But, of the many I've tried, my favorites are the Caline Medusa, Tone City Bad Horse, and the Chinese no name Centaur. MXR Sugar Drive. This is often cloned, imitated and ripped off, but there’s nothing quite like the original Ibanez TS9 Tubescreamer.It’s super easy to operate and adds a beautifully lush overdrive to your valve amplifier. By including a Clean knob, you … The Sugar Drive stands out from the other Centaur clones, with a bit more presence in … Joined: To me it just sounds like a Tube Screamer with an even more honky/nasal/extreme mid-hump. As a result, the Sugar Drive is perhaps closer to the KTR, and it certainly delivers the trademark Klon transparent drive sound. MXR is also starting to roll-out more mini pedals following something of an hiatus after its well-received Phase 95 pedal. Any tips on stacking them. The latter was a bit better at clean boost/very low gain, but as I turned the gain knobs up, the Tumnus — for me — became the clear winner. Like many overdrive pedals, the MXR Sugar Drive comes with Volume, Tone, and Drive. Last edited: Nov 7, 2019. It's clearly possible - as many builders make it so - and it seems odd to me that builders would choose otherwise. Price: $119.99 ... Not since the late Seventies, when the Ibanez Tube Screamer and Boss OD-1 made their respective debuts, has a mass-produced overdrive pedal won over the great unwashed and cork-sniffing tone snobs alike. Specifically comparing it to the Soul Food the higher gain tones of the Sugar Drive are infinitely better. I have messed with a few TS variants, an EHX Soul Food, and a few MIAB pedals. I just bought an MXR Sugar Drive and a Wampler Plexi drive mini. Seth puts 4 of our favorite Klon-inspired overdrive head to head in this weeks shootout. The Sugar Drive works very well from low to high gain pushing the Marshall into full blown drive territory. I was so baffled I asked the shop if I could see the manual. MXR Sugar Drive is yet another clone of the mythical Klon Centaur but at a quarter of the size. I'm not having a dig at this pedal or at MXR in isolation and maybe it's unfair of me to choose this pedal to bring it up, but there you go. Of course Mooer and OneControl have the biggest selection of mini drives and distortions, while F-Pedals has an interesting compact range, and there are some individual gems from the likes of EWS, Keeley, KHDK and Xvive. Using a similar circuit to an 808 Tube Screamer, the Sparkle Drive gives you that midrange-y grit everyone seems to like. It didn't sound or feel like my OTS Mini. Even remotely. I tried the Overrated Special. The Sugar Drive, IMHO, is my favorite to date. The most expensive one I've tried was the MXR Sugar Drive, which was as bad as the Soul Food. Age: 62 Messages: 28,298. It was exceedingly bright, severely lacking in dynamics, and sounded nothing like a Klon type circuit. Let’s use a TS-9 tube screamer and the Plexi Drive (JTM-45 style overdrive) as examples. Reply. The Tube Screamer is the industry standard overdrive pedal. If you want to know what an overdrive pedal sounds like, start here. The-Kid, Nov 6, 2019 #15. fezz parka fezz parka. Pure confectionary hard rock and blues in a mini-chassis pedal. Plus the MXR Sugar drive is right after my wah in buffer mode so those two should be enough in my drive section to buffer the chain along with the Boss pedals at the end of the chain. Why this preference is a bone of contention I … Pushing a dirty amp, it doesn’t have the pure volume punch of a Tube Screamer or Timmy-style drive, but it’s enough of a kick to get some decent saturation. If you run the TS before the Plexi Drive, whatever signal is leaving the TS is going to use the Plexi as a “gateway” of sorts. And lacked all the dynamics. Fwiw, I got the Tumnus and the MXR Sugar Drive at the same time to compare and ended up sending the Sugar Drive back.