EarthQuaker Devices Plumes Small Signal Shredder Overdrive Pedal Reviews

A huge spectrum of tones in this pedal. Bluesy clean boost and crunchy rock rhythm tones to cranked tube amp distortion. It definitely stands on its own as far as gain and volume, but I've found one of my favorite uses for it is to get that "dialed to 11" sound with the Benson Preamp in front of it with the gain on 10...a WALL OF TONE even at low volume. This one is never leaving the pedal board - It actually ended up replacing two others I had on the board for overdrive/distortion, the EHX Crayon69 and Hot Tubes.

I am strictly a rhythm guitar player and am not making any calls here based on lead tones. Everyone knows this pedal is a great value, and likely knows it offers something quite different than a TS9. I purchased this because I didn't care for the TS9 with my 5e3 amp, and far preferred a Timmy. What I didn't expect is that the Plumes sounds fantastic (and better) through the Iridium pedal. The clipping mode (3) in particular feels great. If you can swing it, this is not duplicative in any way.

I have never really been a big fan of overdrive pedals, but this one has been really nice for me. The simplicity and overall design fits on my board nicely and the switch is super quiet, definitely looking at some more eqd pedals now!

Is it distortion, is it overdrive? A little of both? Either way the sound and versatility options from this one little pedal are great. At a relatively low price point, I'd recommend this to anyone wanting to try a new dirt pedal or boost.

This overdrive sounds very good to my ears and creates a lot of sustain. Very warm sounding. Smitty

If I could have one pedal to shape my sound this is it! Versatile, with an increase in headroom, lots of OD tuning options. Awesome. Highly recommended.

This overdrive is great! It's higher gain than a normal TS type pedal but in a good way. Super fat crunch tones that I use for my highest gain on my board. Highly recommend it! You won't regret it

Sounds incredibly and noticeably clear in live settings and especially on recordings. The highs and mids are on another level while leaving the low end alone. All modes work great but III is king for "that" sound. If you want nasal and less clarity, dial back the tone knob. This retires many tube screamers throughout the world. A and B them for yourself!

Always been hesitant with tube screamer type pedals, but needed a boost with a enough tonal shaping to cut through the mix. This pedal does that and more! If you're thinking about it then think no more, just buy it already!

Not only is the pedal awesome, but Sweetwater's service has been phenomenal. I had an open box unit that gave me issues and sweetwater replaced it in time for my next gig!!! Shout out to my sales rep Matthew LaMarche for helping me out!

Such a great, versatile pedal, loving some of the sounds I'm getting out of it. Also many thanks to Joseph for being awesome.

Lifelong tube screamer guy. After watching several reviews of the Plumes od, with the final nail being the fantastic demo by Jeff Loomis, decided to try it. It didn't make me Jeff, but the drive is so creamy it makes me want to play on and on. The level control actually makes a difference in all 3 modes, which are distinct from each other. I've landed on mode 1 as a favorite. This thing lives up to the hype imo.

It's all true, amazing pedal!!! Can't go wrong for$

This pedal is one of the greatest pedals I have ever played, if there was one pedal to own it would be this one. Now I know some don't like it for the brightness, but you can alter the tone knob to help keep lows nice and present. This is very musical and always on in my signal chain. It even offers borderline fuzz/dist if you really push the gain, but at low settings on the third mode, it's the lovechild of a Klon and an 808. GET IT NOW!

I knew this overdrive pedal was going to be cool But, I didn't realize how cool. It integrated flawlessly with my style of playing. 10 outta 10

Wow! This is a great tube screamer style pedal which has more depth of tone, versatility, and dimension of grittiness than other pedals I've tried. It can go from a classic to more modern sounds easily. It also stacks well with other pedals and the gain channel in my amp. I absolutely love it.

I'm using this mostly as a boost (drive down) into a Marshall DSL20 amp. It adds another layer of gain with more sustain, and just a hair of low end shaved off to tighten things up. Doesn't change the inherent character of my amp though, which is a good thing. I've struggled with this spot on my board for a while. While I like the SD-1 and TS808, neither were quite right. The SD-1 just cuts too much bass for my taste. The Plumes in Mode 3 is the magic sauce I was looking for. Mode 3 is definitely my favorite, either into a clean amp, or into a dirty amp like I do with the Marshall. Momentary switching is awesome as well.

I play this pedal through a Fender Twin Reverb. A versatile, quality pedal that fits any genera. You do not need anything else.

Fantastic overdrive! I've run this into my beloved tube amp (THD flexi 50) as well as some solid state amps (Milkman's The Amp pedal) and this thing is super versatile and, in my experience, tough to get a bad sound out of. All three clipping options have their use, whether you're using to add gain or just volume to goose your amp into the sweet spot. For the price this thing is *really* tough to beat! As always, Sweetwater kills it getting gear to the people who need/want it, shout out to Nick Grawcock for always helping get my stuff to me with the quickness. Thanks!

Love this pedal. It's really versatile. You can dial on just a little dirt up to AC/DC-ish tones. It's definitely a staple on my board. Also, TJ, my sales rep was amazing as always!!

Great bang for your buck

Using this with a Fender Blues Deluxe reissue with 12ay7s in the V1 and V2 positions so basically my amp stays super clean until it's cranked to unbearable levels. Mode 1 gives me exactly the drive I've been looking for on my Gretsch 5622t-cb and Ibanez AF-75. Sounds great on my strat with Klein Jazzy Cats too. Nice and gritty while staying articulate. Great drive pedal

I got myself this OD pedal as a birthday gift and man was it worth the wait, it's practically 3 pedals in one! The 3 mode switch allows me to choose between different overdrive types to compliment any amp I'm putting it in front of. This thing can scream and shred as well as tight metal guitar tones!

My experience with this overdrive was amazing: I use to boost (in boost mode) my Revv G20 into mesa 2x12 and this little green box transform my OD channel (any of the aggression modes) into a very responsive, heavy and tight distortion channel with extra low end.

Finding an overdrive pedal can be challenging because of how many there are on the market. It was the last piece I needed for my pedal board. This pedal sounds so incredible good. I run it through a Fender Hot Rod into a Fender Telecaster. The three modes on it are all fantastic. I highly recommend the PLUMES.

I had been using a Way Huge Green Rhino mk. II to push my Peavey 6505+ head and while I did think it was a good overdrive, it didn't have enough high end sizzle. I have tons of respect for Earthquaker, I've owned several of their other pedals, so I knew the Plumes would be good. Maybe it wouldn't be what I needed, but it would be good.

It's fantastic. Position 2, gain at 0, volume at max, tone between 1 and 2 o'clock. Searing, tight, colorful chugs. I'm so happy with the results. This is going to become an always on pedal. Throw some moderate fuzz before it, into a clean(ish) channel. *chef's kiss*

Very well rounded and sounds great

Great sounding and feeling pedal for extremely low price. Highly recommend it. 3 setting toggle switch for asymmetrical, led and symmetrical settings. Great pedal.

I've been an active guitarist for 20+ years with gear that has come and gone due to bills that needed to be paid. I am at the point in my life where I've leveled out and I have more bills paid off than I have left to pay. I thought I could live with a processor for all my musical needs but I can flat out tell you my PodGo sounds great through a PA but I've yet to get a good tone going through my Fender Bassbreaker 45. So this year I have accepted pedals are the better choice for playing through tube amps for me.
I've slowly regrown my collection this year with some higher gain overdrives such as a Fulltone OCD, and a ProCo Rat but unfortunately this leaves a huge gap in my gain stage.
The Plumes is exactly what I was looking for! I run my Bassbreaker 45 somewhat clean and this baby has the low gain grit I was looking for! I prefer the first gain stage on the plumes symmetrical diode clipping. This covers all the classic rock sounds that I want that isn't a Marshall sounding amp. For the Marshall sounds I go with the Fulltone OCD. These two pedals stack really well for a lead tone! I could run them either way and be satisfied with the lead tone I get from them stacked together. Both the OCD and the Plumes has a lot of mids, with the OCD having loads more bottom end. The Plumes has a more honky mid range but it's still very smooth sounding.plumes could pass as an always on pedal in my book! I love the tone of this pedal, it's my favorite pedal on my board!
I love the build quality and the soft switching true bypass is wonderful! This pedal feels more expensive than it actually is!

I've used these before and now I finally ordered my own for my rig. Im using it to provide a clean boost to my EVH 5150III 50 watt. Absolutely insane tone. The EVH has more gain on tap than anybody will ever use so I needed something that could tighten it up while also helping with nice clipping and note clarity. Amazing difference brought to an already amazing amp. Further more, it has beautiful break up for clean tones and adds just that magic dirt you need for rock tones. Even sounded great for a little country/ southern rock riff I tried it with. Don't be fooled by the bigger price tag on other OD pedal because the Plumes has everything you need for the entire rock spectrum of tones. Thanks Alan Moon!!!!

The standard tube screamer may be iconic but I've always been disappointed with the amount of gain it had, tried a Keeely modded version which had a little more oomph but sounded kind of gristly.

This pedal had more gain than I could need and doesn't thin out, the tone control is great, it's more like a high pass filter; you can start on zero and slowly move up and it's not like that sound of slowly pulling cotton out of your ears-it's a smooth transition.

It can still sound like a classic 808 if you're looking for that as well, I definitely like the versatility and for $... I would definitely recommend buying this pedal before any other tube screamer flavor.

This pedal sounds really good going through my Hot Rod Deluxe and when I have it running with the TO 800 the sound I get is even better. Very happy with the purchase. Thanks Riley Koenemann for helping me with this purchase. I always research my purchases and read reviews and this pedal has some of the best reviews out there.

The Earthquaker Plumes is practically 3 pedals in one small box. Mode 1 is practically a direct upgrade of an Ibanez Tube Screamer, with more options in the tone knob and far less hum. Mode 2 is an amazing boost pedal, which is great in the front end of a tube amp, but nothing too mind-blowing. But Mode 3 blew my mind. It´s far and away one of the best Marshall in a box sounds I have ever heard and it covers anything from metal to Hendrix in mode 3, especially when running it into a more transparent drive like a Morning Glory. This wealth of options along with the small footprint makes it an easy choice to put on your board, even if you already have an overdrive, boost, or distortion, especially when you consider how much it loves other dirt pedals.

The Plumes has so many useful tones ranging from a gentle chime, then adding some drive and getting some dirt with a Strat and add a touch of reverb... just sweetness... Pushing the gain all the way up and laying off the tone and you've got some nice grunge-y tones, almost bordering on Big Muff territory. Overall, its a great pedal and where many pedals have a small sweet spot, the Plumes sweet spot seems to be a lot wider than most. Highly recommended.

If you feel lost in the search for the perfect Tube Screamer then look no further. This pedal is very versatile in shaping the right amount of dirt for your signal. It's very affordable and easy to dial in. I have used it to sweeten up an Orange Micro Dark and was able to get fat distortion through a Fender acoustic amp. Big thanks to my sales rep Chris Nunley for recommending it and making sure I got the pedal quickly. I'm constantly switching out pedals, but this one has a permanent place on my board!

I've been playing guitar for 20 years now, and for most of it I wasn't a big pedal guy. Recently I have become obsessed with different pedals (thanks jhs show) one thing I did use on my rig since the early days of picking up the guitar was a tube screamer, and have tried a few over the years. I came across a video of the EQD founder playing the plumes and it sounded exactly like what I wished a tube screamer would sound like. The plumes fills in that little something that you didn't know was missing in a tube screamer, it's hard to describe but once you hear it you know (it's like a light switched on) any-who enough chit chat. The this pedal is amazing and you need one!

This is a tube screamer but the tone knob is usable full sweep left to right. On bass and guitar, this thing adds a punch!

I don't normally write reviews but I am in love with this pedal! The clarity and transparency are fantastic. Each of the three modes are great and have their place. The only nit picky thing I can offer is the volume differences between them but I couldn't see myself needing to switch on the fly so no worries there. At this price point it is the best bang for the buck in a dirt pedal period!

I hit it with my Cali76 stacked and it is the low to medium gain sound that I have searched for for so long.

great clean overdriven clean tone like the 70's tone of the overdriven blackface fender amps. Also, a tone of other overdrive tones. Well worthe the money, whichis priced like the 70's pedals

Best of the heap as far as the "Green box" OD's are concerned. Of course, that's a subjective statement, but I feel like it has a super nice, warm overdrive tone and all 3 knobs are highly functional allowing for you to shape your sound to your liking.

I'll keep it short and sweet. This is the best OD pedal I've owned, and I've had plenty. Modes 1 and 3 seem the most useful to me. I don't know how to describe it, but the way the notes bloom on this pedal is magical. I run it into a Friedman Runt 20, and this pedal + that amp = flamethrower...

The headroom on setting 2 is unbelievable. It will make a low watt amp howl. I use this pedal to round out the channels on my orange Rocker 15 and rockerverb 50. The grit it adds to the natural channel reminds me of my 18w Marshall clone CRANKED and pushes the high gain channel into modern metal territories. It's the best mid-hump clean boost out there. The other two modes are nice for my home amp (Blackheart B1H) and I assume would be great for heavy music. For me, that mode 2 headroom is too hard to ignore. The 50w Rockerverb is out of this world with the plumes. Hide your kids, grab some earplugs and feel your skin melting off.

Come on. It's EQD. ...It's crazy good. Buy this pedal

There are zero bad settings. Sounds amazing though my Vox, Marshall, Orange and Fender. Kicks 99% of my drives off the board and I have some nice ones. Just buy it.

I've tried quite a few combinations of OD pedals attempting to find exactly what I can do with this single pedal alone. Not only does this pedal replace two or three other pedals I was running, the price is an absolute steal! Stop waiting and snatch one of these up!

This pedal has the smoothest 808ish sounding gain on toggle 3 and the tone knob on this setting actually lets you dial a little mids back if it's too bright, most just stay bright and nothing else happens. Aside from that, this pedal has more boost power and headroom than most boost pedals. I have it at 9oclock on option 3 and it it way louder than my other pedals at 12 o'clock . But don't let this 808ish toggle 3 scare you off if you don't like that sort of thing. 1 and 2 have very nice clean overdrive (I'm my opinion similar to a morning glory) with different tone options on both. ...I would swear it cost 200-250. It's so awesome and the look of it is just so groovy!

This pedal rules. It adds just the right amount of dirt. Warm and creamy. I've read some other reviews saying the Plumes is bright, but I'm not hearing it. So far I've played it with a Tele, SG Jr, and a guitar with a DiMarzio Super Distortion. Sounds awesome with all of them. Mode 1 is my current fav. Mode 3 reminds me a lot of my MIJ SD-1 from the 80's. I'll prob buy another one for another board. The price is killer.

Incredible Overdrive. Useful tones from light OD to a smooth high gain. For the price, this pedal is a must have.

I've play mostly heavy metal, so a boost pedal is essential for the tones I chase. In the past, I'd thought about purchasing an OCD, as I'd like the sound and knew it would get the job done.

But then Derrick Meade at Sweetwater told me about this bad boy...and whoa nelly, it did NOT disappoint.

First off, the flexibility and tonal variety in this pedal is ASTOUNDING. It has three knobs--your basic tube screamer/overdrive setup--but in a additiom has THREE different modes. THREE MODES with their own distinct tones. It's almost like getting three pedals for the price of one, which is at the time of writing, only a cool $99. That's INSANE.

I'm using this bad boy to tighten up the gain on my 50W EVH 6L6--also purchased from Sweetwater--and on both the blue and red channels, this pedal gets me exactly where I want to go. I'm in love!

Thanks to Derrick, you recommended this powerful little green box, and thanks to Sweetwater for such speedy, timely service and delivery, especially during these rough times.

I love the warm sound of this overdrive, which can give you a huge wall of sound as well. Its perfect if you like playing shoegaze, paired with a good reverb its a great combo. Also this pedal has a lot of tone tweaking options.I am now officially a fan of Earthquaker Devices

I've been using overdrive pedals in front of my amps for awhile and I've been through ts9, od808, even the famous 33, this pedal beats every one of them by a mile. Hands down, adds an amazing color to my amps and pushes them in a way that re-energizes my playing. Great price, grab this one.

There are plenty of reviews and demos of this pedal out there, so I'll keep this short. I bought one a few months back, and then I bought a second one just a couple weeks after, because I loved tonal variation offered by the three distinct clipping options.

I use one in position 2 as a clean-ish boost, and another one in position 3 as a bluesy sort of overdrive (similar to a transparent TS or modded Nobels ODR). For the price, you honestly can't find a better TS style circuit with this much tonal variety. Just go ahead and buy one.

Love this pedal. The variety and quality of the tone you can get from this is nuts. At this price point it’s a steal.

Lots of great tones here!

Thanks to Nate for all the help!

I bought this pedal, but exchanged it for the Wampler Clarksdale, which is awesome! I only exchanged it, because it was a bit too bright for my setup, even with the tone knob turned all the way down. Other than that, it really is an awesome pedal! If you have a dark amp and need a tubescreamer style pedal, then the Plumes is for you. I will probably get another one of these at some point to accomodate darker amps. Earthquaker Devices make great pedals with high quality components. They're one of my favorite pedal makers for sure!

My bass player bought this and had been using it with great mind blowing results...through his solid state amp to boot! So when he injured his thumb and couldn’t play, I tried it out through my Mark5. Not two minutes passed before I was on the phone with Brandon Eden’s associate Jeff and ordered this beast! I’ve never heard an OD pedal that just did what I asked and with class, style and ease! It is so transparent! Even when the level is maxed! It can get some colored tones when you crank the gain up, but even that will leave your wig on the floor! It’s like combining Guthrie Govan with EVH! The tone knob is so perfect from left to right. If you want a little to a great deal more from your amp, you have found it...and at this price, I intend on getting one for every channel on my amp. It’s just not right how awesome this is. Back to the drawing board with the rest of the OD manufacturers on account of they forgot to make their pedals as bad*** as this.

EQD Once again knocks it out of the park with the Plumes... it is awesome stacking it with other O.D. pedals! I use the second setting, very clean and powerful, it makes for an amazing boost and solo enhancer. The dual action foot switch is awesome! Accenting a part or lead run using the momentary portion of the switch, no click, is an excellent feature. Not a bad sound in any mode, you'll find a place for this on your board for sure... Kudos to Earthquaker and to Sweetwater, Thanks again Bob!!!

I’ve pretty much been threw the gauntlet with overdrive pedals, the Plumes Overdrive is by far the best I’ve tried up to date, not to mention the price! Thank you Erik Molenaar at Sweetwater for suggesting this pedal, a pedal that has a permanent place on my pedalboard!

Great pedal!! Amazing sound and very versatile. This pedal will replace the Keeley Phat Mod on my board.

If you love TS type drives this one moves beyond the limitations of the basic old tech, freq loss, mud, headroom limitations, and tone EQ limitations, the B grade buffer and so on. Plumes offers 3 modes" Mode 1 being the closest to a std TS but using all of the units expanded freq response and EQ control, more gain and vol lvl available, so you just can't dime the vol and cut the gain like a std TS. You need to dial it in more, but it does the deal just better and without the low tech limitations. Mode 2 is a glorious op amp based no gain clipping clean boost option which is quite useful in many applications, probably my fav, as honestly I do live in the old SRV TS land of single coil tones. You can use the TS to "tighten up" a high gain amp head and all that usual TS stuff, but for some of us not running those rigs, a TS is not the magic box. Mode 3 is the highest gain on the unit and again a TS type circuit but with all the limitations corrected. Relay bypass and momentary switch, less loss of low end and mud, better high range without being shrill, much more headroom and noise lvl reduced.
All in all a glorious little 3 mode pedal which is well worth the mere $100 price. You could pay more than that and probably have just for one of the modes. I do find these TS versions to really expand the gain structure of my amp-in-a-box Revv and Diezel pedals maybe better than a clean boost does. But I do love that mode 2 op amp for clean playing and to hit the gains a bit. All of them have uses and the versatility is a great thing. I think I have become a fan of EQD pedals so far as that Tentacles pedal has me wondering why I did not try it a long time ago in my quest for the weird ring mod octavia thing without the annoying inarticulate fuzz thing. That thing is a jewel!

This is one of the best boost/overdrive pedals that I've ever had the pleasure of playing, and probably the best tube screamer variant I have used so far. Each of the modes in the pedal are distinct and usable in a variety of contexts. There isn't a bad setting on this pedal as far as I'm concerned. At $... you would be insane to pass on this pedal.

First, thank you Sweetwater for fast shipping. I was shocked to see how quickly the gear arrived at my front doorstep. And of course as always, thank you for the sweets:)

Now for the pedal. This thing is AMAZING! Channel one articulates the mids spot on, not too bright, but has a enough growl to make you smile. Channel two is a BOOST. It takes your amp to places it could only dream of going. Channel three is a bit more distorted than channel one. That's a good thing people. What I'm trying to say is the EQ on this pedal is fantastic.

I just bought the NU Tube Screamer about two months ago. This pedal has bumped it to the side. I couldn't stop playing this thing today. No one was home and I cranked it through my Marshall. I heard a knock at the door and thought for sure it was the cops... it was just the mailman (whew...). Buy now before these things shoot up in price.

I’ve never been the kind of player that was able to get good tones on pedals or amps right out of the box. Modulation and time effects still require much fiddling. I switched to the Mesa Boogie Mark V:35 for both my rigs, and it took a great amount of reading to fully understand the EQ sections of that particular amp, which I have to say I am now convinced there is genius in the design of the Mark V series. I recently got an electro harmonica big muff, the rams head version, and loved the massive wall of sustain filled sound, but found that fuzz is useless to me on the neck pickup. So I came along a video of the Plumes and I heard that massive wall of sound, but low and behold, it was also articulate and useable on all pickups of my guitar. Then the three position switch offered tone options that frankly gave my Mark V’s a whole new group of tones and overdrive options. I now get Marshallesque tones that rival the best Marshall’s I’ve played in my life, with the most beautiful harmonics to boot. This is the best boost/overdrive/distortion pedal I have ever used to date. I’ve used the Suhr Riot, OCD variants, tube screamer, and many others - got boxes of them. I will definitely add a second to expand my overdrive tones. As a side note, out of frustration with reverb and delay pedals, I tried the Earthquaker Dispatchmaster, and once again, blown away at the out-of-the-box sounds I’m getting. Very musical and believable reverbs and delays that work hand in hand with each other. I want to experiment with some of Earthquakers more synth style pedals in the future as well. I think the Organizer will be my next pedal. Try a Plumes, you can always send it back with Sweetwater’s great return policy, but I’m betting you will keep this one.

It is hard to get this to sound bad. I am playing a Tele, Strat, and Les Paul through it and I am primarily using it in the FX loop of my Helix floor. Also sounds great in front of a Marshall Jubilee. I really like the symmetrical clipping setting but the Op Amp has some sweet boost as well. At this price point I think this is one of the best pedals on the market today. You can't go wrong with this.

I tend to look for stuff that is just off of center. This drive is exactly that. I don’t typically go for tube screamers in general but I wanted to try a mid boosting drive again. This thing is great. 3 really great modes. Useable sounds with knobs in any position. And for $... this thing just rules. I think they could’ve charged $199 and gotten away with it. Thank you EQD for doing innovative work and keeping it in reach. This is a great drive. Worth more than they’re charging.

I've had my ocd and screamer on the board from the beginning, but I truly cannot make this pedal sound bad. It's like having a clean boost, tube screamer, and ocd in one, and not sloppy recreations but the best versions of. Its glues my distortion and/turns my clean channel into a beautiful blooming over drive or turn it into a huge open sounding distorted monster. It even makes my bias amp simulaters sound tighter. It's now a permanent on the board. I see myself buying another very soon! Thanks earthquaker!

3 modes, silent switching, cool coloring, what more can you want? Modes 1 and 2 are loud, 2 has a ton of volume, 1 has that amazing range of gain and tone, 3 has that Tube Screamer tone but more beef!

Outside of the Westwood, this is the the most versatile single function pedal that Earthquaker makes. Get one! Heck, get two!

....is FANTASTIC!!! I tend to favor a fuzz sound, particularly the Op Amp Big Muff. This pedal has sold me on a more "traditional" overdrive. The sounds you can coax from this thing are incredible. Everything from a fairly transparent clean boost (setting 1) to a wall of sound (setting 3). And as an added bonus, I can pretty dang close to my beloved Muff tone on setting 2. I love this thing!!

I"ve had this pedal for a couple weeks and I"m still exploring all the possibilities this thing has to offer. Extremely versatile pedal. I like to stack over drives. Sounds great with my soul food and my wampler clarksdale. Even sounds good running all three at the same time. My favorite mode as of right now is mode 2. This thing is very transparent sounding. Retains your original tone while adding some flavor. Every time I plug into this thing I"m completely blown away. Best thing is it"s only $... I"ve spent twice that and haven"t been this happy with a pedal.

I never understood why overdrives like the TS were so popular. After so many years of playing guitar, I somehow missed the lesson on how they're supposed to be used.

My first TS pedal was an EHX East River Drive. I never used it as a drive, more like an EQ. I loved the way it tightened up my Marshall DSL's high gain sound with the Vol and Tone cranked and drive at 0.

I'm now playing the Marshall Origin 50 Watt and I finally get it! These things are perfect at making your edge of breakup tones just that much creamier and crunchier. The ERD is supposed to be a very faithful copy of the 808 Tubescreamer. It's my only real point of reference for comparison. I will say that there are a lot of spots where the tone feels a little boxy or nasally.

The Plumes sounds completely different, but as everyone keeps saying it is an improvement on a classic blueprint (Greenprint?). Way more natural and responsive with a thick mid punch. Each knob is more useful.

This is my first EarthQuaker Devices pedal. I am very happy with the sounds and the awesome Sweetwater service that made it happen. Thanks to Ty, my sales engineer!

Heads up: the LED is blindingly bright. Gonna have to cover it with some tape or something, I can't even adjust the knobs without catching the disorienting beam in my eyes. You will definitely know that it's on!

First off, Earthquaker makes amazing pedals that are super inspiring. The plumes is awesome! All 3 modes are very usable and work and interact very differently with different amps and plays very well with digital modeling like the Line 6 stuff. The silent switching is great. It's hard to describe overdrive in writing, but it's a very usable overdrive. It can get very dirty to very clean and transparent sounding. When I was playing some riffs, it easily reminds me of many Switchfoot songs mixed with some Foo Fighters. I imagine if you put this in front of an already distorted amp that it would be blistering! happy playing!

Best overdrive I"ve had

Plug in and off you go, Tons of tone and character with tick tube tones Great for blues and classic rock. I rarely give 5 stars. This will be on my rig for a long time. The price is outstanding as most of similar pedals will cost twice as much. I love all the brands at sweet water and the demo videos really help. I have Keely, catalinbread, MXr, wampler, walrus pedals. All are great. This joins the ranks. Quality and low shelf noise. Great packaging with a pedal bag and a sticker. The pedal came in a nicely padded sweat water box with candy. I love Sweatwater sales and service.

I had a TS-9 on my board for 15+ years and it was core to my overdrive tone. The Plumes immediately kicked that off once I played it.
The amount of clarity, headroom and hi-def tone completely enhanced my sound for the better and brought it all back to life. I even got emotional! I can"t turn it off now.
Responds well to guitar volume roll-off and playing dynamics.
Simple to use and not a bad sound throughout the tone knob sweep / settings. I debated getting a boost pedal but this does that in mode 2 and overdrives VERY well in 1 and 3. Game Changer.
The features and price point are a no brainer.
Just GET ONE.
Cheers.

I happen to watch a clip of this pedal right before Earthquaker day. I have been looking for a "tight" crunchy overdrive. This is the exact sound I have been looking for, and I got it at a great price. I'm blown away by the tone. Has a lot of subtle different tones with the LED, OPEN and SILICON switch. Then, back off the guitar volume and it really tightens it up. Love it. On my board forever.

Switched out my boss os2 for this and it completely revitalized my board. Couldn't be happier especially for the price. Sounds good through both my amps (hot rod deluxe, blackstar ht20) and stacked with a mosky golden horsey and a Keeley oxblood

Man I"ve been wanting a drive pedal that sounds like this for so long. I was expecting a decent Tube screamer pedal and what it is, is so much more and better. "Transparent" (hate using that word) but man, it does that drive sound, it does clean boost and it"s got more gain then a tube screamer but it retains this clarity even dimed, it doesn"t get muddy at all, the tone knob goes bass heavy to the left and treble to the right but keeps its clarity cranked either way. There"s a nice chime to it (not too chimey, just right) and it even sounds great through my Vox ac4,
Which I really wasn"t expecting being based on a tube screamer. This one is staying on my board. And it"s only $...?!?!?!!

I have an Orange OR15, that is extremely picky with overdrive pedals. Tubescreamers never sounded right. I had been using a Fulltone OCD for awhile, but felt it wasn't tight enough in the low end. I tried out the Plumes and it immediately earned a place on my board.

I'm still not a huge fun of the #3 setting, but tubescreamer circuits never worked well with my amp. I'm sure it sounds great on the right amp. However, position #1 and #2 sound incredible. The tone knob has a very wide range and sounds great. The gain and level play together very well, and don't get too buzzy or compressed. My favorite setting now is the #2 position with gain at 3 o clock and the volume at 9. I have my amp set to barely break up, and this pedal pushes it into massive saturation. EQD hit a home run with this pedal. It's going to be leader in the market IMHO.

It sounds really good and can get a lot of tones but the on off switch isnt the best and sometimes if I'm playing live and stomp on it, it will turn on and off really quick and land on off

The clipping modes are extremely useful because I don't necessarily want to have the same clipping modes for the clean channel of my amp vs the dirty channel, so I use mode 2 for clean, and 1 or 3 for dirty.

My ONLY gripe with this pedal is mode 3. You can hear the original signal coming through if you're on the clean channel, which is very odd. It's sounds like you're going through a splitter between clean and overdriven sounds.

Other than that, this pedal is great for a wide variety of tones.

This was exactly what I was looking for! A pedal that can nearly do it all. From just a little grunge to full on dirty, this little box is full of magic!

After all this time playing I am finally finding my OD sound and this pedal helps greatly.
All 3 settings are really useful and stacking this pedal with other OD pedals is great. Like the reviews are saying it is really open not muddy, dark or any other pedal adjectives. I"m thinking of getting another just so I can use setting 2, but my D&M drive works good enough for now.
I"m just a weekend player, maybe 2 or 3 times a month but I"ll tell you this pedal is permanently on
my board.
Sweetwater is the place to get your gear.
Thanks for taking my kids college fund lol..,

Very cool for metal/modern heavy sounds, and I like that the tone knob is actually functional, and gives you a lot more high-end than a normal TS. I don't hear very much difference with the 3-way toggle, I find all the way left and all the way right are the two best, all the way right is a little darker and more fuzzy, whereas I think the toggle all the way left is the most "TS" out of the bunch. I can't figure out what the toggle in the middle does...maybe better for mid-gain? Only downside is my original TS9 set identically gives me a little more girth, and is muuuuch cleaner in terms of noise. So now I only use this as a totally different flavor of drive compared to my TS9 which I still prefer in front of my 5150 for the chugs.

This is my first stomp box.
In the past , I have tried a few, and they amuse me for a day or two, then have become a neusense not worth dragging out.

Once I switch them on, I find it near imposable yo get back to where I was.

This one, sadly , is no different.

I have been looking at playing at lower volumes, with thicker tone.
So enter the Plumes.
The device is well made, and feels like a road worthy tank.

I was surprised to find that there is no internal battery option.
One would think by now there would be a usb port.
This must save a chunk of change in the build.
Also , by now I would think a standard way to fasten to a board would have evolved.

With a power cord input and out put attached, good luck finding it in the same place on stage.

The thing does every thing reviews say. Volume does change across the modes. I like #2.
It does not eq like an 808.

The big bummer is how bright over all the outcome is.

Thank You Erik for checking in and helping with my recent purchases , and for sending me a FREE industry standard power supply!

Chris

It does well at pushing the preamp but is too noisy for my liking. Had to place 2nd noise gate in fx loop after preamp.

I've only used this pedal a few times, but after experimenting with it, I've recognized that not only does it improve my overall guitar tone, it has TONS of different options in one. The 3 switch toggle allows for use for different purposes (position 2 boosts clean tone for instance). And the knobs feel great and do a lot with just a little adjustment. Overall, great addition to my board, can't wait to discover what else I can do with it.

Excellent. Diversity of sounds and tones.

Used this pedal for a while and after continuously trying to coax more natural tones out of it, I wasn't able to. The highs on this pedal are very intense and was only able to get useable tones when the tone knob is at 9 o clock and even then it sounded somewhat wooly. It would pair well with a darker, mid scooped amp but on a more neutral sounding or bright amp, it did not pair as well as I had hoped.
To sum up: a bright, sometimes harshly bright, sounding circuit that pairs well with a darker amp but not most other amps.

This box is interesting....

While it is a very versatile OD/Boost pedal. I run into the issue where rather than adding natural OD that doesn't really change your tone. This almost acts like a preamp that is super harsh. Even in mode 2 it seems to act like a big tone changer. It is touch responsive like a TS. But I wasn't digging in because this drive sound is just simply awful IMO. Don't get this, get a regular ol' TS or a better clone. This sounds far too sterile and artificial.

I wrote a review back in December 2019 entitled short and sweet. I loved the pedal initially. And I stand by my first remarks. This is a great sounding pedal. But, I developed issues with the pedal sometime afterwards. The biggest of which was a loud popping noise when engaging the pedal. This was not a simple clicking of the switch. This was a loud pop that could be heard through the amp. And this became worse as you add more gain. I did a lot of diagnosing and determined that the problem was in the pedal. and spent a lot of time back-and-forth with Sweetwater. They were very helpful and accommodating. A second pedal was sent to me but, had the same issue. This is what they had to say and is posted on their website:

"This is normal. The reason this happens is because the capacitors in the circuit leak a little bit of DC while the pedal is in the bypassed state. When you engage the pedal, the capacitors charge back up to the proper operating voltage which is translated into a small "pop" in the audio signal. The pop may be louder or quieter depending on the quality of the capacitor or the nature of the effect (i.e. high gain pedals may have a louder "pop")."

It was really disappointing. I really like this pedal but the popping was so bad that it made it completely unusable. I had to go with another option. By the way, my second option didn't have this problem nor do any of my other petals.

I generally like tube screamers and have used them for years. I don't like this pedal because it just hi-passes too much and I don't think it adds more chime as they claim in the description. However, it does seem to accentuate some frequencies in the upper mids but not in a way that's pleasing to my ears.

At the end of the day, after trying this pedal with a half a dozen different amps and guitars, I thought it sounded poor compared to other ts-style drive pedals. The Plumes was a gift to me, but I think I'm going to pass it along to somebody who will appreciate it more than me....

I purchased this pedal on a very detailed recommendation for blues and ac/dc type sounds. This has no more distortion or range than my small portable fender amp with O/D. It claims that you can get even dirtier distortion from pos 1 with amp overdrive as well, and nothing different was the case. Pos 2 is supposed to be clean with a hint of distortion and was the most crunchy spot on this thing. pos 3 was quiet and cleaner than pos 2 with little effect on distortion or sustain. Ive tried every position these knobs allow...Is this thing defective? I cant tell if its just defective, it does not sound at all like the samples I heard when I researched this one. I would take a DS-1 distortion pedal over this thing all day everyday. Very disappointed and will give away to an unfortunate soul who wants it.