Visual Sound Open Road and True Tone Pedals: Bootique, Schmootique…

Sun, Jul 5, 2009

Visual Sound claims to offer "real tone for real people." Some company slogans are just hype, whereas some really nail the company's philosophy. I couldn't think of a better slogan for Visual Sound gear. My first Visual Sound pedal was an original gray Jekyll & Hyde which quickly became my main overdrive. I've owned every incarnation of that pedal and currently own every Visual sound pedal in existence. Their pedals (or the 1-Spot power supply) can all be bought without taking out a second mortgage, either. Yes, I'm a fan.

I was lucky enough to get both a Visual Sound Open Road and TrueTone when they started to ship, and I'm very, very impressed. The Open Road overdrive offers less midrange than Visual Sound's other TS-808 inspired pedals and has a more, well, "open" sound. The Truetone is a great clean boost that can give your solos a kick without coloring your sound. Both pedals contain Visual Sounds renowned Pure Bypass buffer system (far better than True Bypass, in my opinion) and have a solid place within the Visual Sound pedal line.

There's nothing wrong with +$300 boutique pedals. I own my fair share of them, but there's also nothing wrong with getting a kick-ass pedal made in China. You can get yours on eBay below.