat. LED clippers, and you just can't beat a Rat! :smile:

What is interesting is that the CB and Riot are the only two Guv'nor-derivatives that seem to have longevity to their appeal. The tepid response to the Superlead is almost identical to what most folks said about the Daddy-O.

I think that LED clipping is "hard to keep interesting over the long haul." During the honeymoon period, they tend to be pretty neat - kind of open and more booster-y than pedals with silicon/traditional clipping diodes. But the lack of compression/saturation/teeth seems to bore folks at some point.

What is weird is that they Superlead has the other diodes on the switch, though, so I guess it needs more tweaking to work with them, going by the average impression.

It's basically a V1 Marshall Guv'nor, or maybe Crunch Box is more appropriate, since it's a Guv'nor with a single tone control instead.

The Crunch Box sounds really nice, but only if you want A LOT of gain. It's also a bit noisy. With that said, the construction of the Crunch Box does feel better than the SL.