EHX Soul Food

[Del Pickup]

A friend brought this pedal from Chicago recently and decided that he didn't like it so he's given it to me.

I've only had it for an hour or so bit am not entirely convinced that I like it as much as I thought I might. It seems quite noisy at drive or tone settings past noon and seems to be quite 'grainy' sounding.

It seems to be a pedalso that people either love or hate. So, for those of you who like it, what settings do you use?

Just curious as I've heard so much about it since it first came out.

 

[amplifiedhermit]

I think most people use it with the drive set pretty low and the volume up, sorta like a dirty boost. That's how I often use my tube screamer.

 

[TeleFunk Man]

I use mine more as a boost pedal. For overdrive I use a BOSS Blues driver.

 

[dlew919]

I use it with the gain up around 2 o'clock, the treble a bit back at around 10 o'clock and the volume at appropriate. I like it as a treble boost, but I like the overdrive sound more

I also love the blues driver.

 

[richey88]

Semi dirty boost. Plays well with OCD-type dirt.

 

[Shango66]

Yep, a gritty boost is where it's good. Stay to the left of noon.

 

[GuitarJonz]

I like what one member here did to his SF, will keep any pedal geeks in the audience guessing

 

[waparker4]

I didn't like the pedal. Pretty much for the reasons you listed. Set up as a clean boost it produces a cool sound, it hypes certain parts of the EQ. It wasn't working well as a solo boost for me, I would have used it always on, and I decided that trick wasn't worth a spot on the board.

 

[BelairPlayer]

I've decided it is a crap pedal at low (amp) volume. Crank the amp up pretty loud, then hit it with the Soul Food and suddenly you can hear what all the hubbub is about. Lower the volume and the graininess is right back there. I think I've all but decided it just isn't a good home-player pedal. It just doesn't sound good at low volumes.

 

[Bellacaster]

I like it in any application I've tried: as a boost with no gain, as an overdrive with gain around 10 o'clock and as an overdrive with the gain at about two o'clock. It works very well for me even at low volumes. In my experience, the tone knob makes a big difference. Too much to the right and it gets nasally. Different strokes for different folks! I'm using it mainly with a PRRI and a stock Traynor YBA-1...telecaster or SG Classic. Also, it seems to work better with other pedals in true bypass mode.

 

[teleforumnoob]

Im not that impressed with mine either.
Thinking about trading it for a Timmy.

 

[Del Pickup]

I had a bit more time to try this pedal out last night and its tones are growing on me a bit more with a bit of knob tweaking!

With a bit more gain, it kind of sounds like what I've heard of the new Supro amp tones - a bit grainy and harsh but not as bad as I first thought - so long as the treble is dialled back a bit as that seems to be where the noise starts to creep in.

I'll persevere with it some more before making a decision one way or the other on this......

 

[rze99]

I like what one member here did to his SF, will keep any pedal geeks in the audience guessing

I'm pleased he found it worthwhile doing that to a cheap pedal.

 

[rze99]

I think it's great value for single coil guitars as a signal boost with the mild gain settings and it adds a certain mid-frequency flavour which makes it good to bring out the pick harmonics, especially with my DRRI. I find it's not quite so good with my Vox, 5e3, Marshall or Black Pearl 30 and therefore an occasional pedal in my set-up.

 

[Jakeboy]

I absolutely loved mine and it prompted me into buying a higher end Monsterpiece STUD Klone which I like better. That said the Soul Food is an awesome cleanish boost. I LOVED it through a pushed Blonde Bassman just breaking up....the SF just added a little something that is hard to describe... A fantastic always on mojo pedal...which I guess is the allure of the Klon in the first place.

 

[Rock A. Billy]

am not entirely convinced that I like it as much as I thought I might

I have had it on the board for some months now and like it. Use it on the raspy side - four o'clock drive - cutting through quite well.
Have a listen, I'm on lead guitar here.

https://v2a-die-band.bandcamp.com/track/summertime

My idea is to play some music and doing gigs instead of searching endlessly for THE perfect sound ...

Greetings
Rock A.

 

[richey88]

Sounds like something I've heard before but I know I haven't. Oasis perhaps? Nice track!! I mean that in a good way. Don't take my post in anger [emoji41]

 

[GuitarJonz]

I've found that many ODs can play the role of "always on", which I use for light OD, which can clean up or get dirtier via judicious use of guitar volume pot and/or picking hand. I've successfully used the following as "always on": Boss Bluesdriver, Red Llama, Fulldrive II and Soul Food.