The Chuck Pedals Zenlike Overdrive is a guitar effects pedal from a small builder, reviewed by Pedal of the Day in June 2014. It is an overdrive in the family of overdrive pedals that take their cue from the Zendrive circuit, but the reviewer was clear it is not a straight copy: "You're not dealing with any ordinary cookie cutter Zendrive here"1.
What it does
The Zenlike Overdrive gives a player four knobs to shape the drive: Volume, Dirt, Tone and Swank. The reviewer put it this way: "Dial in your signature tone like it's your with all 4 Volume, Dirt, Tone and Swank knobs"1. The Dirt control sets the amount of drive, while Swank is a control particular to this pedal rather than a standard volume-gain-treble arrangement.
As for the character of the drive itself, the reviewer reached for suitably large language, calling it "1.21 jigawatts of pure uncensored sonic destruction"1. That is a reviewer's flourish rather than a measured description, but it signals a pedal intended to push well past polite breakup territory, closer in spirit to what players look for from distortion pedals than from a clean boost.
Buying one
Chuck Pedals is a small operation, and at the time of the review the pedal was not on store shelves. The reviewer's advice was to contact the maker directly: "Get a hold of Chuck and he'll send you one right to your front door step"1. The price then was 120 US dollars, paid to Charles Bennett, the builder behind the brand1.
The Zenlike Overdrive was reviewed in 2014 as a direct-sale pedal from a small builder. Small-batch pedals like this change price and availability often, and the figures here reflect what was reported at the time of review.
The reviewer also had good things to say about the build, describing the enclosure as rugged enough that "you won't need to worry about any of that"1, meaning the wear and tear of the road.
Videos
Chuck Pedals
Curtis Kent
crookedcreekstudios
Sources (2)
- Chuck Pedals Zenlike Overdrive, Pedal of the Day (pedal-of-the-day.com), 2014-06-23
- Chuck Pedals Zenlike Overdrive, Pedal of the Day, 2014-06-03
