Electro-Harmonix Soul Food vs Spruce Goose vs Crayon | Which is the best EHX transparent overdrive?

Рет қаралды 7,125

Күн бұрын

Today, we’re comparing three of the best - and most underrated - Electro-Harmonix overdrive pedals: the Soul Food, the Spruce Goose, and the Crayon!
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Get the Soul Food at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/329887?offid=...
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/PyZZQQ
Spruce Goose at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/578011?offid=...
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/Y9kO1r
Crayon at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/376576?offid=...
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/m5BBK1
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These three pedals are all a little bit under the radar when it comes to the overdrive game, although the Soul Food has become a bit of a cult choice if you’re after a Klon Centaur on a budget. At under $100/€100 new, it’s a wonderful Klon clone - or Klone - and a top choice for players who are after that sparkly Klon clean boost effect for a great price. Simple and easy to dial in with its three controls - for Volume, Drive and Treble - the Soul Food has become a pedalboard mainstay for thousands of guitarists over the years, and for good reason.
The Spruce Goose is a newer EHX offering, and it’s the brand’s take on the iconic Marshall Bluesbreaker circuit. With the Volume, Gain, Bass and Treble knobs, it’s easy to dial in a range of low gain overdrive tones, and you can ‘goose’ the pedal by either 9dB or a whopping 21dB via the Lift switch. The Spruce Goose will set you back around $130/€130.
The most underrated of these three pedals, though - and the cheapest, coming in new at under $80/€80 - is the Crayon… or, to give it its full name, the Crayon 69 Full-Range Overdrive. This versatile drive is capable of a huge range of tones, from clean boosts to screaming, thick overdrive, and its Volume, Gain, Bass and Treble knobs make it easy to tweak to taste. The wise folks of the internet guitar forums suggest that the Crayon is based on the wonderful Xotic BB Preamp pedal (the BB stands for Bluesbreaker there) - whatever it is, it’s an excellent choice for anyone in the market for a new overdrive pedal option!
In this video, I run the three pedals through an indie rock loop played on the bridge single coil pickup of my Fender Telecaster, then a classic rock loop using the bridge humbucker of my Epiphone Les Paul. The pedals are running into my Hughes & Kettner AmpMan Classic on the clean channel, with no reverb. The goal is to see how similar they sound, and how different, and how well they stack together. Hopefully, by the end of it you’ll have found out which one might work best for you and your setup! Let me know which one you prefer in the comments 😊
Here are some links to the various parts of the video:
00:00 Introduction and what we’re doing today
00:21 Soul Food info
00:43 Spruce Goose info
01:25 Crayon info
02:11 Today’s rig and plan
02:57 Fender Telecaster indie rock loop
09:13 Epiphone Les Paul classic rock loop
15:38 My thoughts
16:03 Why the Soul Food?
16:26 Why the Spruce Goose?
17:12 Why the Crayon?
17:58 Which pedal is best, and which should you buy?
My setup was as follows: I ran the pedals into the front end of my Hughes & Kettner AmpMan Classic pedal amp, then went from the Red Box DI straight into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, which went into Logic Pro X. That’s it. No post-processing on the sounds was done. Oh, and I used my Boss RC-10R to record and play the loops. Here’s some links to those bits of gear:
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AmpMan Classic at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/512777?offid=...
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/q4vkVO
Boss RC-10R: thmn.to/thoprod/470055?offid=...
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/daq4J2
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Enjoy!
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Backing music from the KZfaq Audio Library: Duck In The Alley - TrackTribe.
#ElectroHarmonix #EHX #OverdrivePedal #TransparentOverdrive #SoulFood #SpruceGoose
Note: certain links in the description are affiliate links. If you click said links and purchase anything as a result, I will receive a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, but it does help to support the channel. So, if you do that, thank you very much!
‪@EHX‬

Пікірлер: 61

@RichWordsMusic 5 ай бұрын

Here's your timestamps: 00:00 Introduction and what we’re doing today 00:21 Soul Food info 00:43 Spruce Goose info 01:25 Crayon info 02:11 Today’s rig and plan 02:57 Fender Telecaster indie rock loop 09:13 Epiphone Les Paul classic rock loop 15:38 My thoughts 16:03 Why the Soul Food? 16:26 Why the Spruce Goose? 17:12 Why the Crayon? 17:58 Which pedal is best, and which should you buy?

@robertdonosobuchner3129 5 ай бұрын

My favorite is the soul food pedal. It has really nice, warm and round sounds and it's my choice for blues and blues rock.

@carlodevivomusicontent2138 3 ай бұрын

I have a Crayon and I really love it. Very underated

@RichWordsMusic 2 ай бұрын

I agree... not sure why more people don't seem to own this pedal! It's super affordable too.

@alexc3744 6 күн бұрын

Realise I'm late to the party with this video, but I found because I jut bought a Crayon last week. Amazing pedal. I love it. As you say: incredibly versatile and an absolute bargain. Funnily enough I got because the stroe I was in didn't have a Soul Food in stock but I tried it and had to have it. Interseting that you get a pretty much indenticle sound from the Soul Food and the Crayon when you're dialling in sounds. Anyway - great comparison video and I enjoyed your clarity and presentation. Subscribed! 👍

@RichWordsMusic 2 күн бұрын

Thanks a lot, and welcome! Yes, the Soul Food gets all the plaudits (rightfully too, it's a fantastic pedal) but the Crayon is a bit of an underrated gem. It's more flexible than the Soul Food for starters - with way more usable high gain on tap, and a more versatile EQ section - and it can do the Soul Food thing as well. I actually tried it at a store for the first time because something else I wanted wasn't available... the rest is history! Enjoy yours :)

@scattystormborn 5 ай бұрын

I actually bought the Spruce Goose and Soul Food yesterday! I don’t have a Crayon, technically, but I have the Hot Wax combo pedal with the Crayon and Hot Tubes circuits. I’m stacking the Goose into the Soul Food currently and I’m loving it

@RichWordsMusic 5 ай бұрын

Nice score! Yeah, I don't understand why more people don't try these EHX drives... perhaps they're seem as less exciting than some of the other more "boutique" options. I almost got the Hot Wax once, before getting the Crayon, but didn't gel with the Hot Tubes side! I probably need to test it out again. Enjoy your Spruce Goose/Soul Food mix! (I've not tried them that way yet... must change that this weekend!)

@scattystormborn 5 ай бұрын

@@RichWordsMusic I really want to try the Glove out next

@Lamz.. 5 ай бұрын

@@RichWordsMusic I wasn't overwhelmed by either one of the Hot Wax sides, compared to the combo of both. I now realize I should tinker a bit more with the single channels as well. Especially the EQ knobs do change the tone character enormously, I just found out, thanks to you. Cheers for that! :)

@DarthEcoli 4 ай бұрын

Well in fact you do have a crayon as you can just not use the hot tubes side and I've heard the crayon side of hot wax more or less over powers the hot tubes side anyway. I'm on my second Crayon as I recently rectified the initial mistake of trading the first one. Won't happen again

@BlueberryStinkFinger62 3 ай бұрын

I have the hot wax pedal I will never part with it

@kizeka 19 күн бұрын

I have a ehx Crayon and EXh Glove on my pedalboard, i love them.

@RichWordsMusic 2 күн бұрын

Nice! I really need to try the Glove soon too :)

@filtermat 4 ай бұрын

Love your videos!! I needed a comparison like this, thank you!

@RichWordsMusic 4 ай бұрын

Thanks a lot! Yeah, these comparisons are extremely useful for me too... I learn a lot about my pedals tweaking the knobs and A/Bing like this :) Cheers and rock on!

@nmcgregor1990 5 ай бұрын

Ive got a Crayon and really like it to push an Overdrive further into hard rock territory. I find it gives added gain across the whole frequency spectrum of the guitar. Verry useful and definitely under rated.

@RichWordsMusic 4 ай бұрын

Nice! Yeah, the Crayon really seems to fly under the radar with most players. It does work excellently as a boost, I agree, and I love it as a character adder for my clean channel too. Great pedal, more people need to try it!

@wonga72 20 күн бұрын

Bought a crayon in Poland on a holiday. Has been my only overdrive pedal for 5 years... use it for every type of music. Love it so much! Would recommend :)

@RichWordsMusic 2 күн бұрын

Yes, it's a great choice! I really think more people need to try the Crayon... it has the problem that EHX makes more glamorous pedals like the Soul Food which everyone wants ;)

@AngelMartinez-qs3cf 2 ай бұрын

Soul Food all day! Love it nice a crunchy sound for blues and blues rock, like the BOSS Blues Driver. When the signal starts to breakup. Great stuff!

@RichWordsMusic 2 ай бұрын

Yes! You can't go wrong with the Soul Food... it's so great for so many things.

@jackarapongaigv 29 күн бұрын

Muito bom o vídeo, vim ver pelo Crayon, e só confirmei que era o que eu esperava ..

@m.malina6797 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for this vid. I just got the Spruce Goose and it slots in nicely between a Moxie (Tubescreamer) and a Lightspeed as the “medium” grit flavor. Tend to keep my Lightspeed on, then adding the Goose. It just works. The lift switch is also a great touch. Adds more gain without the hiss. Curious if you tried that. All the best, sir.

@ZachariahConnor 5 ай бұрын

The Crayon was awesome, I really have wanted to try the other two as well

@RichWordsMusic 4 ай бұрын

I love the Crayon... it's so underrated! The others are definitely worth a try too - these three together can cover any tonal ground you want.

@adamhunt397 3 ай бұрын

I have both the Soul Food and the Crayon. I like the Soul Food as a clean boost and a low gain OD but ATMO I’m not crazy about the higher gain settings because to me it gets too compressed and murky. However, you’re correct about the Crayon, it can make Marshall style amp sound more Marshall-like or a Vox sound more Voxy. EHX’s website has a settings suggestion where you can emulate the sound of an 808 without the drawbacks usually found with an 808 style pedal. I played a BB and to me I think the Crayon is a more flexible and more aggressive sounding pedal. Lastly, there were two versions of the Crayons. They sound really close to one another but my understanding is there’s some changes with the buffer circuit and graphics but for all intents and purposes they are 99.9% identical sound wise.

@quiksilver78 5 ай бұрын

Nice work. I've been waiting for your opinion on the Spruce Goose. I thought it was a Timmy clone or 'inspired by' as they say. Interesting take on the Blues Breaker with the Bass and Treble knobs which more so appear on the Timmy rather than the Blues Breaker. Those have always been my choice for tone shaping: The Bluesbreaker, Klon, and Tube Screamer.

@RichWordsMusic 5 ай бұрын

Yeah, the Spruce Goose is an interesting one. I love it for lower gain sounds, and you really do need the bass and treble knobs to dial out some tonal darkness. It does go strangely 'raspy' (for want of a better word!) at higher gain settings, but some people will love this effect. With a BB, Klon and a Tube Screamer on your board there is nothing you can't do! For me add the Lightspeed and I am good ;)

@toliskoskinas 2 ай бұрын

Totally agree with Rich on the BluesBreaker hype: flubby, raspy, piercing, hazy, undefined middle frequency pfffff. Anyways, thanks Rich, another super-useful demo !

@RichWordsMusic 2 ай бұрын

It's not just me then 😅 I was worried maybe my ears aren't quite right! Glad you enjoyed the video, and cheers for watching!

@MikeFromNashville Ай бұрын

The Spruce Goose is so incredible. Having the bass and treble works great with allowing other stacked overdrives or pedals to blend with it better. Say a Paul Cochran Timmy with this pedal. You can add a little more bass giving both pedals a fuller sound.

@thebreakfastmenu 3 ай бұрын

Woah, the Spruce Goose is new to me. You can get into 90s Jonny Greenwood territory with that bad boy it sounds like.

@RichWordsMusic 2 ай бұрын

Yeah, you can actually. I am not sure it's intended for that kind of thing, but it does it! It's a pretty cool pedal all round, actually. I find myself playing it a lot.

@DanielPestanaTranslations 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for the comparison. The Soul Food is the winner.

@RichWordsMusic 2 ай бұрын

You can't go wrong with the Soul Food!

@user-wv1ef2my2t 5 ай бұрын

An excellent and classic effects maker, one of my PBs is fitted with EHX effects only. I have a Crayon from these 3 pieces, very satisfied. For stronger distortion I use a Metal Muff, +- the same size, and it goes on .... As an amplifier I use a PB from EHX 5mm or 15 W Howitzer. The manufacturer recommends using their 9.6V power supplies for their effects. I have a lot of them in my cabinet, I use the Caline Power Scuru for power, including the added Digitech Trio band Creator. It works without problems. I agree 100% with your final assessment. Greetings Pavel CZ.👍👍👍🎸

@RichWordsMusic 5 ай бұрын

I would love to see your rig one day Pavel! It sounds pretty awesome. The Crayon is a great drive for sure... I am surprised more people don't use it! I've never used an EHX amp, but one day I will get the chance :) Rock on!

@user-wv1ef2my2t 5 ай бұрын

@@RichWordsMusic Once again, a nice Friday evening. Since next year I will be approaching the age of 60 and I have enjoyed my work more than enough, albeit as an executive of my small companies, I intend to finally enjoy the last third of my life, rather less, in peace and quiet (I lived a little in life management as a rocker). And also in what I didn't have time for in 35 years of demanding work. EHX amplifiers for playing music at home are optimal (personal opinion). The mentioned EHX 5mm amplifier is powerful enough for an apartment, it has the size of a Crayon effect. In the basement of my family house, it is absolutely enough. For live performance in smaller spaces, I prefer the EHX 15 W. But I'm just an amateur and not a good player. I recommend testing both amplifiers. I retired from tube amplifiers for home purposes. Greetings Pavel CZ.😀👍👍👍

@DarthEcoli 4 ай бұрын

I gave 60 USD used for my Soul food back in 2019 and it's my always on pedal mostly as a buffered boost for my big muff. I'm now on my second Crayon as I foolishly traded off the first one, but found this one recently for 35 USD also used. It's silly not to have a Soul food or Crayon as they're cheap alternatives to higher priced versions and almost as good. I don't really have any interest in Blues breaker type pedals and especially not if I've got these two. Good vid and demo. Cheers

@jamrackmusic2198 Ай бұрын

The Soul Food is the winner here, and I give second place to Crayon ( I have both). I was going to buy The Goose, but not anymore. Soul Food is the best bang for buck ever in the huge world of Over drive pedals, easily had for under $60 used Canadian or $125 new. I was using one last night. Killer, especially that vintage not too over the top crunch. Beatles flat out Vox tone? Soul Food does that to. Crayon is a lot milder but way better than a Tube Screamer, and much less muddled than a Boss SD 1 with way more tone shaping control than those two.

@gobeco 5 ай бұрын

I have the EHX nano Hot Tube (Craig Anderson schematic & red llama style) and my question is: is similar to the Crayon?. Hot tube gain knob ends with a touch of fuzz tone.

@NoBrakes23 2 ай бұрын

I'm guessing they are somewhat different since they are joined together in the Hot Wax combo pedal.

@BlueberryStinkFinger62 3 ай бұрын

I have the Electro harmonix hot wax duel overdrive absolutely incredible best $130.00 spent

@RichWordsMusic 2 ай бұрын

I need to give the Hot Wax another try for sure!

@MichaelCoughlanmusic 5 ай бұрын

SF is a fave of mine.

@RichWordsMusic 4 ай бұрын

Mine too, it's so simple and yet so versatile! Such a great pedal for so many different uses.

@nijustiniani6665 Ай бұрын

can you use the ehx crayon as a transparent overdrive?

@Eric-nn9xf 17 күн бұрын

It’s literally called CRAYON. What makes you think for a second it’s going to be transparent with that name? Clearly COLORS your tone.

@michelvondenhoff9673 5 ай бұрын

You are dangerous. I do not need a pedal...now I want one 😂 The selection is solid, EHX you can almost buy blind (just as Boss and MXR imho). Remember to have fun, fun is always the reason to buy another pedal. Just fetched a Digitech Trio (drummachine kinda metronome kinda pedal). great fun! Electro Harmonix 😎😎😎

@650thunderbird 5 ай бұрын

👍🏻👍🏻

@RichWordsMusic 5 ай бұрын

Thanks my friend!

@PooNinja 5 ай бұрын

Soul food , geese and crayon… the Firehorse eats all of that stuff… im afraid i may have received DNA from a goat instead of a horse, thankfully we’re still in the early R&D stage. Of these three I think the soul food resonates most with my tonal preferences. I have always enjoyed playing with crayons 🖍️.

@PooNinja 5 ай бұрын

Try the 44 mag. Its an amazing lil pedal amp. I use it to power a 412 or 212 cab as my stereo companion to my katana. But sometimes when no-one else is home i just plug in directly and crank it up such a cool lil monster. Great as a backup amp just incase, it fits in a gigbag and weighs practically nothing.

@RichWordsMusic 5 ай бұрын

@@PooNinja Yeah, I've heard a lot about the 44 mag! I almost bagged one of the Harley Benton cheaper ones a couple of years back. Maybe I gotta try the EHX version though. Would be a great and easy way to do stereo stuff, sure! The Firehorse renders everything else redundant, of course... rock on with those crayons!

@PooNinja 5 ай бұрын

@@RichWordsMusic I have both the 44 mag and the thunder 99 from HB. Its a wicked cool stereo amp for a modeler into pa speakers, its a little dark as a dedicated guitar amp but eq can remedy that easily enough. So i guess i have plenty of back up power now i just need a gig to test my redundancy preparedness! Have a great weekend Sir

@BlueberryStinkFinger62 3 ай бұрын

Electro harmonix are legendary no one matches Electro harmonix

@RichWordsMusic 2 ай бұрын

They are such a super cool company... I need more EHX gear for sure!

@johnnysimes5082 4 ай бұрын

BB stands for Big British, not Bluesbreaker.

@NoBrakes23 2 ай бұрын

Yeah, I was unimpressed by my Crayon, and thought I didn't like Bluesbreakers because of that. Then the Spruce Goose came out and EHX was saying something to the effect of , "We've never done a Bluesbreaker before." I was quite confused until I finally read on a forum that BB doesn't stand for Blues Breaker.