Any Users of Visual Sound "Open Road" OD?

[Csapo]

Recently heard a guy playing a 335 through a Visual Sound Open Road OD and he sounded amazing. Fantastic tone!!!

I think this is a relatively new pedal, and for $120.00, I'm very curious.

[southpaw pete]

Yeah, I've been curious too. I use and like the Route 808 and Liquid Chorus. I've heard good things about the Open Road. Wish some local shops carried it for me to try out.

[jamison162]

Clips sounds stellar. Noone?

[GtrWiz]

I played one at a guitar show and thought it sounded great!

[wtdpblake]

I liked it!

http://www.whatsthatdudeplay.com/2009/12/visual-sounds-the-warped-and-open-road/

[Jim Moulton]

This is a real good, OPen sounding pedal, like it
J

:horse

(This guy don't bother me)

[Akridosity]

It's just another 808 clone though.

[Weav69]

It's just another 808 clone though.

Ah, to the contrary. The Open Road sounds nothing like an 808 or 808 clone. It's a different circuit. No mid hump, big tight bottom, non compressed on the top end and a very versatile tone section. I think it really shines in the medium gain world. Play soft it's clean, dig in it adds hair. It crunches great also. But then again I may be biased. I'm not only a Open Road user I work for the company. ; ) Give it a try...........
cheers,

[jamison162]

It's just another 808 clone though.

Listen to the clips, it's nothing like a TS.

[patrickisbusy]

It's just another 808 clone though.

Yeah, it definitely sounds nothing like an 808 clone. I'm pretty sure the whole idea behind the pedal was to make a more open sounding overdrive (hence the name) that doesn't sound like an 808.

[gnashville]

Not anywhere NEAR another 808 clone. If there's any similarity to any pedal, it would be the Nobels OD-1...but the Open Road is superior. I just recorded for five days on a project with Jerry McPherson who let me use his Nobels and his Open Road and the OR won the tone battle in a BIG way--and we had practically every pedal available to us (think of one, and we had it). Just like Dana (Weav69) said above, it's incredibly versatile. Definitely not a high gain beast, but a very transparent and beefy pedal nonetheless, even with the tone knob up around 3 o'clock. I just picked mine up this week and have used it all weekend with Jeremy Camp...and I just can't turn it off. In fact, you'll find my Cusack pedals for sale over in the Pedals Emporium.

[southpaw pete]

The Open Road sounds nothing like an 808 or 808 clone. It's a different circuit. No mid hump, big tight bottom, non compressed on the top end and a very versatile tone section. I think it really shines in the medium gain world. Play soft it's clean, dig in it adds hair. It crunches great also.
Picked up an Open Road today. Yup, Weav69 nailed it. It sounds great, and stacks great with my Route 808 too. I'm very impressed.

[southpaw pete]

Ok. Now, I am having trouble getting velcro to stick to the bottom of the Visual Sound pedals. I have "industrial strength" velcro - whatever that means. Is there a different kind that sticks? Would I need to remove the rubber bottom first?
Any advice would be appreciated.

[southpaw pete]

That's what I was thinking. Thanks Zac!

[gearboy]

I had one.....very cool. A lot of low end. The Tone control definitely had a sweet spot if I remember correctly.

[southpaw pete]

I've been playing with the Open Road a lot since I got it, at both basement practice levels and on stage. I wouldn't mind a double pedal with two of these in it, or the other side being their 808. It stacks beautifully for solos with the Route 808 - sweet sustain, and cutting through the mix with out too much treble.

It sounds good at so many settings; I am still trying to decide if I would rather normally run it as a low gain boost with the gain at 9:00 or a little thicker at 12:00.
It really has a nice full low end, open top end and flat mids. And lots of tone control for tweaking. I have found it somewhat similar to the Boss OD3. The Open Road can do a better clean boost and has a different gain range (the OD3 doesn't clean up as much, and gets more aggressive more quickly). Overall, it feels very natural, with excellent clarity. Really diggin it.
Well done, VS.

[Wesman61]

Does it have a noise gate like some of the other new VS pedals?

[southpaw pete]

I don't think so. I think the noise gates are only in some of the double pedals. Could be a nice touch though.

[pdblues19]

Can't say enough good things about the open road. It has a lot of amp charactersitics. It can go from clean boost to country to hard rock and it sounds great with the 808 boosting it. Overall probably Visual Sounds best work yet.

[GtrWiz]

yeah ya know what? **** you and the whores you rode in on

that's right I'm drunk, so what?!?

[wenbinbin2010]

yeah ya know what? **** you and the whores you rode in on

that's right I'm drunk, so what?!?

Maybe I shouldn't try out the Open Road then...

[GtrWiz]

wow, I honestly have no memory of posting that. Sincere apologies to all.... :eeks :jo

[Boosted]

wow, I honestly have no memory of posting that. Sincere apologies to all.... :eeks :jo


lol. If i got drunk, my first thought wouldn't be to come onto TGP :bonk

[roknfnrol]

Wow, this thread got weird.

Anyway, I've been looking into the Open Road. Anyone use this pedal with a Les Paul?

[NHBluesMan]

i use mine with a semi-hollow that's got humbuckers. Not exactly a Les Paul, but it sounds great. Really retains the tone of your guitar and amp.... very transparent, basically gives you your sound but bigger. It's one of the few drive pedals i've ever used that sound good with the tone-knob set anywhere.... HUGE sounding pedal

[Rock Steady]

Mine was too bassy and dark sounding. I tried dialing it out but it just wasnt working for me so I got rid of it.

[tdk8709]

Had it, liked it, but not more than my Timmy and especially not more than my new Butah!

[marvelboy_04]

I actually ab'd it against a barber ltd, which I like a little better, but it sounded fantastic.

[Class5]

yeah ya know what? **** you and the whores you rode in on

that's right I'm drunk, so what?!?

Love it! :rotflmao

[musicwack]

For me, my opinions on it vary depending on what amp I'm using. Into a clean amp, I don't like it at all. It adds a good amount of bass to the EQ and even with the tone cranked up, it still has a muffled sound. For me, it sounds better into an amp with an edge of break up type sound. In sounds a lot better into my Vox AC15 cause adding that amount of bass and more gain makes my AC15 sound so much bigger.