Valvette - Custom Drive
Type(s): overdrive
Overview
What We Say:
I am always happy when I find quality products from the UK, there is a serious lack of man-made, high-quality pedal manufacturers over here so I was very happy when I discovered Valvette. I am yet to try out their sole pedal, The Custom Drive, but hopefully I will get the chance one day. It sounds like a promising little box, looks cool and seems very versatile; it can be used as a transparent buffer or boost with the gain rolled all the way off.
Update – I have to say that the CD is a great drive! A staple on my board since 2009.
Extra Opinions – http://www.dirtbox.net/features/random-articles/some-thoughts-on-the-valvette-custom-drive/
What They Say:
”…Introducing the brand new Valvette Custom Drive overdrive pedal.
If you’re into blues or classic rock tones then this pedal is the one for you …
Designed as the perfect companion to your valve amp, it’s main goal is to push your amp into submission and give you those full rich tones without sacrificing the control at your fingertips.
This pedal is definitely not a one trick pony ! The Custom Drive can perform buffering, treble boosts and creamy sustaining leads with all the variations of good old rock and roll chord grit and crunch in between.
You will not find any DSP modeling inside this pedal, only the purest of analog circuits.
The pedal was designed in such a way that it allows the character of you amp / pickup combination to shine through and retain the response of the picking and volume settings on your guitar. Great for comping styles, delicate pickers, slide players etc … keep in mind that amps with transistor preamp stages generally don’t respond well to being pushed by overdrive pedals as it tends to unleash their harsh character … by all means give it a try, there are some excellent transistor amps out there, but remember that this pedal was not designed for this purpose. It really shines when paired up with a valve amp !
The Custom Drive features a dynamic gain / tone network … unlike most other pedals on the market today, this pedal does it’s filtering inside the gain stage which results in a more open and transparent sound as it mainly affects the clipping and not the essence of your tone. Depending on the settings of the tone control, the gain control will have a different response curve. Although this creates an extended range of settings, we haven’t lost sight of the fact that things need to be musical and intuitive to the performing musician. You’ll be up and running with this one in no time at all !
The Custom Drive is true bypass wired and ‘pop’ reduced as you would expect from a quality pedal and will run quite happily on voltages between 9 and 18 volts DC. Running the pedal at 18 volts results in more headroom and a slightly cleaner and more defined tone… experiment and decide what works best for your individual playing style !
The pedals we build are only available in limited runs. They are all hand built in professionally silk screened die-cast aluminum boxes with environmentally friendly components and serialized and quality checked in the U.K.
Built like a tank, this pedal should give you years of playing pleasure on the road or otherwise…”
Sources: www.valvette.co.uk
