kingsxman
Gold Supporting Member
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Suprisingly...my Zendrive arrived from Al only a few months after it was ordered. They must be catching up. I've read so much about the Zen that I figured I'd throw my name in. I was expecting a call maybe this summer.
Anyway, after all the fuss over both these pedals, I was excited to do a side by side comparison. Both pedals have thier camps. What I found is this: They are very similar and you wont go wrong with either! Hows that? But seriously, you can get each pedal to pretty much sound like the other one by playing with the tone and voice nobs.
I tested them with a Strat, Les Paul into a 68 Super Reverb. This is a very initial testing, I'll do more later. I found that overall the GSRed to have a bit differnt kind of midrange. Maybe a bit clearer mids. I thought overall the GSRed was a bit more articulate. Both pedals had that "chirp" that Robben Ford is famous for. The GS Red was much more articulate on the lower register. With tone and voice at Noon, the Zen was a bit muddy on the lower 2 strings. However, bringing tone up to 3:00 it cleaned up really nicely.. but still not the same as GSR.
I really dug the voice and tone controls on the Zen. They offer alot of different tonal colorations. I prefered that over the tone and hard/soft of the GSR. But....the GSR just sounded better. The Zen was a bit "sweeter" though.
Both pedals have their plus's. I havent heard anyone break these 2 pedals down with this comment..but to me...this sums it up: The Zen drive excels on the top 3 strings. The GSR excels on the bottom 3. In other words...if your mainly going to play leads.....the Zendrive may be your pedal or choice. I just found it to be maybe a bit sweeter with leads on the top 3 strings. If your going to be doing alot of chording and rhythm work...the GSR really outshone the Zen becuase of the clarity on the bottom 3 strings. If I had to only pick one...I'd stick with my GSRed because it seems a bit more versital.
I also played through with my Les Paul. Pretty much the same there, although the Zen seemed a bit "thinner" in gain with humbuckers. I preferred the strat sound with the Zen.
Anyway, after all the fuss over both these pedals, I was excited to do a side by side comparison. Both pedals have thier camps. What I found is this: They are very similar and you wont go wrong with either! Hows that? But seriously, you can get each pedal to pretty much sound like the other one by playing with the tone and voice nobs.
I tested them with a Strat, Les Paul into a 68 Super Reverb. This is a very initial testing, I'll do more later. I found that overall the GSRed to have a bit differnt kind of midrange. Maybe a bit clearer mids. I thought overall the GSRed was a bit more articulate. Both pedals had that "chirp" that Robben Ford is famous for. The GS Red was much more articulate on the lower register. With tone and voice at Noon, the Zen was a bit muddy on the lower 2 strings. However, bringing tone up to 3:00 it cleaned up really nicely.. but still not the same as GSR.
I really dug the voice and tone controls on the Zen. They offer alot of different tonal colorations. I prefered that over the tone and hard/soft of the GSR. But....the GSR just sounded better. The Zen was a bit "sweeter" though.
Both pedals have their plus's. I havent heard anyone break these 2 pedals down with this comment..but to me...this sums it up: The Zen drive excels on the top 3 strings. The GSR excels on the bottom 3. In other words...if your mainly going to play leads.....the Zendrive may be your pedal or choice. I just found it to be maybe a bit sweeter with leads on the top 3 strings. If your going to be doing alot of chording and rhythm work...the GSR really outshone the Zen becuase of the clarity on the bottom 3 strings. If I had to only pick one...I'd stick with my GSRed because it seems a bit more versital.
I also played through with my Les Paul. Pretty much the same there, although the Zen seemed a bit "thinner" in gain with humbuckers. I preferred the strat sound with the Zen.