Most over-rated pedals? What are superfluous?

[brett]

I had a Tubescreamer TS9 clone in my pedal line-up for ages, but rarely used it.  It doesn't do distortion as well as the amp or the Real McTube, and it doesn't do fuzz.  So I got rid of it a few weeks ago and had forgotten until I saw it in the shed today.

So the Tubescreamer is my vote for the most over-rated pedal.  What's yours?

[g3rmanium]

So the Tubescreamer is my vote for the most over-rated pedal.  What's yours?

Roger Mayer Mongoose. Sound clips sounded great, but I found it to be completely uninspiring. Fuzz Face sound with Rat gain or so... Hm.

[d95err]

For me it used to be the BSIAB II. I just couldn't get a decent sound out of it. Too compressed and too dark. Recently, I bought a new Strat and completed the tube amp I'd been working on. When I tried my pedals with the new guitar and amp - WOW! Finally a high-gain pedal that worked well with single coils!  Anyway, the BSIAB went from my most over-rated to one of my most highly-rated pedals...

[cakeworks]

the big muff. not because it's bad, it's not bad, it just doesn't quite live up to the godlike tone it is supposed to have as it's cult following might suggest.

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

MT-2. I swear, it's too nasally for anything other than AM radio.

[DDD]

Most of the tubed pre-amps.

[MartyMart]

Most chorus pedals, unless you're into '80's "Big Hair" rock !!

I like the ones with "balance" controls, like the Pearl chorus, gives
a "vibe" sound and great at fast rates ( only way I use 'em )

.... or mod yours to give you a wet/dry balance

EXEPTION : Roland chorus ensemble CE-1

Re: Mongoose , yup it's a big whooly Rat/BM sound , but great for that "one" sound !

MM

[Ge_Whiz]

The Fuzz Face and most variants.

[8mileshigh]

Boss overdrive OD-1,  too nasal, too grainy/rhaspy, not enough sustain and loss of lows.  I could never figure out why this is such a sought after effect.  Instead of selling it, I simply gave it away.

Funny, the Fuzz Face makes this list, it's one of my current favorites but I'm also a Hendrix freak 

8

[tcobretti]

I think every effect could qualify for this list.  How useful/good sounding an effect is has everything to do with the other elements in your guitar rig.  A pedal that sounds great with one rig may sound horrible with another. 

Then there's personal taste.  Many love the Tube Screamer.  They think it sounds rich and creamy and it is many people's favorite overdrive.  Many people love the Boss Distortions, and obviously people have spent lifetimes working with the FF circuit.  For some this could be because their rig sounds like crap with a FF, but for others they just don't like the way it sounds.  Many hate the Mayer Axis Fuzz, but it is one of my absolute favorites.

For me, they pedals I own that are the least useful are my Boss HM-2 which I own 2 of thru some twist of fate (maybe we can all agree that it is one of the worst pedals ever?), my Modded Crybaby (my stock Vox V847 just blows it away), and my Tube Screamer (it sounds like it's trying to be a tube amp, but fails).

Should this thread be in the lounge?

[gez]

Boss overdrive OD-1,  too nasal, too grainy/rhaspy, not enough sustain and loss of lows.  I could never figure out why this is such a sought after effect.  Instead of selling it, I simply gave it away.

Ah, a fellow heretic!  I've never been keen on Boss overdrives.  I think it was also Boss who did the 'Turbo Overdrive' (christened 'Turdo' by some...cough).

[markm]

Sorry fellas,
I have to go with the Tubescreamer also.
Alot of it's "legend" lived in the fingers of SRV.

[jonathan perez]

1.ANY FUZZ...i would never use it and hate the way it sounds with humbuckers. i dont use anything else but humbuckers!.
2.TUBE SCREAMER! the burn unit i use is a variation of the circuit, but isnt a TUBE SCREAMER...blaaaah! "SRV IN A BOX!"
3.boss ds-1...useless even after the mods.
4.every roger mayer pedal (WAAAAY too expensive.)
5.DRAGONFORCE

sorry, but too many things are overrated...

[jimbob]

The Boss Metal Zone- and the Pro co Brat..

[petemoore]

  Every circuit topology made made sense to somebody, or somebodies, somewheres' ..otherwise, they wouldn't be.
  I used to think the GR was over-rated, and useless.
  ...and, 'by itself' [For my uses] it still is...
  however add a Fuzz/Boost before or/and after it...
  Anyway it's the Octave Unit on my pedalboard...
  I have a way of throwing a booster in front of anything 'lesser' to make it 'more-er', had I not tried the GR circuit with something in front or behind it, I'd never have realized the GR works the way I want it to...Great Octa-Ring effect from 'base-Fuzz' sound at the click of a switch...most other octaves do better octave alone...which in my case of usages would require hitting at least two switches to get from Fuzz to Octafuzz...and have them be right/right. the Green Ringer gets lots of octave choices by NoT being a good octave without having something help drive it.
  This fact may or may not let it blend better with 'your' normal sound, it could be that with the right guitar/amp, the GR performs well, seems to do better with a juiced input source.
  So...just yesterday...testing the 'new-ized' 18v GR w/modded null mod [filtering before circuit input], ..'in the middle' of the PBChain [so it has Fuzz and Boost options before/after] let it render yet even better performances than before...er so it seemed...
  Anyway I hope I've demonstrated adequate vagueness in attempting to exude Over-Rated and Super-flous type remarks.
  That said...
  I never 'got' Metal Zone, I had one that dude said, "Here, take this home and try it out, see if you like it", I did, but didn't get it...seemed like it had it's 'noses under filters'...and I've seen other guys using it as 'goto Fuzz', never even had the smallest attraction to any of the tones I heard coming out of that thing in use's, remarkable because of the wide variety of tones via the MZ's many 'hyperactive' controls.
  Not to say there isn't a use for this thing, perhaps I developed a 'conditioned repulsion' to MZ nazality, but every time I hear [or even see] a MZ in use, inside I say 'uh oh', and I feel a bit ill.
  Guys use 'em, love 'em, swear by 'em
  Jury's still out on the MZ...love 'em or cringe...
  So...there you have my:
1  'yeilds very useful hidden opportunities when applied a certain way' blurb on the often 'stated as overrated' GR...it was on the bottom of the barrel of Octaves, yet it has risen to the top position for me.
2  And my 'overrated?'...yes 'IMO it certainly is' blurb on the MZ.
  I feel like maybe I was a little too hard, bashing on the MZ.
  Opinion 1/2 frees the type-er from being bound to any statements, and rarely includes the necessary subcontextual details such as: 'What is; everything else needed before the circuit in question even 'makes sound' [better stated as 'alters existing sound']".

[tiges_ tendres]

I wouldnt say it was overrated, but my bass balls is certainly superfluous.  How many times can you use something that sounds and sticks out from your sound like that and still sound cutting edge.

Maybe its my playing though.  People have made careers out of stuff like talk boxes, frampton, because how awesome does he make it sound?

When I play the bass balls, I just make it go.  "Peuuuu peuuu!"  

[powerplayj]

These choices are relative to my guitars and amp..........

DS-1 - just didn't sound musical to me

Rat - Not enough bottom for my open back Peavey Classic 30

[Somicide]

For me with my rig (Ibanez RGT42DX, mahogany body, twin HB PUs into a Crate PowerBlock amp) my DS-1 sounds pretty good (for a good Idea of the sound I get, check my bandpage http://www.myspace.com/redlightinblue and listen to our cover of "Breaking The Law"), and so does, surprisingly, an Ibanez Smash Box.

Over rated, IMO, is most Echo units.  Not to say they're horrible (on the contrary, I love them in the right setting), but what's the point sometimes?

[The Tone God]

Anything that it's sole feature is that it is "boutique".

Andrew

[oldrocker]

Beauty is in the ear of the beholder.  If I had to add one to the list it's the RAT.  Not at all what I was expecting.   Like I said you can't satisfy everyone.  I love the TS-808.  My Big Muff has a huge sound although I don't use it much but it's an awesome fuzz.