Please compare: Rockett Blue Note vs Sweet Honey/Barber Direct Drive

[soybean]

What's your take on the Rockett Blue Note vs the Mad Professor Sweet Honey and Barber Direct Drive? I have the last two but wondering if the Blue Note will give me anything those don't. Thanks!

 

[soybean]

I realize the Direct Drive is an older unit and many folks haven't tried it. but isn't there anyone here who's tried the Sweet Honey and the Blue Note? Thanks

 

[groovington]

Sorry I haven't tried the sweet honey, but I can say that the Blue Note is a great overdrive pedal that when the "hot" switch is off is a very transparent pedal that only runs through the low overdrive spectrum, thus you can even fine tune the gain knob in accordance to the fat and tone knobs to find lots of cool tones with variations of very light overdrive. And when you flip the hot switch to on, you get a nice bump of mids as well as a little more grit.

 

[soybean]

Thanks groovingon. Seems the Blue Note is very versatile. Anyone else have an opinion?

 

[Bobo Fret]

I have an opinion, actually. The Blue Note is simply the best overdrive I have ever owned to my ears and with my gear and I've spent stupid money (as many of us have) chasing down the "best" sounding overdrive.

I have owned a Sweet Honey and that was a really sweet pedal too. In fact better than most. It's been awhile since I've had it so it's hard to really qualify the comparison beyond simply saying that I like the Blue Note better. It's a very versatile pedal that does light and medium gain exceptionally well. Really compliments all my amps (Vox, Marshall and Fender clones) equally well.

I included a pic to show the size of the pedal. I don't know why I got the impression that it was a very small pedal by looking at it on their website. Obviously not quite the case.

 

[foo_3001]

Had all the three in question, they are very different from each other.

The DD excels in more "modern", fluid fusion lead tones, it´s a bit compressed for other stuff IMO. Didn´t bond with the SH at all, it had this weird mid-spike I couldn´t dial out, sounded just wrong to me / with my rigs.

The Blue Note is really, really good just as the reviewer above stated. The best lo-gainer I´ve tried, and I´ve tried all the TGP favourites. Works with every guitar / amp combination. Highly recommended.

 

[Bobo Fret]

Anybody try their Afterburner OD from the Master Built Series?

I really just can't imagine how it could be any better than the Blue Note. It's $500 too.

 

[Bobo Fret]

Anybody try their Afterburner OD from the Master Built Series?

I really just can't imagine how it could be any better than the Blue Note. It's $500 too.

 

[strattitude]

I still can't get any other OD to beat my Blue Note. It just keeps on being superior sounding.
Just got a T-Rex Gristle King. The Blue Note just sounds bigger, more natural and more dynamic to my ears.

 

[suckamc]

I'm yet another person who says the Blue Note is the best drive pedal ever.

 

[btdvox]

For those who like the Blue Note, you guys need to try out a Vermuram Jan Ray.

 

[Mngwa]

Just an observation, FWIW: This is an 'indirect' comparison. I have a Barber, Mad Professor, and Rockett [note: 1/2 Gainer, Little Green Wonder, and Flex Drive]. All sound great with a tube amp. With a solid state amp [Roland JC] the Rockett doesn't hold up. Also, these days I mostly have to play direct into a sound system via DI box. Same result. Something seems better about the Barber and Mad Professor circuits.

 

[richpjr]

I have all three and the Blue Note is the only one still on my board. It was the first pedal ever to edge out my Barber 1/2 Gainer. Another plug for best low gain OD. I actually like the DD a lot, but I find an Xotic BB MB works better for me. I really tried to like the SHOD but just couldn't dial it in with my amp.

 

[strattitude]

I have had the LGW too. It is also a good pedal, but still I prefer the Blue Note. I also Ab'ed the Blue Note, Rockett Animal and BB MB. The BB was in the same ballpark but the voicing of both Rocketts just sounded better to me. Bigger and more "real". Same thing when I Ab'ed the in a live setting. The Blue Note killed the BB MB....

Most pedals will sound bad when going direct.. thats not what they are meant for.
But the Blue Note also sounds great into my Tech 21 Blonde set clean and then into my AER acoustic amp!

 

[Mngwa]

I have had the LGW too. It is also a good pedal, but still I prefer the Blue Note. I also Ab'ed the Blue Note, Rockett Animal and BB MB. The BB was in the same ballpark but the voicing of both Rocketts just sounded better to me. Bigger and more "real". Same thing when I Ab'ed the in a live setting. The Blue Note killed the BB MB....

Most pedals will sound bad when going direct.. thats not what they are meant for.
But the Blue Note also sounds great into my Tech 21 Blonde set clean and then into my AER acoustic amp!

I tried a certain cab sim recommended by a very reliable source, and funny enough, while it fixed my problem pedals, it made the good ones sound worse. No problems with Jetter, Barber, Fulltone, T-Rex, Mad Professor [+Emma] into DI then to system.

Not tryin to kill the love for BlueNote; what works for you, works for you.

 

[dmczern]

Anybody try their Afterburner OD from the Master Built Series?

I really just can't imagine how it could be any better than the Blue Note. It's $500 too.

I have an Afterburner, bought used in the emporium for $250 I think. It is just incredibly versatile and amp like. It even cops some amazing high gain tones. However, it's less expensive little brother is the Flexdrive not the Blue Note so I don't think they really compare. Of course after reading this thread I wanna try one.

Cheerz

 

[Lucidology]

For those who like the Blue Note, you guys need to try out a Vermuram Jan Ray.

I have both. And though both are excellent pedals .... the Blue Note is just a bit more transparent with a tighter bottom the the Jan Ray!