Worst pedal you've ever used?

[bradpdx]

I absolutely love echo and reverb, and so my 2 stinkers are in that category.

1. Boss DM-2 analog delay. This gets raves in some quarters, but all it produces is a muddy, grainy echo that turns your sound into mush. I swear, the delayed signal has nothing in it above 1kHz, useless. It is still in my closet.

2. Echoplex EM-1, pictured here:



Can you say "thinly engineered"? This thing had the worst sounding analog mixer I have ever heard. I rebuilt it several times, replacing many substandard parts but I could not overcome the inherent wretchedness of the design. I wrote out many parts of the schematic by hand, and often could not believe what I saw - bad design and dozens of band-aids just to make it stable. The older tube Echoplexes might be worth fixing, but this thing just screams "bow wow!"

Life's too short. I gave it away.

[hal]

I had a Distortion Pro too. I could not keep it from sounding buzzy.

[dh]

Originally Posted by bo

Late '70s Big Muff. Worst $36.00 I ever spent. On top of being a signal loading piece of trash it died within two weeks.

I bought one for one day in the late 70s. Got it from a guy at high school, brought it home & it sounded awful. Called him up & he told me it needed a new battery. Popped a new one in and it still sounded awful. Instead of giving him $25 the next day I gave him back the pedal. He was not happy.

This was supposed to be the holy grail of distortion pedals back then. Turned me off of them for decades.

[Jenix]

Originally Posted by davidge1

The yellow DOD overdrive/preamp pedal from the early 80s (or maybe it was from the 70s... I got it used in the early 80s). That thing was so awful sounding that I got rid of it and didnt buy another overdrive pedal for 20 years.

I totally played one of those from the same guy who sold me my 80's rat. Completely useless, and the noise!!

[Fireincairo]

Originally Posted by bowlfreshener

DOD Buzz Box because it sounded like someone put a knife through your speakers and shredded the cones. In fact, the guy showing it to me at the store initially thought there was something wrong with the amp when he first plugged it in to show it to me...

yeah but that may be the intended effect
after all thats how ray davies got the distortion on you really got me.

[bowlfreshener]

Originally Posted by Fireincairo

yeah but that may be the intended effect
after all thats how ray davies got the distortion on you really got me.

I think actually it was supposed to be a more exaggerated version of the MXR Blue Box if I remember, so yeah, that probably is sort of what they were looking for, but I still think its funny that the guy at the store thought the amp was broken at first...

[Fireincairo]

well the blue box sounded like crap so i get what you mean.
could be interesting as an effect if you wanted to inflict horrible noise on someone.

[Razzamatazz]

Boss pedals in general are a turn-off for me: I had an SD-1 which sounded awfully thin with my twin reverb and a CE-3 which seemed to be on when it wasn't.

I had an OD-2 as well which sounded OK for certain things until I put it next to a tubescreamer. Never looked back.

I tried a TU-2 and put it next to a Korg DT-10. The TU-2 sucked treble.

I still have a Boss GT-3 for fiddling at home, but I only use a couple of presets. Most of the stuff in there is useless and/or tonesucking. Maybe I'm too lazy to tinker with it further, but then again, I know it won't come anything near a stage again.

Other pedals that sucked:

Dimarzio Volume Pedal that still used a lamp bulb and LDR. Somehow it didn't work properly.

Vox supa-wah-swell... what swell???

MXR Compressor... just because it was a compressor I guess.

Zoom 3000... zooooooooommmmmmmm.... Actually I heard another guitarist getting great sounds out of this one but no not me. However, I sucked at the time I had the Zoom.

[viking]

(1. Boss DM-2 analog delay. This gets raves in some quarters, but all it produces is a muddy, grainy echo that turns your sound into mush. I swear, the delayed signal has nothing in it above 1kHz, useless. It is still in my closet.)

Brad , are you sure someone didnt mess with the trim pots inside ?
I love both my DM-2 , and the 2 DM-3´s Ive got .....If you just dont like it , put it on eBay , and use the 2-300 $ you´ll get to buy something else,LOL..

Its funny how we see ( hear ) things differently , but maybe the different amps , music styles and so have a part in this ? I love my SD-1 , Ive had it forever , and prefer it to any Tubescreamer....

My son bought the Behringer acoustic pedal, and it is useless. It doesnt just sound bad , but there is hardly anything different in th sound , only noise!

I had one of the first Zoom things , I tried and tried for 2 weeks to get decent sounds out of it , but failed

[Noodler]

I'm surprised that compressors are copping are hammering on a Tele board.

Not a pedal, but Pocket Pod is my worst effects device in that it promsed the world and didn't deliver. I'm not shy about trying out effects in-store after buying that. Probably a "Der Fred" but plastic-sounding. Definitely not "platinum-album selling" quality. Can't return non-faulty items here.

[Stickyfingers]

Hands down the worst ever is the Boss Accoustic Simulator. No wonder MF had it on sale so cheeep. Whoever Beta tested that unit must have had ice-picks rammed in their ears when they were very young. My WEED EATER has more "accoustic" sound than that pedal. I was MORE than happy to return it.......pure petrified JUNK

[Yoni]

Originally Posted by bradpdx

I still have one. It has one or two good sounds, a lot of nauseating sounds, and a constant sound of the ocean in the background. Ugh.

the ocean noise was too much and I returned it for a Boss Ce 5 which makes the 2 noises I use chorus for well enough.

[11 Gauge]

Wow - 72 posts and not a single trashing of the Boss MT-2. I simply cannot believe it.

And I would have been one of those who trashed it too, until I finally de-gained and tweaked it (took me 4 months and a lot of trial and error).

Fab Tone in stock form is fairly horrid, but also pretty cool when de-gained and revoiced.

Still have a 1st gen Zoom 505. I occasionally pull it out for one use only - fuzz with single repeat stereo pong delay. It hisses like a mutha, though.

Wow - so much Big Muff dislike. I guess I understand, though. Very noisy, bypass sucks (literally), and doesn't cut through live, unless it's properly modded. Just getting rid of the sucked mids really brings it to life - a swap of a single cap and a single resistor. Lower gain transistors (or bypassing an entire stage) really makes a difference. The original hand made boards are bulletproof and very easy to work on.

The very idea of acoustic sim. from Boss turned me off.

The Brat - another paperweight, for certain. Never owned one, for good reason.

[guit30]

The Dunlop dynacomp and the Boss CS3, I can't deal with those sounds
Jim

[shades]

Digitech multi effects pedals...all first rate P.O.S. in my book.

[ramseybella]

DOD American Metal, Lots of DOD stuff is pooh, I wonder how they stay in business.

[Fireincairo]

Originally Posted by shades

Digitech multi effects pedals...all first rate P.O.S. in my book.

at least they are better than zoom or berhinger....

[J-man]

Dunlop Crybaby - The Wah is actually pretty good, it's the incredibly nasal tone it gives you when activated (which isn't anywhere near as bad in other Wahs), and the tone sucking it does while bypassed.

I could honestly tell blindfolded if that pedal was in the signal path on bypass.


Maybe not the worst pedal ever, but certainly the most overrated.

[59TweedVibrolux]

Line 6 - POD V2 Sounded Processed & Synthetic. Just couldn't get a good
sound out of it. Manual went to great lengths to mention
the Classic Pedals they had modeled....... I went and
bought those classic pedals.......they sound nothing like
the POD. They have Character, Tone, something modeling
processors can't duplicate to my ears.

[Jeru]

Originally Posted by Del Pickup

The DOD Classic Tube pedal was pretty awful. I've still got it - but only cos no-one would take it off my hands!!

YES! I bought one of these for $5 at a garage sale a long time ago, and gave it away almost immediately. Couldn't play very well at all then, but I knew enough to know that dod's "classic tube" sucked. A lot.