I'm just one guy, so please go play this pedal and make up your own mind before buying. But, I've played for 25 years, I work professionally and I just had to throw my two cents in about this pedal. I'm not sure where some of the other players that have reviewed this unit are coming from, but in the interest of helping a talented musician out there get their hands on objective review of this utterly kick ass product, here goes...
Yes, it is easy to get a great sound out of this pedal! That is the understatement of the year!
No, there are no patches to edit thank God. It's a four knob magic box with very active controls.
Do you like the treble and bass and gain knobs to respond in a way that you can actually hear when you turn them? How about, when they respond, to actually create musical and useable changes to your sound? Well, welcome to the Overdriver.
There is no manual. Which is fine by me. You play and tweak until it sounds right...not much to that. HOWEVER, and Colorsound, if you read these reviews, please take note:
It would sure be nice to at least have a frick'n business card stuck in the box so that new owners could ascertain whether or not there is a warranty and/or contact person in case anything goes wrong with the pedal. Perhaps even a website?
That is the only thing that makes me nervous about this pedal.
Here's where the Ease of Use rating takes a hit:
This pedal is a clone. As in, right down to the electronics. As in, right down to the "we drive on the wrong side of the road in the US" configuration of the input and output jacks (they are reversed from what you would most likely be used to...not that big of deal really unless you run a bunch of peds on a tight board...having your lines crossed for one ped could cause you an issue). There is also no 9v input, so leave your wall wart at home. It's all about the battery. With a pedal like this, a battery is the way to go anyway.
But, let's talk about that battery for a second:
If this is indeed a faithful clone, ease of battery change was clearly not an issue back in the 60's. Two easily stripped screws must first be removed, then you use a screwdriver to pop the casing off, then you will need to rig the inside so that the battery you install doesn't fly around unsecured. The reason for that? Because although Colorsound has provided a metal battery clamp to hold it in place, if you put the battery in the clamp and try to close the pedal back up, it can't fit properly now because it is trying to share space with the internal electronics. So, I would recommend that you stick a little piece of velcro on the base of the pedal (in the open area that they should have put the battery clamp to begin with) and put another piece on your battery. Is that going to be a pain in the ass every time you want to change out? Yep! Get used to it. Trust me, as big a pain as this process is, the sound makes it more than worth the trouble.
So yeah, ease of use in terms of getting a perfect sound? _10
Ease of Use in terms of the above? _5
(Hence the 7 rating)