The Zendrive has landed

[Suriel Zayas]

last friday i received the email from alf hermida notifynig me that the zendrive was in the mail. i anxiously awaited all weekend and finally monday afternoon the doorbell rings and behold i am handed a small box. not knowing what to expect I find something wrapped in brown shipping paper, it was the zendrive.

i quickly take it into my amp room (tested with the equiment listed below and others) and imediately start to experience how amazing this pedal sounds. this is one of the most dynamic effects i've ever used. the dynamic interaction between the pickups and this pedal is the hallmark of its sound. the pedal reacted to the volume of my pickups, without comprimising the tone. it also reacted to my picking, whether i was picking sofly or digging in to the strings there was a sonic difference. if you're not a fan of great tone, then this pedal is not for you. this pedal is about tone and its preservation, not shredding it. through the gain at the other end one hears the clarity and purity of your guitar.

with the smallest incremental movement of the gain knob a different tone is achieved. this is very important, because how many pedals do we have in our pedal boards that require quarter to half turns to produce any sonic or tonal difference.

the truth is that with only 24 hours in my possession i have heard plenty and expect to hear plenty more. the bottomline is this a great sounding pedal, by no means is this just a low gain effect, crank the gain and your rocking with the best of them. very well built and durable.

alf, congratulations on such a great sounding pedal and your quest to preserve tone. cheers.

disclaimer.. by no way or means implicitly or explicitly am i associated with alf hermida and hermida audio, or have anything to gain from this posting. this is all imho.

soon i will post sound clips.

peace.

[tom]

cool to hear. i got mine yesterday. i only had a little time to play with it last night and already i share some of your observations. this pedal is full of sweet spots. i have to wait for the weekend to give it a full run through. can't wait!

[Classic T]

Thanks for the report.......

Mine should be here by Friday. Looking forward to seeing what it can do. I'll be beside myself anyway, having an out-of-body experience.............because my new HDTC will get here Thursday.:D

Tone reports to follow..............;)

[sonsop]

any more thoughts on your zendrive, guys?

sweet spots? how does it sound at moderate volumes? are you using it to distort your tone or overdrive it? where's it at in your chain?

how thick and Robben/Dumble like does it get?

thanks in advance

[joe1962]

how thick and Robben/Dumble like does it get?

I love the Zendrive, but in my opinion the Mosferatu is closer to the Robben Ford tone. To me the Zen is all about getting a little drive going while preserving the tone of your guitar/amp rig.

[tom]

still loving mine. i'd say i'm using it as a mid gain sound, but my amp is clean. i am not using it to drive the amp harder, but to make it's own distortion. i'm using it with the gain about half way, and it is pretty gainy there. it still sounds to me like an amp breaking up more than an added distortion box. haven't played the mosferatu yet so i can't comment.

[joe1962]

still loving mine. i'd say i'm using it as a mid gain sound, but my amp is clean. i am not using it to drive the amp harder, but to make it's own distortion. i'm using it with the gain about half way, and it is pretty gainy there. it still sounds to me like an amp breaking up more than an added distortion box. haven't played the mosferatu yet so i can't comment.

That's how I see it too. I can run the Zen into a clean amp and it sounds very much like what the amp would sound like if I cranked it into overdrive.

[ahermida]

Tom:

Received the pickups for the Tele Nashville Deluxe and they are awesome! The Neck pickup makes the Zendrive sing and the bridge is also very juicy. I should be interesting how that impacts my designs now :)

Alf




still loving mine. i'd say i'm using it as a mid gain sound, but my amp is clean. i am not using it to drive the amp harder, but to make it's own distortion. i'm using it with the gain about half way, and it is pretty gainy there. it still sounds to me like an amp breaking up more than an added distortion box. haven't played the mosferatu yet so i can't comment.

[Classic T]

That's how I see it too. I can run the Zen into a clean amp and it sounds very much like what the amp would sound like if I cranked it into overdrive.

Yes, very transparent as well. I set all the controls on mine to about the 2 o'clock position. I keep my main amp (Bruno UG30 Reverb) at 10 to 12 o'clock on the volume knob (amp clean). I roll back the guitar volume for cleans and turn it up for some wonderful dirt. ;) I usually leave the Zen alone and use the guitar volume to achieve the desired tone. Another thing I like about the Zen, is when playing at low volume (amp turned down), engaging the Zen fattens the tone and makes notes sing without waking up the house. Good for those early Saturday and Sunday mornings when everyone else in the house is still asleep. Great pedal.

[sonsop]

Alf,

Are the papers graded yet?

I'm super anxious to get my Zendrive.:)

[ahermida]

Alf,

Are the papers graded yet?

I'm super anxious to get my Zendrive.:)

I gave a partial test today and a take home final and doing the same tomorrow. Next week I will grade them and submit the grades.

I'm working on and off on the Zendrive but that will change tomorrow :)

Alf

[jimmieb]

Gentlemen,

I'm thinking about an overdrive gift for Christmas. I can decide between the Zendrive or an Xotic RC. Maybe they're two different animals, still I'm thinking about both only one for Christmas. Anyone using both with a comment? :confused:

Jimmie B

[Suriel Zayas]

still loving mine. i'd say i'm using it as a mid gain sound, but my amp is clean. i am not using it to drive the amp harder, but to make it's own distortion. i'm using it with the gain about half way, and it is pretty gainy there. it still sounds to me like an amp breaking up more than an added distortion box. haven't played the mosferatu yet so i can't comment.

i certainly do echo tom's sentiments regarding his love for this pedal. i do love mine. right before the thanksgiving holiday i travelled to venezuela to do 5 concerts with a pop act and guess what? the zen was the only dist/od pedal that travelled in my gear. i pulled out my other pedals and travelled much lighter. the zen worked just great tuning into the gain anywhere from 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock, but how do i need that double zen or zen/mos combination. there are a ton of sweet spots on this pedal, with every sweep of the gain knob a distinct tone can be achieved. very important is to keep in mind that this is a very dynamic effect and will react to your picking, attack & volume. i have been able to play with the pedal engaged throughout a full song that requires use of a clean channel, but due to the dynamic nature of this pedal the clean parts were enhanced with a bit of bite making for a very interesting tone. in order to achieve what i previously mentioned i place my volume pedal pre-zen in the chain, which gives me full control of what is being fed into the zen. it is certainly more than just a low gain pedal and i agree with tom that is more in the mid-gain category, although that low-gain effect is easily achieved. i only run it into the clean channel of my amps and the results are just awesome. to borrow a quote from one of our brothers in the forum, "andersons and bogner, like peanutbutter and jelly" i'll say, "andersons and zen, also like peanutbutter and jelly"

peace.

suriel