Fuchs Plush Drive

[tsp17]

I've been looking for a new OD pedal since my Sparkle Drive crapped out. I've got a line on a good deal for a Plush Drive. Any experience with them out there? I seem to recall someone had one for sale here a year or so ago.

 

feedback appreciated. I don't do any heavy distortion. Just some drive to give to some extra push and open it up. In fact i got a Boss BD-2 and I keep it under 9 o'clock on the gain all the time. From what i hear the plush drive is nice and natural sounding, kind of like a Zendrive for a dumble tone. looking more for a Santana tone than Robben Ford, but i hear these do the trick.

 

thanks

[Bulldog]

Not a lot of feedback....... I had the same experience earlier this week when asking the group about a Fuchs Extreme Cream. Everyone on this site is helpful and always has a lot of excellent advice. So, that leads me to believe that not a many of us are using Fuchs products. But FYI, I did notice that Wolfe guitar demo's have also used Fuchs at times. I'm still thinking about the Extreme Creme. If either of us decide to make a purchase maybe we should give the group some feedback.

[212Mavguy]

Fuchs is a boutique manufacturer of Dumble style amps. Most of the HOC members don't own boutique amps and custom pedals, they own boutique and custom guitars... The Fuchs Plush pedal might fill your bill pretty well.

[tsp17]

i'd call KBP amps "boutique". I am thinking about one myself! in the meantime a pedal will have to do.

[tsp17]

also looking at the Fuchs Valve Job. ordinarily i wouldn't but i've got a line on some very well priced used ones. Valve Job has a tube (12ax7).

 

Anyone tried either?

[tsp17]

Got the Valve Job a while back. Having played with this pedal for a while now, I'll say that it is outstanding. Highly musical, natural, workable from subtle hair around the edges to full of deep juju. Definitely a mojo maker.

 

Not to mention the deep violet glow the pedal gives off when engaged.

 

Two thumbs way up.

[GuitArtMan]

I had the Plush Drive when it first came out. Here's a copy of a post I did over at TGP back in 2008. I also had the tube pedal, whatever it was called, but didn't care for it. It was harsh sounding to my ears.

 

 

"Just a quick review of my new Fuchs/Plush Plush Drive Pedal.

The pedal arrived this afternoon – thanks to Teddy at Musictoyz. It’s finished in a cool green color that gives it a kind of nuevo retro look. The controls are touch, gain, tone and level and has the god damned frickin’ super bright blue LED that Robert Keeley has forced upon us. Why do so many people like those things? Why do so many manufactures have to use them? They frickin’ hurt my eyes. I want to wear a welders mask when using pedals that have them – you would too if you read the warning on them. Ok, off of my soap box. Inside half of the PC board is covered in some red goop, but other than that looked clean and well made.

Test amp was my Carmen Ghia set clean, test guitar my Tom Anderson Hollow Drop Top Classic. I fist set the controls to 12:00 o’clock with the level at about 9:00 o’clock. I turned the pedal on and got a substantial volume drop – I had to get the level up to about 1:00 o’clock or so to achieve unity gain at this setting. I was greeted by a dark, smokey overdrive that at once felt natural. On the Anderson’s neck pickup (a stacked single that I use in split mode) I noticed how touch sensitive the Plus Drive was – I could roll my guitars volume down and get a nice, warm clean tone and then turn the volume back up for overdrive, nice. I think players who like to use their guitars volume control to control the level of OD could easily find a set and forget setting using the pedal. Switching to the bridge bucker I was greeted with a nice crunch that would be great for crunchy rhythms, or lower gain leads. I was also impressed that it didn’t mask which pickup I was using – even with the gain full up the neck pickup sounded like my neck pickup and the bridge pickup sounded like my bridge pickup.

The touch control allows one to go from a very touch sensitive overdrive (fully counter-clockwise) to a more compressed and gainier overdrive (fully clockwise). It sounded good in all positions, but I tended to leave it around the 12:00 o’clock setting.

With the gain full up, and touch all the way clockwise it produced a good amount of smooth gain and sustain. It does tend to favor darker, smokier tones. I had the tone at about 3:00 o’clock and it was still a little darker than I normally played. Still the tone was so round and warm it invited me in. Again, even at full gain it didn’t mask the sound of the guitars pickups.

There is not a whole lot of level available: with the gain full off, and the touch fully counter-clockwise (cleanest setting) I had to have the level full up to achieve unity gain. Even with the tone control full up there was a slight darkening of the tone.

Overall I was very impressed and can’t wait to try it in a live setting. I think it will find favor among those who like a darker, smokier OD tone. It had me wanting to pull out a tele and plug into an amp with a tad of reverb for some smokey, jazzy blues."