PD7 Tone Lok Phat Hed Bass Overdrive Pedal

I bought this pedal for the price, and I think for the price, it sounds pretty good.  I liked it more than Digitech's and Boss's offerings to the bass distortion world, and its cheaper too.  The overdrive mode is probably my favorite mode, it has a round, older-style distortion that I like, think more along the lines of old Geezer Butler and maybe Tim Commerford tones.  At low drive settings, it can sound a little weak though.  The distortion mode is also pretty good, with more of a modern hi-fi distortion sound, a little treblier than the od mode.  This mode is a little stronger on low gain settings, oddly.  The clean mode is just a transparent non-overdriven mode, useful if you want to use this pedal as an eq pedal or as a simple volume boost.  This pedal really does preserve the low end pretty well, too well actually.  With a bass-ier bass, such as a active humbucker equipped bass, it becomes really muddy-sounding.  It's literally the only overdrive pedal I've had to turn the bass down on. The attack switch is a unique feature, it adds quite a bit of treble and mids to the signal, making your bass sound a bit more along the lines of Justin Chancellor's tone.  It also adds quite a bit of noise, though.  Overall, I'm not really a fan, as it causes some odd treble distortion even on clean mode that really doesn't sound good to my ears, however with less trebly basses(I play a jazz bass), it can really liven up the tone, or put it more into the kind of noisy distortion that industrial music seems to love so much. Overall, this pedal sounds pretty good, but it's far from the best.  The gain range is pretty low; the overdrive doesn't go as clean as I would like it to, and it doesn't go as ridiculously overdriven as I would like either, it just kinda sits inbetween the two extremes.  You can still get close to a good variety of tones, from the synth-ier tones of Christopher Wolstenholme to the more organic tones of Tim Commerford, but it won't quite reach them.  Overall, a good value, but there are definitely much better pedals out there.

It seems to hold up pretty well.  I've found that the metal case does scratch very easily, but that's largely my own fault.  The battery cover is simply the footswitch for the pedal, all you have to do is push a button, and it pops up.  Handy, but it seems kinda flimsy.  The plastic buttons also seem pretty flimsy, but you can push them down into the pedal (hence the name: tone-lok) which is actually a really cool feature that I wish more pedals had.  I think I can depend on it, and I have.  Overall, its pretty good.

This pedal has 4 knobs, drive, lo, hi, and level.  The drive knob increases the gain or drive (obviously), the lo and hi knobs are eq knobs for the bass and treble, and the level affects the overall volume of the pedal.  In addition, it has two switches.  The one on the left has three modes, clean, OD, and dist.  Clean is a clean mode, without any distortion, but the eq knobs and the attack switch still come into play.  OD is an overdrive mode, with more of a classic smoother distortion sound, and dist is a distortion mode, with more of a modern, edgy tone.  The attack switch has three levels, off, 1, and 2.  When on, it creates a bit of a treble/high mid boost, kind of a grindy noise on 2.  It may or not be useful for you.  Overall, this pedal has a bunch of knobs on it, but it's easy enough to figure out.

Never had to deal with them

The usefulness of this pedal is limited by what kind of sound you want.  If you want a subtle overdrive, an over-the top fuzz, or a vintage tone, you're not going to get it with this pedal.  If you want a modern, harsh sound, a smooth heavy overdrive, a buzzy noisy trebly attack, or a simple clean boost, you can definitely get that.  A great pedal for the money (I would call it the ds-1 of the bass world) and it's really good if you're not sure what you want, and you're just entering the bass distortion world, but if you're looking for a great distortion pedal, you'll have to spend a bit more.

As I said above I can USUALLY find a good sound to compliment the style I'm playing. I use a pick and unlike some bass pedals it actually is responsive to my picking technique and the settings are constantly changing on this pedal as I cover alot of divirse material like in one practice session I go from Shakira to Less Than Jake to Slipknot. So it makes since to have gear that's versatile I got a Yamaha RBX170 it has P and J pickups and a crapload of picks (.88mm tortex, 1mm tortex, .88mm nylons, 1mm nylons, and 1mm Ultex picks ALL are Dunlop) I don't claim to be a good bassist as MOST of what I do is Punk and Metal but, I try to blend all those styles and influences into my playing style.  And for what it's worth it's the best bargain Ibanez makes.

WTF is wrong with you  people saying it has plastic knobs will guess what the design is TONE LOC meaning you push the plastic knobs down and then you don't have to worry about crap (Unless like me you need to change settings frequently then THEN it sorta sucks) BTW the thing is mostly metal METAL. Meaning if you threw this thing at someone/thing it's assault with a deadly weapon.... WHY? CUZ it's FREAKIN' METAL!!!

I can usually get a pretty good range of sounds out of this thing. I'll admit nothing I could record basslines with (I've only had it for a little bit under a year) still it's highly responsive and great to use for Metal/Hard Rock/Punk/Grunge/Pop/Ska it's durable with a metal body and push in knobs are great features and the price makes it an ideal 1st pedal for any bassist and maybe you 7 string guitarists too.

Didn't need to contact them but, if I do I'll let ya' know.

I think to end this I'll just say that if your looking for a cheap good and sturdy pedal then you should snag it I mean what can a $200 pedal do any better than this $50 one? I'll answer nothing but, looks. IMO this pedal is the best pedal around for what it does. And it does Distortion and Overdrive so what do you want? You want this.

I have used this pedal with a Schecter C5 (EMG-HZ pickups) bass through a Peavy 300W head and an Ampeg 8x10 cab, so that has to be a good rock road test. My settings for a real industrial metal bass tone (hear me play at www.iamnoone.co.uk, 'Personality Disorder' shows it best) Drive = 5 Lo = 7 Hi = 7 level = 4 Mode = OD Attack = 1 This is a HEAVY PEDAL! If your into your metal I don't see how you can not have this for your bass! The Boss pedal gives nice overdrive, but the sound is decisively indie. The Ibanez PD7 allows you to go from blues (but very overdriven blues) to metal bass, to Korn style clean attack! Just go listen to the sound patches of the Digitech bass Drive, the Boss ODB-3, and thr Ibanez PD7, and you will hear strait away that the Ibanez has more agression and power. I love the attack switch. I keep mine on setting 1 (off - 1 - 2) which gives me a harsh enough attack to be heard digging into my strings for the bass lines, but not so harsh all you get is buzz. off is the traditional overdrive mode, and 2 is extreme (Korn). However, if your going to use the attack mode, I would strongly suggest investing in a good noise gate, as the background hiss can be very audible. The drive modes are what make this pedal so versatile. Set to clean allows for that Korn style attack, or just a subtle tweaking of your tone (clean = no gain). OD (overdrive) (what I mainly use) gives a nice growling tone while keeping your pickups voice prominent. This is great if you have invested in a good custom setup (EMG's are the best). This mode is best suited for playing complex riffs where you want to be heard clearly. Dist (distortion) thickens the drive up and lends itself well for 'single note players' who like their bass lines simple. However that's just how I see it. The Dist function doesn't muddy up the bass too much which I like. Im giving this pedal 9/10 because even though the sounds are pretty

before I start, I am a professional designer, so that should add to weight to my evaluation here. Its made out of very solid cast steel alloy, so the casing itself is pretty rugged and will tour well. The small selector switches (nipples?) are plastic, and I wouldn't like to kick them too much. having said that they are receded, so should survive a good kick. The dials, being receded as the 'Tone Lock' feature means that if you did stand on the pedal, nothing would happen to them! This is a definite increase in the pedals reliability! The battery connector inside is of the solid plastic cast type, which is good! My Schecter C-5 had the flexible plastic type, which broke when i changed the battery on my bass (active EQ system). Luckily I have a goo grasp of electronics and fitted a new connector easily, but most people cant do that. In short, solid connector = longer average lifespan for pedal. Here is my biggest problem. the input and output jacks have a very week grip on my cables. I have Fender California cables, but am having to upgrade to Planet Wave's with the spring loaded jack tips to stop the cable jack coming out of my pedal during playing. This is ok during practice, but death during gigs. Its not a hard thing for Ibanez to get right, and I am amazed they got it so wrong. Maybe I just got some duff jacks on my pedal. Once again 9/10 because the reliability is pretty good, but were not perfect yet.

Really easy. The booklet gives you three distinctive settings that you can use to learn what does what. The switches and knobs are really self explanatory and once you have had it for a few days you will be able to tweak it like a pro. its all pretty simple. Gain-EQ-Volume / Drive type / Attack The locking knobs is a genius idea! Most pedals you have to either remember your settings, or write them down. The Ibanez tone lock series lets you work out your settings in the studio, lock them in, and forget about it. This has to be one the best features of the pedal! I would have liked a set of foot switches to change the drive mode and attack, but then were into the large pedal range, and it wouldn't fit into the small casing. It doesn't make much of a difference, but I don't want to have to flick a tiny switch on stage. I'm giving this 9/10 because you need a little time to play with the variations on the pedal, but anyone with half a brain can do it.

Not had to deal with them yet.

I play industrial metal in my band I Am No One (www.iamnoone.co.uk), alternative rock and anything with a good solid rock edge. This pedal gets most of the sounds I can dream of. Just that real thundering sound im missing, but that is a rarity for my style of playing. I have been playing for 5 years and own a Schecter C-5 bass with EMG_HZ pickups and active EQ system onboard I own an Ashdown MAG 300 head and Cab, but use Amped stacks in the studio. if this pedal was stolen or lost I wouldn't think twice about getting another one, my credit card would already be out making that order. I love the attack switch, and the way I can get a powerful yet crisp sound that matches my style perfectly. After playing with it a few weeks I cant imagine my tone without it. I compared this pedal to the Boss ODB-3 and the Digitech Bass Drive. The Digitech didn't have enough oumph to it, and the Boss didn't have that distinctive tone (more Kyser Chiefs than Rammstein). This was the most metal pedal I could find, and cheap! What don't you get? I have yet to be able to get that really thick, driving, heart thundering low distortion from this pedal. I am considering a Boss ODB-3 for that, if it can deliver. The only other comment I could add is that adding an EQ pedal BEFORE any effect allows you to mod the sound to your hearts content, getting it perfect. I have yet to find a stomp box pedal that has a good enough EQ system built in to do this. The Ibanez PD7 is no exception. The EQ on the pedal does allow for some interesting sound alterations, but your better off running the pedal EQ flat (both on 5), and then sticking a Boss bass EQ pedal in front, and using that to get the tone shaped in 7 bands! I don't expect any small pedal to have this capability, but I thought I would mention it as its relevant. I would really like a 'blend' switch on this pedal, just like on the Boss ODB-3, so that I could dial in some mega distortion, and then turn it into an accent rather than a force by decreasing the blend with the natural tone. Also, a 'FUZZ' mode to add to CLEAN, OD, and DIST would allow for that thundering bass roar that is missing from this pedal. Undoubtedly this pedal helps me archive the tone and playing style I am looking for. Without it I feel like a traditional bass player. But when its plugged in and my settings are true, then I feel like me with my own custom tone.