Hey guys and a very warm welcome to Friday Fretworks! If you haven't already, please SUBSCRIBE :) / chrisbuckguitar / buckandevans www.chrisbuckguitar.co.uk www.buckandevans.com
There are not many players I want to just sit and listen to solo, with my eyes closed, not paying any attention to the world around. This is beautiful.
I've met Robin Ford a handful of times through a dear friend of mine that passed about 7 years ago named Steve Bishop. Steve was from Washington DC where I had the privilege of meeting Danny Gatton , via Los Angeles via Seattle where I met him and Robin and was privileged to see them do a show here in Seattle at the Paramount Theater. He ended up in nashville where he got really plugged into the music scene down there doing shows and recording as a side man. Sadly nobody here will know Steve Bishop but I'm here to tell you that he was a phenomenaly gifted player that could easily hold his own with Robin Ford and his good friend Danny Gatton. Steve was the kind of guy that he could pick up anything with strings on it, didn't matter what the instrument was and he could just make it talk, make it sing like nobody I've ever heard before including Robin ford, no disrespect to Robin or Danny Gatton. Steve Bishop was on a list of the 10 best unknown guitar players put out by vintage guitar magazine maybe 15 years ago. There used to be videos of Steve up on RU-vid but after his passing I think that his family must have taken those videos down. I'm only able to find one or two of his videos but they're not the best example of Steve's playing. I wish the world could have heard Steve because he was that good and I was witness to how his playing affected those around him listening to him. We were all mesmerized. I miss him dearly. He was only 54 or 55 when he died of spinal cord cancer and towards the end he couldn't even hold his guitar and play which just seemed cruel.
I heard Michael Jordan once saw Robben Ford going for a jog and was so inspired he invented Air Jordans. He stopped making them when the hype got silly but eventually Nike reissued them. Robben still wears em when he can't fly to shows.
This is expressive, tasteful, sophisticated playing. Who really cares what I think, but for what it's worth, I don't hand out compliments to other players just to be polite. Wonderful stuff.
that you have the guts and skill to let people listen is fantastic. where others yell and "talk" with their axe, you are happy to have a conversation that is relaxed and intriguing. love your work
Hey brother! Tasty AF playing! One little addition to your story from my memory, Alf actually made a pedal between hearing Roben’s recording & the Zendrive. Which was the ‘Mosferatu,’ from my understanding (I don’t remember the source, but I think it was on the Hermida website). The particular recording Alf was referencing, Roben was playing a higher gain rig than usual & that matches the Mosferatu. However he preferred a lower gain rig, which after feedback resulted in the ‘Zendrive.’ From there I believe the rest of your story is accurate. I actually own original handmade Hermida Zen 1, Zen 2, Mos, Dist, Tiki Drive. To my ears the Zen & Zen 2 are my favs, the mos is definitely geared to a higher gain & doesn’t quite have the dynamic range of the Zens. Hope that wasn’t too long winded, much appreciated for your video! All the best & great video :)
Awesome playing, as always! I actually enjoyed your clean tone even more than with the Zen engaged. I recommend you to give the White Zen a try if you have the chance to. It's my favourite (I use it mostly clean to low-gain) of the numerous variations of the last few years at lovepedal.
Superb playing, my friend. Also rekindled my love of the Zendrive. I never quite used it correctly and felt like the Twimble was a better fit, but your video helped convince me to give it another go.
I have to agree with the previous comment. I'm new to this channel and everytime I watch your demos, I couldn't help but care less about the demo anymore because of that lovely guitar playing :'( so striking to the soul.
Saw you a few years back at the Newbridge Memo - the gig went up several large notches when you solo'd on that 335. Such a rich and powerful sound and a genuinely beautiful guitar in the hands of an incredible player.
I’ve owned a Zendrive (& a Zendrive 2) for about 10 years now. Collected them from Alf’s house while over there on holiday. He’s a great bloke. Let me try out the prototype Nuvalve that had been played and signed by Brad Paisley and Carlos Santana. Love the sounds it makes with my telecaster.
Beautifully played and I think this is a fabulous pedal made by Hermida or Shawn of love pedal I could not tell the difference between them when tested for me it's an always-on pedal
I've seen Robben Ford a few times, and yes, he used the Zendrive with the Dumble. I also have seen him in a video using it with a Fender amp. I'm also fortunate to have an original made by Alf. It's the one pedal I will always keep. Nice job on this demo by the way!
Stan Esposito Cheers Stan. I actually spoke to Alfonso last night via email and he said that Robben has used it with his Dumble in the past. High praise indeed...
Just catching up on this one while binge watching ZenDrive vids post TPS Robben Ford. As usual your sublime playing makes me forget about the pedal/amp/tone reason for arriving. 🙏🏼💜✨
I absolutely love my zendrive. I use it next to a king of tone and a tube screamer. When I want THAT lead sound...that sort of “$300,000 worth of ridiculous gear” Los Angeles lead sound, that’s what the zendrive does. The king of tone makes for a great “core” sound in any room, the ts boosts the entire planet and the zendrive makes for an expensive sounding lead tone...and there you go.
Hey mate I just have to say you do excellent demos. You don't just play one 3 note phrase and then repeat the exact phrase on different settings which I hate. THIS is a good demo. Chords, licks, high notes, low notes, playing hard, playing soft, bridge pickup, neck pickup.. then different settings on the pedal. Also your clean tone is a really good well rounded tone unlike many horrible demos which immediately destroy the sound of the pedal by using thin crappy sounding cleans. Great job! subscribed. Love your playing also. Cheers.
Clean and classic vibes and tone! Trying to decide what zendrive I should get for my Fender 68 CDR. Thinking black magic, but this one sounds awesome with that 335! Don’t know!
I have an Original Zendrive. Having had one for over 10 years now, here's my .02c: The Hype - much of this has to do with the fact that Alfonso Hermida was hand-making these (with maybe 1 assistant), so if you ordered one, you might wait a couple weeks or many months to actually get one in your hands, depending on Al's workload at the time. This meant that prices would get a little silly. I think they originally went for $150 (Al refused to raise his price despite high demand), and then people were selling them for $250-300. This created somewhat of a buzz and may have led to some exaggeration as to what this pedal can do... The actual sound: When I first tried my friend's I immediately fell in love with it. It has a refined grain that is relatively unique. It's transparent and you can almost hear your original clean tone somewhere in there, and when you switch it on, if you have the level set right, you would seamlessly go from your clean tone to dirty, with no pops and no massive change in timbre other than more saturation It's extremely touch sensitive and you clean up your tone with just picking intensity and nuance. It's very responsive and will pretty much accurately give you back whatever you throw at it. One huge thing I discovered with it, is that if you have a guitar with a treble bleed, you can actually clean up the tone of the Zendrive by backing off your volume, whereas without treble bleed the difference was kind of marginal..
I have an original 'gooped" Zendrive. I paid $70 for it about 4 years ago. I love it and doubt I'll ever part with it. My always on OD, is the Mad Professor Bluebird, which I sometimes stack with an Xotic Effects Soul Driven or the Zen.
I have an original Zendrive 2 and either my 68 original twin or Fuchs ODS 30. And I get pretty close to Robben Ford tone, Particularly his tone on Sahara Moon, Peace on My Mind live version. Love your videos and Guitar work too, thanks
Wow, Chris your tone even without the Zen engaged is wonderful, what reverb or other pedals are you using ? I just received the Love Pedal version of the Zen and I was afraid that it might be to high gain but your settings at the open are really low and the tone is incredible. As always love your playing and video's !! greeting from Detroit (If you ever play here let us know). Thx
Man, fantastic playing and great tone! Who should I listen to if I want to cop a style like this? Mayer is an obvious first answer, but anybody else? Also, that was an excellent review of the pedal. Subscribed!
I need to check out more Robben Ford. From the 80’s to the 2000’s I listened to mostly blues but didn’t listen to him and I don’t know why. You mentioned him, and just yesterday I found a video of him talking about his tele, his main blues guitar he said. Chance upon a name 2 or more times in one day and you should go do it on purpose. I haven’t seen one of your videos in a month or so Chris I enjoyed this one thank you!
This is the first run of the Lovepedal manufactured version with SMT parts. You can tell because there’s no white washer at the base of the foot switch, and the led is blue when not lit up and it doesn’t have the black bezel around it. I just got an original Alfonso built Zendrive. It’s so good that I’m currently selling off other stuff to buy a backup since the originals are gooped, and basically can’t be easily repaired if something wears out😩. It’s the strongest and most immediate connection I’ve felt to an overdrive, or any kind of pedal for that matter.
I love your playing and the tone here is great. However, does this pedal only work well with a clean tone? I've seen a lot of videos of this pedal and am yet to see someone use this on an already overdriven sound. I was just wondering how this works in that situation.
From what i`ve seen on line Robben uses a Dumkuko now. Apparently the Dumkudo has more clarity in the od and cleans up better when dialing back the vol on guitar. It also doesn`t have the slight mid-hump. I think Larry Carlton uses the Zenkudo. The Zendrive appears to have a nice thick tone, perhaps a touch too thick for H-Buckers..? Anyhow.. thanks for the great demo dude..!
Great demo, stylish playing and, unlike many vids, actually gives you a good idea of what the gear actually sounds like. Great work! Oh, and beautiful 335, too...
Tony Sap I’ve never tried a Simble but what I’ve heard of Mad Professor’s stuff sounds great. In fairness, the Zendrive is readily available as well and there’s not a massive price difference 🙂
Hi Chris I bought the Klon clone Velvet Minataur from John in Greece. Stacked with a Turbo Rat first is nutz. Always loved the original Zen. I had ordered one from him in Florida in the USA years ago, but he went out of business and returned my deposit. I know Robben Ford uses one among others. Opinion please if you have time?
Alexander Dumble designed and built the first very famous (and expensive) Dumble Overdrive amp also inspired by Robben Ford. Robben owns what I believe is the Dumble Overdrive #2.
well i use the nux steel singer as a dumble pedal and is amazing, and costs almost nothing and is very nicely sounding. i try to use cheap or used pedals to get the sound, safes a lot of money and getting the sound i need orn my tube amps (marshall, blackstar, orange, laney)
Nice video. Yes it is worth the hype if you like the Ford, Carlton type sound. I am lucky to have a SE model built by Alf in a wood case. I just bought a new version from him (thru LovePedal) just to have a second.
Love Pedals was owned by 2 partners that had a falling out and the Zendrive has informally ceased to be in the Love Pedal catalog. In Dec. 2019 Pogo brought ot the Zen Ray. It sounds like the Zen Drive though whether it is a part for part replication is a mystery.
Your guitar rig 5 setting is like The Stig of the guitar world. Identity never to be revealed unless it gets offered a lucrative book deal ? I have tried this Zendrive incarnation along with the Red and Black Magic. My favourite is my White one though, which I was quite chuffed to just notice has the exact same settings as you used when the drive was at 1 ‘o’clock.
Jonathan Sharp Haha! That’s brilliant 😂 No mystery Jonathan; I’ll be doing a video about it as soon as my recording setup is a little more permanent. It won’t be long ☺️
