Visual Sound Open Road Overdrive Pedal Reviews

4.9/5.0 based on 4 customer reviews

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Customer Reviews

Tommy
from Richmond, Va
February 3, 2013Music Background:
Active Musician

Fantastic Overdrive

I can not speak highly enough about this pedal and Visual Sound, in general. I have never been let down buy the quality of their products and their customer service. This pedal sounds great! If you are bored with the midrangey 808 clones, you should definitely give this a try. Great, deep lows and sparkling clean highs. I like to play with a lot of open chords and with this pedal, I can crank the drive up and play the notes of an open C chord, and you can hear the notes clearly. I have the VS Rt. 808 overdrive also and you can blend the two to create some awesome tones. Super versatile.

Dave
from Niles, MI
March 16, 2012Music Background:
Working musician, studio engineer

Open Road rocks! Visual Sound is a great company!

First of all, Sweetwater is a very professional company and got me my pedal fast (no, I DO NOT work for them :-) As far as the pedal: very transparent, no bottom end loss, smooth highs, no mid hump...EXACTLY what I was looking for. The tone control gives me a lot of great sounding options as well. I have the Route 66 so I have the TS sound covered. I just don't understand why the Open Road pedal doesn't get more attention than it does. It's a lot cheaper than "boutique" overdrive pedals and sounds just as good if not better (believe me, I've tried A LOT of them!). I can't say enough good things about Visual Sound products and their customer support. I will continue to shout from the rooftops about VS pedals. Thanks again!

Brad Spead
from Grand Rapids, MI
April 26, 2011Music Background:
active musician, hobbyist

an overdrive that is NEVER leaving my pedalboard

I wrote a review on this pedal close to a year ago, and i have only recently been able to purchase one (being a college student sucks sometimes). I just have to say, this pedal is even better than i remember it the first time i tried it out, Visual Sound knocked it out of the park.

It really does sound like a cranked amp, and there are so many tone possibilities. There's no mud when doing chord work, but it still packs some serious punch on power chords with the gain cranked, and its got some nice grit when doing lead lines. I run mine stacked with a VS Jekyll & Hyde set to 2 different boosts, and all my gain bases are covered.

Best part of this pedal, when you roll back your guitar volume it cleans up fantastically! Almost sounds like the pedal isn't even there.

Really transparent sound, great price, great pedal. Thanks Visual Sound for a real keeper!!

Brad Spead
from Grand Rapids, MI
July 21, 2010Music Background:
active musician, hobbyist, blues/rock/jazz/fusion guitarist

the next pedal on my board...

I'd seen videos and read reviews of this little guy for quite awhile, but alot of stores didn't carry it (which is a shame, cause they'd sell dozens!). I recently found a shop that had one in stock and was giddy to try it out. I plugged it into a Marshall first (set to as clean a sound as i could get) and this pedal tore things up! (in a VERY good way!). The write-up is very accurate, it sounds much more like a cranked tube-amp than an overdrive pedal. Full chords ring through and shimmer, power chords have great punch, the only downside is theres not enough mids for a high-gain solo (but thats what a Jekyll & Hyde or Route 808 pedal is for!)

I also tried this pedal out through a Fender Blues Jr. and it sounded awesome. The tone knob responds like a presence knob on an amp, and i couldn't find a single setting that i didn't like (the suggested settings in the manual sounded awesome!).

I didn't have the money to buy the pedal that day, but i plan to purchase it very soon! I've already got a Jekyll & Hyde from Visual Sound, and i think that this pedal, combined with the J&H will give me every tone option i could ever want, need, and use. Visual Sound makes awesome stuff, and they really stick to their guns with customer service (i've had several e-mails answered by Bob, the owner and founder of the company).

This pedal isn't for everyone (especially not metal-heads, sorry guys, check out the Son of Hyde if thats your taste!), but its great for blues, classic rock, or to add an extra gain stage to your amp (responds especially well with tube-amps!). It doesn't fight your gear, but responds really well and interacts well with a tube amp, and other pedals.

I can't wait to add the Open Road to my pedalboard!