A "2-Zen combo" on my original pedalboard setup was really nice and served me well for a year. A friend of mine had a Klon and I really liked what he was able to get out of it so I decided to try a Klon. I got one and it replaced one of my Zendrives and I have really liked the change. Klon's are special boxes and I suspect I'll never get rid of mine. Interestingly, the friend with the Klon ended up buying the Zendrive that I removed from my board. Now, both of us have a Klon and a Zendrive on our boards.The two Zen combo is absolutely flipping my switch right now. Buy both!
I kept my original Zendrive after comparing them, though I did like the sound of the Z2. I agree that the original is a little smoother in clipping and high end. If you want to make your Z2 sound more like a Z1, take the tube out and run it. Not kidding here, it still works though the clipping changes a little.Z2 is a touch more brittle to my ear for whatever reason.It is still worth it to have either pedal.Alf is a great pedal designer.
Hmmm, I am considering what you have said. I have been thinking of doing a swap on one of my zd pedals. My first choice is whether to keep the zd or zd2, both great. I am intrigued by your experience with the Klon, which honestly I have not tried. Can you tell me what you find distinctive about it and what made you choose it for you pedalboard?A "2-Zen combo" on my original pedalboard setup was really nice and served me well for a year. A friend of mine had a Klon and I really liked what he was able to get out of it so I decided to try a Klon. I got one and it replaced one of my Zendrives and I have really liked the change. Klon's are special boxes and I suspect I'll never get rid of mine. Interestingly, the friend with the Klon ended up buying the Zendrive that I removed from my board. Now, both of us have a Klon and a Zendrive on our boards.
I'm not the best at articulating how something sounds, so I'm not sure I can convey to you what a Klon sounds like (or what it does to your sound). As the Scottish say...."it's better felt than telt". However, there have been numerous posts in this forum about the Klon where the "cork-sniffers" have gone to great lengths to describe the Klon and its effect. If you will do a search you'll find lots of reading material.Hmmm, I am considering what you have said. I have been thinking of doing a swap on one of my zd pedals. My first choice is whether to keep the zd or zd2, both great. I am intrigued by your experience with the Klon, which honestly I have not tried. Can you tell me what you find distinctive about it and what made you choose it for you pedalboard?
I played with two Zendrives on my board for about a year.....
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Then, I replaced one of the Zendrives with a Klon.....
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Then, I went to a Zendrive 2......
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This has been my setup lately. I'm not sure which Zen I like the best. I find it more difficult to dial in that "perfect" sound with the Zendrive 2 but that my be due to the fact that I played with the original Zendrive for over a year and am just more familiar with it's personality. If I had to describe the difference between the two, I would first have to say that they are very similar. However, where they differ, to my ears, is that the Zendrive 2 is a little more "brittle" sounding. I haven't started experimenting with different tubes (mine still has the stock tube in it), but I have read where others have gone this route and certain tubes seem to eliminate that "brittleness". Overall, I still like it a bunch, but I will probably switch back to the original Zendrive soon just to see how it compares. Ideally, I may be able to do an A-B comparison.
The bottom line is that you just can't go wrong with either...they are killer OD's.
you must have gotten a bum ZD. I now have both a ZD and a ZD2 and they are both marvelousI had just the opposite reaction. I had purchased an original zen when the leadtime was only 8 weeks. I must have had a lemon. It sounded nothing like the soundfiles I heard. It was really buzzy and gritty with a flat flubby bottom. Alf offered to look at it. I ended up getting rid of it on EBAY. Just for the hell of it, I got on Alfs Zen2 wait list. It took more than a year and a half for my name to come up. I finally got it a couple of months ago. I find my Zen2 is very organic with a very nice squish in texture that's very sensative to pick dynamics. I can cop a Ford type grind very easily. The voice control really helps fine tune the amount of grind. I find the tone control needs to be backed off a bit when increasing the voice control. I'm sure turnng the tone control counterclockwise will help alleviate some of that brittleness. Also do not use the bright switch you if have one on your amp.
I'm currently using a hand tuned Fuchs ODS 100. I can cop a tone virtually identical to by Fuchs OD with with my Zen2 in the clean channel. The preamp tube that came with my Zen 2 is a Groove tube reissue of he old Mullard 12AX7. I plan to experiment with a 12AT7 and 5751. I believe Alf favors the 12AT7.
So was mine .. must of also got a dud ...
I think the current wait is about 4 months.anyone has any idea on how long you have to wait to get a zendrive?
What's one mans' garbage is anothers' treasure....It all comes down to what each person is looking for. If the person was coming from a thrash metal background, that pedal would have probably sounded smooth and civilized. Coming from a high appreciation for Larry Carlton's vintage tone, that particular pedal sucked.So was mine .. must of also got a dud ...
But the guy who bought the Zen from me simply luvs it... go figure ...!!
I tried a ton of different tubes. Most of them didn't seem to make much difference but when I put in a ribbed plate Telefunken, it was all over. Something about it just sounded right. I may experiment more with some lower gain tubes too as I was diggin' what I was getting from RCA 5751s and Mullard 12AT7s.More please! I liked ansd miss my regualr ZD, now have a 2 coming. The brittleness scares me, but if it takes a tueb change that's easy enough. More on what tubes work? I have some old Mullards?