# Is this a sleeper Overdrive......



## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

......or have some of you guys checked this out or own it?

The visual Sound VS-XO overdrive.

https://www.long-mcquade.com/24162/...sual_Sound/VS-XO_-_Premium_Dual_Overdrive.htm

I went to L&M to get some DeOxit, and I tried this pedal out with a Marshall DSL-40 amp....on the dirty channel with a 2015 LP Standard (That, my friends, is a whole other miserable story that will get posted in the Gibbson thread *#*().

I was really impressed for the sound I was getting pretty much instantly with very little fuss, spent about 45 minutes messing with it and could have easily spent a couple of hours testing the different sounds I could get from it.

The reason I ask if it may be a sleeper is I've never even heard of VS's stuff before....but I do not buy a lot of pedals......YET!! Let me know what you think please. I'm now very heavily considering it as an option for my humongous pedal board that I recently put together!! 

NASA has nothing on this baby:


----------



## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Visual Sounds has been around for a while, I believe. I haven't seen too many in the wild though.

What amp do you have at home though? If that's what you own, awesome. If not, it's probably going to sound fairly different.

If you're looking for a good boost pedal (which is what you were doing - a drive into an already driven amp) there are many good options. It kind of depends how far down the rabbit hole you want to go.

(I'd put the footswitch on the board too)


----------



## GWN! (Nov 2, 2014)

Visual Sounds is now Trutone. http://truetone.com/

I own the Route 66 V3 compression/overdrive which I like a lot.


----------



## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Hey Budda, yeah....I set up the guitar and amp pretty close to my tone, so I have a good feel for what it will sound like in my setup. I tried a cheaper Beringer. as well. I played with that for 3 turns of a knob or 2 and unplugged it real quick.

RE: foot switch. I don't really have to haul all my gear around much, the board is just a grab and go. I have ab EQ sitting on my amp as well, which may find its way to the board as well. I'm keeping it simple till I build a real board.

GWN...thanks for that. I like the Trutone stuff from what I've heard. The OCD was one I asked to try but they didn't have one available. I'm starting to become a bit of a fan of their stuff. Trutone products are on my hit list for sure.


----------



## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Do you own a similar amp though? While you may have gotten a similar base tone (congrats btw - not everyone can do this let alone easily) it's also about how the pedal reacts with the amp. I use a clean JCM800 with an overdrive pedal for the band. I would take my pedalboard to my other (now former) band's practices, and the OD sounded like a wet fart feeding a 5150 clean channel. Very different circuits, though I had both amps running clean.

Re: board

But if you have a board, and space, why not just mount everything. :S


----------



## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Just to let you guys know, although I've played for years now, both professionally and not, the only single pedals I've owned are the DS-1, TU-12H, the new Polytune2, and the Dunlop Volume and Wah. This is the first time I've tried a pedal that wasn't multiFX and digital in a store since about 1986. I guess I can be considered a noob for pedals.


----------



## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Budda said:


> Do you own a similar amp though? While you may have gotten a similar base tone (congrats btw - not everyone can do this let alone easily) it's also about how the pedal reacts with the amp. I use a clean JCM800 with an overdrive pedal for the band. I would take my pedalboard to my other (now former) band's practices, and the OD sounded like a wet fart feeding a 5150 clean channel. Very different circuits, though I had both amps running clean.
> 
> Re: board
> 
> But if you have a board, and space, why not just mount everything. :S



Good point Budda. I may have to go to one of the BS dealers here and hope that they have it or something similar. And to be honest about the board setup, I kinda don't have enough cables the right length to facilitate such a bold move as "placing the EQ on the board". Maybe I should ofpicked up a couple of cables as well.....eh.


----------



## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Good news, it's probably worth a second trip!

Bring in your amp and your guitar and try the pedal out again. If it still sounds awesome, bring it home. You can also buy the cables you need to wire up the rest of your board. A win/win!


----------



## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

The VS pedals don't seem to get much attention.
They changed their name to Truetone since last year, I think.

To show my ignorance, I didn't know that they made such pedals, these are the VS that I'd think of...










I'm not a fan of that form factor^^^.

This pedal look like it has a bunch of cool and useful features, top jacks to boot.
Here's the "new" version and a good demo down below...

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/VSXO/


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Company owner Bob Weil took me out for lunch a few years back, and we had a very pleasant chat. Longtime forum buddy RG Keen ended up as their chief engineer/designer after leaving a career as hardware engineer at IBM. I don't think he designs _everything_ for VS/Truetone, but he designs an awful lot of it. It was RG who arranged for Bob to meet me, dine me, and take me on a tour of their suburban Nashville facility (where both his mom and his brother are part of the office staff). RG and I first met in 1991 on alt.guitar, and have been through thick and thin since, although we've never met. He is a constant presence on the diystompbox forum, where he is able to get a feel for what musicians want and need, in addition to dispensing the gospel of the stomp. His www.geofex.com website is a wealth of info. You owe it to yourself to explore it.

One of the things that both Bob and RG share in approach is a desire to have things be roadworthy_, _easily serviceable, and do what working musicians need them to do. Their stompswitches may *look* normal, but underneath are very different, and went through a lot of R&D to come up with something that would withstand tens of thousands of problem-free stomping.

I trieds to persuade Bob over lunch to market "order-flipping" pedals, that would combine a distortion, a loop, and an order-flipper switch that could rewire/repatch a pedalboard with the flick of a switch. He listened patiently, but never did it. However, Truetone started making "normalized" two-in-one pedals, that allowed the user to use patch cables along the rear skirt to change the order of the effects and even insert something between the two effects. Maybe not as convenient, but has a bit more flexibility.

RG is constantly gathering info to improve the various power supplies Truetone makes, including the new power bricks. If somebody onthe forum reports a problem with the One-Spot, he's on the case.

VS/TT/Bob has made some marketing errors over the years. Bob and RG worked hard on the development of the Workhorse amp, including features like a regulated 9v output to power pedals, easy tube biasing and servicing, and the development of a treble radiator that provided more even high-end distribution around the amp. Unfortunately,the amp market was crowded, and the "hub cap" radiator turned people off. So they canned it. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/visual-sound-workhorse-pony-tube-guitar-combo-amp

The Garage tone series was also decent, but again the market got so crowded with budget pedals that there was no point in being an also-ran.


----------



## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Hmmm. Go figure. So I was enthralled with the sound of the VS, much like what I've heard on you tube with Truetone pedals, and it turns out to be the same people doing it. That's actually a really good thing to know. Thanks for the link Sulpher, and of course. when the Hammer speaks, I sway my attention to what he says. That's quite the story, as usual Hammer. Thanks for the "insider" info.


----------



## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Budda said:


> Good news, it's probably worth a second trip!
> 
> Bring in your amp and your guitar and try the pedal out again. If it still sounds awesome, bring it home. You can also buy the cables you need to wire up the rest of your board. A win/win!


 I might just consider bringing it home and checking it out with a bunch of my stuff. I'll be talking to them about the 30 return policy, everything out in the open with them. L&M has been pretty good to me since the early 80's, as I have been to them. Shouldn't be an issue.


----------



## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Mark, thanks for the history lesson.


----------



## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Came across this on you tube...he pretty much went through every setting that I went through. The last bit about the 2 drives together being his favorite setting also applied to me. That's exactly where I ended up before checking out the other pedal. Left me with a really good impression of the unit:


----------



## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

Had the J&H, great pedal just had other TS variants. Have the Angry Fuzz, love it.
Was really considering this pedal at one time just never pulled the trigger.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Budda said:


> Mark, thanks for the history lesson.


You're welcome. Although here is the actual "history lesson". Bob has a display case in the front hall of their business office, with a "museum" of all the earliest attempts to design and build what became the Visual Volume pedal. I have one that I believe is the same as the model at the far right on the very bottom.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Budda said:


> Mark, thanks for the history lesson.


You're welcome. Although here is the actual "history lesson". Bob has a display case in the front hall of their business office, with a "museum" of all the earliest attempts to design and build what became the Visual Volume pedal. I have one that I believe is the same as the model at the far right on the very bottom.


----------



## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

Prior to getting, a much more versatile TC Corona Chorus, the VS Liquid Chorus V2 was on my board. Liquid is exactly how I would describe it. A great sounding pedal but it was a little dark at times for my taste and lacked a tone knob.


----------



## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Well, L&M rented the pedal to me for a month. 20 minutes after trying it, most all settings at 12 O'Clock, and messing with a couple of different positions and guitar controls on each pickup, I can very safely say that I'm gonna be buying it out right. But I'll role with it for the next couple of weeks with both the LP (which is what I used today), and the EB MM Y2D. From what I've been looking for to tweak the tone for the last little while (20 - 25 year mark), this is what I'm going with. Everything about it smacks of high quality and craftmanship. Right down to the heavy material carrying bag which is closed by heavy chords and Emblazoned with their logo!

OK. I got carried away there, but I DO like what I'm hearing.

Now it's time to BBQ here in balmy Edmonton!! The steaks is speaking to me as I write this.


----------



## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Just a little bump here. I'm revisisiting the VS/XO because I just picked up another V30 for the Blackstar HTV212. Previously had a V30 and the fartilicious 70/80. The pedal itself is just perfect for my style(s). Use it with both a LP H/Mini Hum and my recently acquired Squier CVC with no Mods yet. I'm pretty sure you can get this pedal to work with anoy guitar/Amp arrangment. It's just as monstrous sounding in the Fender Blues Junior and a Peavey VK 112.

Just thought I'd share my thoughts and ask if anyone else is using the VS/XO. I may be considering another Truetone product (H2O) in the near future. My ears really like the sound of these pedals for some reason, they have a certain feel to them.


----------



## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Dorian2 said:


> Just thought I'd share my thoughts and ask if anyone else is using the VS/XO. I may be considering another Truetone product (H2O) in the near future. My ears really like the sound of these pedals for some reason, they have a certain feel to them.


High quality pedals - and not insane pricing. Pretty good bang for the buck, IMO. Form factor is unusual / unique but if it fits on your board, nothing wrong with that.



> I'm pretty sure you can get this pedal to work with *anoy* guitar/Amp arrangment.


I know it's a typo, I'm just trying to decide if it's one too many 'o's (any) or one too few 'n's (annoy). It could go either way.


----------



## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Haha. Definitely "any". Nothing annoying about this pedal. As far as form factor, The VS/XO isn't the oddball triangle shape. I don't like that form factor at all. I guess I should call it Truetone instead of Visual Sound. Wonder if they changed names because of the style of pedal that they are/were associated with. I'd imagine that shape turned a number of people off their brand at some point. As a side note, I've recently been testing my MIJ DS-1 (1986) in front of it. The VS/XO pushes the sound and tames the fizz at certain settings beautifully, so the classic "under growl" with no distortion applied (but is still there slightly) mixes in nicely with it. Going to try out a couple of other combos by putting the DS-1 in different places, possibly between the left and right OD's on the pedal. Both pedals serve me very well.


----------



## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

I read the 'annoying' part as the guitar/amp and not the pedal. And I've definitely heard annoying guitar/amp combinations - especially in music stores on the weekends. 


But one man's garbage is another man's treasure.


----------



## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

The only annoying thing about my LP - VS/XO - Blackstar HT20 with an HTV 212 with 2 Celestion V30's is I can't crank it loud enough. Haven't had too many chances to open her up.


----------



## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

mhammer said:


> Company owner Bob Weil took me out for lunch a few years back, and we had a very pleasant chat. Longtime forum buddy RG Keen ended up as their chief engineer/designer after leaving a career as hardware engineer at IBM. I don't think he designs _everything_ for VS/Truetone, but he designs an awful lot of it. It was RG who arranged for Bob to meet me, dine me, and take me on a tour of their suburban Nashville facility (where both his mom and his brother are part of the office staff). RG and I first met in 1991 on alt.guitar, and have been through thick and thin since, although we've never met. He is a constant presence on the diystompbox forum, where he is able to get a feel for what musicians want and need, in addition to dispensing the gospel of the stomp. His www.geofex.com website is a wealth of info. You owe it to yourself to explore it.
> 
> One of the things that both Bob and RG share in approach is a desire to have things be roadworthy_, _easily serviceable, and do what working musicians need them to do. Their stompswitches may *look* normal, but underneath are very different, and went through a lot of R&D to come up with something that would withstand tens of thousands of problem-free stomping.
> 
> ...


Im quite fond of the Garagetone series. I currently have the analog/digital delay. I got it way cheap for the quality of the pedal. I like it better than my Ibanez AD9 too.


----------

