Electro Harmonix East River Drive

I was quite excited when this pedal came out and when I saw the competitive price offered by Thomann I took it into serious consideration.

I did not own a TS808 clone as such - I had a couple typical ODs and transparent ODs and was quite happy with them. There weren't too may online demos of the East River Drive (ERD) and not any descenting voices, so I took advantage of my Thomann review voucher and grabbed the ERD.

I was quite excited about getting this for some reason - maybe because it had great graphics! All my other pedals are rather plain by comparison!

As usual it arrived within 3/4 days and in good shape. I set about trying out some settings and combinations of equipment and it stood up well to anything it was played with and put through - even some stacking - particularly with a Joyo Deluxe Crunch - massive room/stage filling presence!

The most exciting find for me was that with a Gibson les Paul and a Cornford EL34 equipped Roadhouse amp, it is classic early 1970s Marshall tone. Think Spiders from Mars' Mick Ronson, Hawkwind, Humble Pie etc. Massive square-toned Marshall drive - lovely!

As per usual, I am of the habit of taking pics of the settings that sound best for me against the specific gear and then print these out and place them in a folder for an 'at a glance' guide. What often becomes apparent is that the same dial shapes appear over and over again. Is true here too but no matter where this pedal is dialled you get great usable tone.

I bought this to warm up my cleans and drive pedals and amp harder when needed.
As the TS inspiration suggests, it does this job very very well.
A bargain when you look at just about any other TS clone, and this one is designed by someone who is a guru when it comes to modding them so its a great example of this classic pedal.

if you need a TS or similar, give this a shot...total bargain very nice looks too.
This is one of the best pedals i have used infront of amp drive or other drive pedals, very very god, really blends great

i really like the newer EHX range i have this, OD glove and a Hot Tubes, all great at what they do, and all a fraction of the price of what they are based on, and just as good (although Hot Tubes is a reissue)

I have always loved the sound of the original tube screamer unfortunately they are very expensive so I bought the East River Drive and I wasn't disappointed.

Pros:

- It has a wide range of tone for an OD pedal, you can easily get a subtle clean boost or a dirtier distortion sound. Very versatile.
- Great tube screamer clone for the price.
- It works well when stacked with other overdrive pedals.
- Pedalboard friendly.

Cons:

- You wont get a fully transparent drive with this pedal
- As all of EHX pedals the switch is a bit noisy, when you press it you'll hear an hard clicking noise.

I bought this pedal because I read so many great reviews about it and boy were they right! First, I've owned a TS and the Harley Benton Vintage overdrive as an affordable comparison. The HB pedal was very nice as well but I am a huge fan of Electro Harmonix so I wanted to try the East River Drive for myself.

The overdrive is very transparent and sounds amazing with my VHT Classic 6. The drive boosts the tubes nicely and can give you that classic rock / blues sound you are looking for. The pedal also cleans up nicely with a roll back of your volume pot.

All in all, this is an amazing TS clone for a nicer price. Sounds great and it's built like a tank, what more can you ask for?

The East River Drive is a great unit. The drive it adds is quite subtle, suitable for use in bluesy rock but cannot deliver highly saturated and distorted tones. It is very responsive to velocity, so if you dial it in right you can have a clean tone which begins to drive if you hit it just a bit harder, very useful for moody solos.

Has the usual EHX build quality in sturdy metal box, very small as well. Three knobs provide all the shaping required.

On the downside there is very little variety of tones available, so would have to be alongside a selection of other pedals in a versatile rig. However since the mini EHX range is competitively priced you can have a few set up together. Also the tone knob doesn't really provide enough variation so would recommend having an equaliser alongside.

On an entirely frivolous note, I love the graphic on the front! Really atmospheric.

a quality ts style pedal for under £40 yes please.
what you get is great warm sounding green overdrive that can function as a nice clean boost with the drive low to a moderate to heavy crunch with the drive maxed.
lead lines sound great and you can dial in some real nice rhythm tones.
the only small gripe i have ( and it is a small gripe) is the foot switch has a real clunk and you need to press pretty hard i would have preferred a smoother feeling switch. the clunk isn't audible through my amp and for this little money its not a problem. however the rest of unit feels really well built
great product very happy.