MXR Sugar Drive - Why Buy A Klon When This Sounds So Good!
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 8 мар 2023
- In today's video we look at the MXR Sugar Drive.
The MXR Sugar Drive is a Klon clone similar to a Klon KTR where you have a switchable buffer. While testing this great drive pedal we both agrred it sounded better than a Klon.
Here is what MXR say about the Sugar Drive.
The MXR Sugar Drive Pedal provides a diverse range of clear and transparent overdrive tones, from sauced up boosting to blown-tube distortion. It's based on a rare overdrive pedal that has acquired a mythical reputation among fanatical tone-seekers thanks to its unique circuit design.
The key elements of that circuit design are the Drive control and something called a voltage doubler. First, the Drive control on this pedal doesn't just increase the intensity of the overdrive pedal. It starts with your clean signal and then blends it with the overdrive effect as you turn it up, replicating the smooth transition of an amplifier going from clean to dirty. The voltage doubler increases overall headroom, which opens everything up nicely.
Of course, we had to put the MXR touch on this circuit. If you're all about true bypass, then you're in luck-this pedal uses it by default. The original used buffered bypass, though, and we know there's a lot of players out there who don't want to fix something that isn't broken. They're in luck, too-just flick the Buffer switch on the side of the pedal to enable buffered bypassing.
With a simple three-knob setup and an MXR mini housing, this is the go-to overdrive to have on your pedalboard. It's versatile and it saves space, and unlike the original pedals it's based on, it won't cost you thousands of dollars.
The Studio Rats are core band members Paul Drew on guitar/production/mixing, drummer James Ivey and Dan Hawkins on bass. They collaborate with singers and musicians to produce radio-ready songs. 
Видеоклипы
I love my Sugar Drive. Affordable, sounds great, small footprint, and the physical color itself is really nice too
Been using the Sugar Drive for years. Affordable, small enclosure, great sound. I've tried other Klones but kept coming back to this one.
Looking forward to more ToneX captures - your Independence is my favorite amp across all platforms at the moment (Kemper, QC, AxeFx 3)!
I happened to look away at the first comparison, didn't realise James had switched the pedals! What a great pedal for not a lot of money, think what pedals you could get for the price of a KTR. Great stuff guys, always enjoy your videos!
You guys make um both sound so good !!
We've been preching this!!
I got one of these Sugar Drives recently for my DSL40CR. Its amazing. Took the tubescreamer off the board.
Good demo. Wanted more low/mid settings but still appreciated.
I use my mine as a low gain headroom boost at the end of my overdrive chain. I play from a fender. The amp these guys are playing through is very high gain. The sugar drive doesn’t sound anything like this on a low gain amp. But in my rig It’s generally always on. It is absolutely clear and sounds as if it emphasizes the pretty parts of the pedals before it. It may not be a replacement for one of your pedals but it will pair very well with them. It’s a gem. Bright glassy and articulate.
I have the MXR Timmy, which I love. I think I'll get the Sugar Drive this weekend
The Super Drive REALLY reminds me of my EH Big Muff pedal from the 80s! :)
Whatever you try out, it always sounds good
Sold.
I'm buying one today.
A Klon is a boost pedal and OD in one pedal where the boost drops out at 9 Oclock and the OD kicks in . Yes there is a short cross fade between the two. It is done by stacking 2 knobs on the gain. The secret sauce is in the Boost section where you get a glassy chimey sound. Clones screw this up about 95% of the time. Once you get around 12 Oçlock copying the OD sound can even be near perfect. So I check the Boost part first. No chime and I pull it off my board immediately. The best Klon I have heard is the Hardby Pedals Centauri. The boost is spot on as the maker uses the identical NOS parts. The pedal comes in unassuming standard Hammond "B"box painted white and sells for only $150.00 USD ;-)
Wow, you sound like a Klon specialist. What do you think about the Ceriatone from Centura? What do you think about the Tumulus? Thanks!
I guarantee they don't use exactly the same NOS parts. In fact I know they don't. Klones are Klones and they only differ by the various resistances and capacitances that occur at various spots in the circuit, and that even holds true between two actual Klons. But by and large the actual circuitry is exactly the same between them all. Otherwise they wouldn't be Klones. What makes the most true to original Klones so expensive by collectors is the proper germanium trannies which are impossible to find and if you do find em like Brian Wampler did, your pedal will be worth way more than it should be just because of that. The other thing that will make a Klon a Klon is the buffer circuitry. If pedals don't have it wired the same way or at all, it's not going to sound like a Klon 100%
@@LeviBulger quelqu un qui modifie les pedales a fait cette modif avec la soul food , la meme modif qu avait fait JHS , et de son avis , cela ne vaut pas la peine , la difference est a peine audible !!!
It would be great to get your impressions on the Kernom Ridge pedal Paul. It's a big bit larger and in a different price bracket than the Sugar Drive but seemingly has some very good tones available. Cheers
really amazing comparison... have you try NUX Horseman? it cloning Klon Centaur too.. but the price cheaper than MXR sugar drive..
great videos..
Budget klon clone , moskey golden horse into crunch channel on boss katana mk1 head into 4x12 cab . What a tone 👌
Sugar drive is a great pedal. One of the best I own 👍 highly recommend
Love mine. My board is the orange terror stamp, the sugar drive and a simple delay and reverb. It’s tiny and brilliant. The Sugar Drive sounds awesome to me; clone or not. $ is right as is the tone.
For a Klon tone, I use a Boss OD-200, it does most types of overdrives with a 3-band eq.
That's what I'm using right now as well. It does so many different OD types and it does them well.
Best thing about this pedal is that it has that built in buffer you can turn on and off depending on the here it’s in the chain.
What reverb were you using?
I loved the tone
Looking for a time like that but with a touch of phaser for a song
Sugar drive is impressive
Decibelics Golden Horse for the win, best I’ve heard along with The Reverend fuzz with a “special” setting. Handmade in Barcelona get on the build list👌
The first version of the Archer is actually a Klon. Bill Finnegan was even involved initially.
Is that right Tim? I thought it was that Rockett started the manufacture of the KTR but then they had a parting of the ways and the Archer resulted? I could be wrong, but that was my memory of it.
What a great little pedal. Wondering how you use your ToneX with these kinds of pedals a does the gx 100 play a part in any of this, meaning you skip the amp models and only use effects?
Please do the MXR Duke of Tone vs the reissue Matshall Bluebreaker pedal too. Cheers! 🍻
What were you guys using for the clean tone? Sounded great.
I didn’t know much at all about the Klon for a long time, other than it was really expensive, and then RUclips vomited Klon videos everywhere. I got the fever and settled on a sugar drive
I don’t have any experience with any other Klon type pedal but the sugar drive has become my main pedal, and it’s always on. I like to stack it with another overdrive and it really livens up my tone; makes my amp sound a lot more harmonically rich!
I like how versatile it is too, being able to be boost, really good overdrive, and then blend the two.
You gotta try a Richie Kotzen RK5 pedal from Tech 21.
Oh and if you’ve never tried a Richie Kotzen Fender Tele you NEED to ASAP
Nice comparison. Between the two I'd definitely go with the Sugar Drive.
However, I picked up a Mosky Silver Horse klon clone a couple years ago for $28 USD, and it sounds as good as any klon clone I've heard (and it has a mode switch for extra variation).
I'm cheap, so if I can get a ~$30 pedal the does the same thing a ~$130 pedal does...I'm getting it :D
Mostly agree with you on the use of the klon style pedals, though I do occasionally get the sound I'm after with the higher gain settings.
But more often I get the sound I'm after in that vein with my cheap King of Tone clone (JOYO King of Kings, ~$60)...
Would love to see a similar video for MXR's new (ish) Duke of Tone that they made in collaboration with Analog Man.
I was thinking about that Mosky, I saw one use once, but I didn't felt I needed it. It was pretty stupid because it was practically free haha!
Another pedal to consider is the TC Electronic Zeus. Very affordable, sounds fantastic.
It's already posted by Studio Rats.
Thanks, I'll check it out.
Not sure if you covered it but curious what type of amp you’re using on that clean sound which sounds like a almost slightly edge of break up
While they do sound slightly different I can't say that one sounds better than the other. I'd be curious to put the Sugar Drive in front of my little MX5 and see how it meshes with everything else in the box. It just might save me a foot switch.
Another slightly connected comment
Being a new user of the Katanamk2 and not being able to play or tweak daily mainly due to arthritis , your patches are a perfect solution and a great starting point to build on
Thank you guys
Much appreciated
Thanks .. what reverb were you using on this guitar here it’s p lovely
It’s a pretty awesome pedal. I bought the Fat Sugar pink version as I don’t like the small pedals. I bought the MXR Super Badass Dynamic OD soon after and that’s awesome too.
Same here.
I agree with the other guy, chasing unicorns. I have a pile of them in the corner and just plug into the amp and turn it up now a days.
with the KTPR, and the MXR sugar, drive; my question would be, can you obtain the gold, and the silver modes with either of these and if so, what are the differences between those two modes. Using these clans.
How do you never get a bad tone on anything you play thru? I’d really like to know what your recording setup is cause it sounds awesome!!!
They never seem to answer questions like this. Odd.
Far too many pedals that all sound very much the same. It's ironic that the great classic rock sounds that were created in the 60s and 70s were done with very few pedals or none at all. It's turned into chasing Unicorns.
The amps were pretty nice back then though!
It’s all cork sniffing to me 😂
@@andyhamlett8814 Cork sniffers love their tubes/valve amps, then they put a transistor drive pedal all over their tone 😂.
It’s funny how tube overdrive pedals sound like shit compared to one’s with op amps and Jfet’s. Solid state for the win 🥇 lol.
@@jazznotes3802 cork sniffers don't even use pedals, cheap low headroom solid state ruins tube dynamics
You had a guitar, you had an amp, you had a sound. Chris Britton, The Troggs.
What are the odds? I did this very shootout against my friend's KTR and I like my Sugar Drive better...and money was not a factor. I'd previously been using a J Rockett Archer pedal for years and then I went down the Helix path and sold off a lot of my pedals as I don't like keeping stuff if I'm not using it. At some point later I decided I wanted to build a small "conventional" board for the occasional break from the Helix and decided to give the Sugar Drive a shot after hearing good things about them. No regrets! Side note- J Rockett was the company that made the KTR pedals for Finnegan. Perhaps that's why in all the Klon Klone shootouts that feature many Klones, the Archer always wins?
Listening to this, there's no question that value for money lies with the Sugar Drive. It's great all around. The only difference is when the Klon drive is cranked to the max, it's slightly "fuller". Thats it!
What amp are you using?
So is this signal path guitar>pedal>Matchless>Torpedo Live>Apollo>computer
Or pedal in front of the AXfx?
I bought my KTR in 2017 for $380 kicking and screaming . But any drive pedal I compare it too , the KTR sounds better . In some case it's 5-15% better . But that 5-15% is mainly where most of us live .
Cmon, try Decibelics Golden Royale... the business !!
Driving a tube amp is something that can be done in a zillion ways, even an equalizer pedal can do the trick.
Cracking little unit isn't it!
Finger blocks the mxr light...😁🤟
Hey Paul, is the xotic sp the best compressor for a tele to take away some of the brightness?
Hi Dave, it’s a great compressor but it’s not going to take away brightness, it will soften the initial transient if that’s how you want to set it.
@@TheStudioRats ah okay! I thought u used it for brighter guitars and the keeley one for darker! Im wanting to buy one for my tele but not sure on best!
@@DeloreanDave are you eq’ing your amp for a humbucker guitar?
@@TheStudioRats Using a JCM2000 if i'm using the Tele do i just lower the treble and presence? its mainly alternative rock im playing. Like maxing the mids
je n avais retenu que 2 pedales , La Warm audio Centavo et la MXR sugar drive , et j ai acheté la Centavo , vous devriez dailleur , si vous pouvez l avoir en test , la comparer a votre KTR , je penses que beaucoup de monde seraient interressé par ce comparatif .
Or a tumnus mini
love the sugar drive ...other good k clones in my opinion are ...way huge conspiracy theory and the centavo 😉
I guess the soul food does it pretty close too
Have you tried the Warmaudio Centavo? Would be intersting to hear what you say
I've seen a bunch of videos like this and the clones sound just like the real thing. Why someone would spend $7000 on a Klon I can't understand.
All you need to know to buy a Sugar Drive are three magic words. 1. Christone. 2, "Kingfish", 3. Ingram.
Warm Audio Centavo is spot on. Best of the clones
This or the Rawdog?
Also from the House of Dunlop, the Way Huge Conspiracy Theory is well worth consideration.
Not such a fan of fluffers myself
What amp did you guys plug this into?
we use a capture of my matchless on a TONEX pedal
😉👍❤🖖
It's so funny ...
I've just received a sugar drive but i cocked up as i meant to get an Mxr timmy ...
The truth is ....
I'm glad i made a mistake as the sugar drive is brilliant ...
Sometimes things are meant to be ahaja
Right on
Is not Josh who wants...
The nux horseman is better
Haha all overdrive's pretty-much sound the same.
Sure, but it doesn’t look as cool as my fake on my pedalboard.
Saves a lot of space though!😊
When you say here's the clean tone why is your guitar drenched in the shit? and yes i mean reverb and delay!
Let’s sort the question you basically answered. Its my guitar, it’s my guitar sound. If you don’t like reverb I’d look elsewhere.
dear guitarists, I want to share my honest opinion about pedals in conjuction with your amp being a head or a combo or even on your pc via simulation. You know when they say ''don't judge a book by it's cover'' well since everyone gets excited by just the look of a pedal and see it as a means to an end, or miracle work, it is just a patch job in my opinion. It just is gain staging at best with some exaggeration in the mid frequency range or highs. See it just brings out the lead or crunch of how your amp is sounding.. There is no point in buying expensive boutique pedals if the job can be done with a cheaper sollution. If guitarists just could be content with a clean, crunch and lead tone of their amp, you really just need a few pedals.. More so it is all about where you place the pedal and how you use it than what you use in my opinion.
It's ridiculous to me that anyone would pay the price for a Klon when there are so many pedals out there for around a hundred bucks that will do the same thing and more, with a much smaller footprint on the pedal board.