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Sparkle Drive Mod thread

kringle77

kringle77

Supporting Member
Jul 30, 2004
8,880
4,290
49
Massena NY
#1
Hey guys. Today is my birthday and my wife was cool enough to get me the new voodoo lab sparkle overdrive mod pedal I've been using the origional one for at least 10 years and it's been one of the most important factors in my live sound. I just tried the mod with my guitar rig and it is a nice step up. I'll try it out on bass later and give a report. Just wanted to get a thread started.
 
#3
Check out the voodoo lab site for information. It's basically a stock pedal that has 3 mods built in that can be selected or just straight stock. The kind of mods that someone like keeley would probably do.
 
#6
In VINTAGE mode, you get the classic tube-style midrange grind that's great for blues or for boosting your solos. Mod 1 is the LEAD circuit with extra gain, a thick and juicy bottom end, and smooth highs that are perfect for single-note melodies. Mod 2 delivers punchy "mid cut" RHYTHM tones that are great for chunky rock power chords and funk. Mod 3 gives you the HIGH GAIN treatment with articulate highs and an aggressive bottom end
Click to expand...

sounds like everything robert keeley could do to it rolled into one. could be a little cooler if the modes were switchable/programmable
 
#9
For my needs, I still like the sound of the origional pedal. The newer version does actually sound alittle better/fuller to my ears but, since they are so close, and since I have a sparkle built into a custom rack piece of grear, I keep using that one. I do slightly prefer the mod in stock mode though. The other mod settings can get more fuzz tones and higher gain tones. On bass, the bigger bottom, higher gain setting gets more a a fuzz, depending on the tone control setting. I like the other mod settings on guitar better. This makes a very useful, multi-instrument pedal. I just really love both versions. I've had the origional one for about 11 years and every time I go on an overdrive hunt, I always come back to it.
 
#10
I went through every od/distortion device that I own today. I tried them with and without my boss blender pedal. Some had a certain sound that I really loved but the fact is, none of them sounded as overall great and useable than the sparkledrive pedal. My keeley tube screamer blended with my clean sound was really good but seemed alittle overbearing, and too pronounced in the mids. The sparkle just plain works for adding some fine grit. It sounds great when just bass and drums are used but seems to disapear when guitar kicks in. It only seems that way until you turn it off though. It adds a slight mid boost and color that fills out the band. I keep trying to find something that works even better but I never do.
 
#11
I just bought a Sparkle Drive to use on bass and I really like the sound. I tried it in rehearsal last night and was able to get some great tones so I'm using it this weekend. I did notice that I lost some low end as I blended in more of the overdriven signal, but the overdrive sounded nice. The overdrive sounded much better than the 1st gen Catalinbread SFT that I recently had.
 
#13
I have been getting great use from my un-modded sparkle drive. Kicked my full tone MOSFET bassdrive off of my board last spring and I've been loving it.

I hope derrico1 posts, he got the Keeley mods to his sparkle drive and he was really digging it on bass (and I think maybe also for guitar?). I think the Keeley mods might be more like increased bass without increased gain, which might work better for bass since I, and apparently many others, use the SD for very light OD. I have fuzz pedals for fuzz. A bit more bass would be wonderful, the clean blend works great, but it does seem to pump up the mids with any amount of OD gain. If one is gain matching, it results in a relative cut to the low end. Being able to commensurately pump up the lows just a tad would be wonderful.
 
#15
Long time Sparkle drive user here. In my guitar rig, several others have come & gone. All of them more expensive too... The SD is the one that can 'put a little hair on it'. To me the hall mark of a pedal I'll like is when I don't notice it's a pedal. The SD does that. It can go over the top and sound like your basic tube screamer but to me that is missing the point...

On bass I'm not a dirt pedal guy...
 

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