The Case for Another Tube Screamer (EHX East River Drive)

So if you haven't heard, EHX has been cooking up some new dirt. There has been some backlash since a few of their "ideas" haven't been quite original. I posted my hands on review of their Mosfet (OCD) overdrive. This, if you couldn't tell be the extreme use of green or the title of this blog, is a tube screamer close. Cloning the TS-9 and it's derivatives have been copied so many times and ways that it is hard to keep track. Why on earth would anyone put another of the same thing into the world. Ibanez has cornered the market on their green box. They have the TS-9(the old stand-by $100), TS-7,  TS-5(all plastic), TS-9DX(TS with an extra knob), and the TS-808(an expensive all metal TS with a couple different resisters). They all share the same circuit. So it makes it hard to stand out in the middle of such a crowd. What makes The ERD different? It has a sexy boutique-style case, true bypass, mechanical switch, and a slick decal.

What about the sound? Those who follow the world of pedals know the name aNoLoG.MaN. I name synonymous with quality tone. He is the one who made the DS-1 into something so sought after that he was once backordered for a year. EHX bought the MaN himself in on the design of this pedal. He himself admits that it is explicitly an 808 clone. He consulted on the design of the circuit and the parts used in the build. Hopefully some of his Mojo rubbed off in the process. Everything I've read from EHX fails to mention the pedal guru by name, so kudos I guess for not name dropping. I would have been skeptical if I had not read the forum that he actually participates in.

So it looks like the ERD is a TS-9 with all the popular mods installed in it already in a pretty little boutique package designed by the "King of Tone" himself. Oh yeah, it's $58 and made in the USA. So there's that.