Tipping a wink to Eric Johnson and his love of tone and fuzz, this is a new pedal that claims to bridge the space between overdrives, which you might have gathered I LOVE and fuzz,which I usually don’t.
It’s designed by Alfonso Hermida, whose Zendrive is legendary. Apparently he likes designing but hates manufacture and marketing, so hes done a deal with excellent makers Lovepedal to handle that side of things.
With such a pedigree, I felt pretty safe ordering one sight unseen and it arrived promptly thanks to the guys at Lovepedal. I was probably the first one to land in the UK though there may be others now - none of the shops had even heard of it when I ordered it.
It’s a brilliant pedal, not transparent like a drive but very clear, not mushy or spitty like most fuzzes I’ve tried. Each of the three controls actually does something, so there are many sounds in it from low gain/high volume to slam the amp input, to lower volume/higher gain for creamier sustaining settings. playing. It’s pretty easy to get some Bonamassa and Gary Moore sounds.
It also has an internal trim pot if you want to make it spittier or even creamier. I played around with this – as you do – but came back to the factory setting, which is perfect for my blues/rock/(jazz).
It loves the single coils on my Strats and Tele, and it surprised me by how well it takes humbuckers, espcially my ‘burst. The only tinge of sadness is that I haven’t – yet – got it to really sing with P90's, which is a pity as they are thepickups I keep going back to out of choice.
Taking notes from Billy Gibbon’s chunky rhythm to Eric Johnson and David Gilmour’s soaring leads, the Dover drive is a touch sensitive device that walks a tightrope between an overdrive and a fuzz. Aimed to make your solos scream into the heavens and your riffs pound into the southern cooked trenches, this dynamic box gives you a round and creamy tone, smooth enough for jazz, tight enough for progressive rock, fat enough for blues and much more. Rolling back on your guitar’s volume and tone knobs will open up even more tonal possibilities.
FEATURES:
-Classic, touch sensitive, soaring leads b/w of chunky and pounding rhythm tones
-Internal bias control trim pot
-True Bypass switching, making sure your signal is preserved when the effect is off
-9VDC, center negative adapter or 9V battery / Current draw 10mA
-Made in USA
Controls:
-Volume – Controls the overall output of the effect. There’s a lot of it on tap too. You’ll find unity gain between the effected and bypassed signal around 8:00-9:00.
-Gain – Controls the distortion amount of the effect. Around 9:00 is good for a nice, bluesy rhythm. 1:00 and up starts to add sustain for leads, while remaining smooth and dynamic.
-Tone – Single band EQ will add or subtract presence to the effected signal. Rolling back around 10:00 will give a darker, rounder sound, while moving around 2:00 will add clarity.
-Bias Control- If you unscrew the the back of your Dover Drive, you’ll find a tiny trim pot toward the upper left of the board. Using a small flathead screwdriver, you are able to adjust the bias control of the effect. Turning it to the left will give it a starved, sharp attack with a charmingly, spitty quality to it. Turning it to the right will open it up more while smoothing out the decay and thus, offering more sustain.
