Electro Harmonix Soul Food

I chose to purchase the Soul Food pedal over other overdrives having listened to many online samples and reviews. I was particularly interested in this pedal for it's transparancy and solid clean boost sound with a crunch tone for lead. I'm not a heavy metal player so high gain overdrive was not a priority for me. Overall I was not disappointed with the sound. It gives a very nice fat crunch with nice sustain over lead riffs when needed, without interfering too much with my guitars tone. I play an Amercan standard strat with fat 50's pickups through a clean channel on a quilter 101 mini head. The pedal has enough tone control to roll back the highs when using the bridge pickup and tame the higher notes. The sound is warm and dynamic with a nice blend of harmonic overtones. As a clean boost it also works very well which makes it versatile in use if you are using a seperate pedal for distorsion on your board.

I have two negatives to add to this review based on my sample. One of these issues may be just a sample variation but it does point to poor quality control which is dissapointing. At first it was impossible to fit the battery. The PCB board inside is so close to the void where the battery is fitted that it was impossible to close the back with a battery inserted. It took numerous attempts to get the battery in and after approx 30 minutes and carefully routing the battery cable with a small screw driver I finally got the back to close! If you are a player that likes to use pedals on batteries then this could be a potential issue for you. I would not like to do this on a dark stage before a gig!

The footswitch button is also quite stiff and requires quite a lot of pressure to engage. It also makes a loud audible click when pressed and sometimes (not always) makes a pop through the amp when engaged! It's a shame EHX didn't use a quiter switch.

Since I now use a board with seperate power supply the battery issue is not a deal breaker for me. I'm getting more used to the switch with futher use. Overall I like the tone that this pedal can produce and enjoy using it with a little reverb added for lead tones. It will remain on my pedal board for now! The battery issue may well be a sample issue on my copy as I have not seen this mentioned on other reviews.

The EHX Soul Food is a clone of a Klon Centaur, a pedal that goes for ridiculous sums of money nowadays. This is buttons in comparison. It is a nice transparent overdrive which can go from clean boost to light overdrive to moderate distortion. It is a versatile pedal that will suit a professional pedalboard, at a beginner's price.

This pedal can get quite hissy at higher volume, or gain settings, even using an isolated power supply, or its own plug (supplied)

I went from a Tubescreamer circuit pedal to this one and overall I'm pleased with the change. I'm not sure if it's better, or worse, it's just a different sound. I place this after a fuzz in my chain, and with both engaged, it is a fantastic yet controlled sound.

Overall, I would certainly recommend this pedal. For the price it is, you really can't go wrong. It is a sought after circuit, done well, for a good price,in a pedalboard friendly enclosure. I think the EHX Soul Food would make a wonderful first overdrive pedal for anyone looking to start in pedals.

Bought this product a while ago because I was in need for a transparant overdrive. The delivery upon this purchase was quick and well executed, as always. A lot of people compare this pedal to the legendary Klon Centaur which costs around €1000 on Ebay these days. I can't make this comparison but the EHX Soul Food surely delivers a very clean overdrive. It houses only three control buttons which are pretty straightforward so you don't have to fiddle hours upon hours to get a good sound of it. The first control is a level control which allows boosting or cutting back the overdriven sound level. The second control is a treble switch, and the third is a basic gain control. I would recommend this pedal to everyone looking for a cheap transparant overdrive with boosting option.

For those that don't know, this pedal is the EHX take on a cult OD pedal which is famous for its clear highs & even higher prices.

I play across a range of styles and have far too many od pedals already but after reading some reviews I had to try the Soul Food.

PROS, great value, pedal doesn't run on batteries as its an 18v pedal so EHX supply a solid 9v adapter ( standard boss style). This is unheard of for a pedal at this price.

The sound is perfectly usable, lots of volume on tap so could be used as a boost, lots of treble on tap although the highs are a littel harsh for me,

CONS, at this price there are none,