Fractal Audio DRIVE models: Zen Master (based on Hermida Audio/Lovepedal Zendrive)

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Zen Master: based on Hermida Audio/Lovepedal Zendrive

This is the famous "Robben Ford" pedal, which he uses to get thick Dumble tones from (e.g.) a Fender amplifier. Designed by Alfonso Hermida, who has teamed up with Lovepedal.

Lovepedal:
“The standard in dynamic, touch-sensitive overdrive pedals. Cut through the mix with the incomparable Zendrive. Inspired by a legendary guitarist, the Zendrive delivers blues, country, jazz and fusion tones associated with some of the finest, most costly amplifiers in the market. Four knobs control the overall volume, gain, tone and voicing of the pedal. At lower settings, the pedal offers extremely light overdrive sounds reminiscent of tube amps set near the “sweet spot.” At higher settings, the Zendrive increases in gain and sustain, producing tasty overdrive and low distortion tones."​

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Original controls are:
  • Vol: controls the output level (model: Level)
  • Gain: sets the amount of overdrive (model: Drive)
  • Tone: controls tone (model: Tone)
  • Voice: cuts lows (model: Low Cut)
The Tone control is not drastic, it's usable over its entire range.

Fractal Audio's Clip Type in the Zen Master model is silicon. The model was rematched to the original pedal in Quantum 5.x.

Personal note:
I prefer a low-gain Zen Master. For example Drive 3, Tone 6.5, Level 3, Low Cut around 400.​

About CPU:
  • Fractal Audio's Drive models take up varying amounts of CPU. The Zen Master model uses a lot.
  • When a Drive block is engaged, CPU percentage will rise during playing, because CPU usage is "amplitude dependent".












Link to the list of published threads
 
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Maybe a dumb question... what circuit is this based on, or is it an original circuit? I find the drive to be rather (dare I say) "transparent". Before the Timmy/Timothy was introduced, the Zen was definitely my "go to". It sounds stellar with the drive any where between 1 and 3 and provides all the crunch I need.
 
Probably something I'm not doing right, but I can never get it to sound remotely like any of those clips above.
 
WW Audio said:
Probably something I'm not doing right, but I can never get it to sound remotely like any of those clips above.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I am not having any luck with this pedal.
Sounds pretty generic and not very close to the D type amps in the Axe.
 
I use it for thick sounding single note leads when paired with a fairly clean amp. It's pretty farty for chord work, but for single note stuff its great.
 
Hellbat said:
I use it for thick sounding single note leads when paired with a fairly clean amp. It's pretty farty for chord work, but for single note stuff its great.
Click to expand...
It works pretty nicely for double stops, too.
 
I have used for years and love it. I don't try to go for the tones in the videos I just mess with it until I liked it
 
I have been messing around with using the Axe Fx II for effects only with my Carol Ann Triptik head.
Stuck this pedal in my preset I created in front of my real amp on the Clean channel.
It sounds great.
I could never get it to sound like much in front of any modeled amps in the unit.
Love it in front of the CA clean channel.
 
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