# Airis Effects Savage Drive



## meambobbo (Sep 10, 2015)

I'm the proud new owner of an Airis Effects Savage Drive. This is a high-quality, hand-built/wired OD pedal with an indestructible metal case and true bypass on the switch. I've only had a day to mess with it, but it's a keeper. It features Drive, Output, Bite, and Tight knobs. The output can be set much hotter than a standard Tube Screamer, and the Bite and Tight knobs also feature a wide range of tweakability. It's a bit odd how Bite and Tight interact at first, but you can always find the sweet spot to overdrive your amp (err... profiles...I'm a Kemper owner). You can also find some not so sweet spots at extreme settings, but maybe they have their time and place...

Here's a clip:
[SC]https://soundcloud.com/meambobbo/airis-effects-savage-drive-demo[/SC]

I don't really care for the standard Tube Screamer sound - it can be a bit thin and/or harsh for my tastes. I really like the Maxon OD820 though. Many of my favorite profiles are from SaundLeb (formerly SoundLab) and Premier Profiles who both use it as a boost. I feel like this pedal can get those tones and more. And the distortion on it is pretty smooth and natural sounding - unusual for pedal distortion.


----------



## lewis (Sep 10, 2015)

meambobbo said:


> I'm the proud new owner of an Airis Effects Savage Drive. This is a high-quality, hand-built/wired OD pedal with an indestructible metal case and true bypass on the switch. I've only had a day to mess with it, but it's a keeper. It features Drive, Output, Bite, and Tight knobs. The output can be set much hotter than a standard Tube Screamer, and the Bite and Tight knobs also feature a wide range of tweakability. It's a bit odd how Bite and Tight interact at first, but you can always find the sweet spot to overdrive your amp (err... profiles...I'm a Kemper owner). You can also find some not so sweet spots at extreme settings, but maybe they have their time and place...
> 
> Here's a clip:
> [SC]https://soundcloud.com/meambobbo/airis-effects-savage-drive-demo[/SC]
> ...



Happy new pedal day dude. Like the review. Ive seen these before and had major GAS for them. I recently purchased a custom VFE Focus (which is insanely good) and has made my OD808 redundant. Im thinking of selling the maxon and replacing it with one of these Savage drives.

I too want a Kemper.


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 10, 2015)

Wow the vfe sounds nice - i like the design. I hate how the standard TS is basically locked in for one sound.

The Kemper is the last amp or modeler ill ever buy it sounds phenominal and adds new rigs id never think to try daily


----------



## lewis (Sep 11, 2015)

meambobbo said:


> Wow the vfe sounds nice - i like the design. I hate how the standard TS is basically locked in for one sound.
> 
> The Kemper is the last amp or modeler ill ever buy it sounds phenomenal and adds new rigs id never think to try daily



Dude it is awesome. You can really hone in on certain frequencies and either cut or boost em etc. Amazing pedal.

And exactly why I want a Kemper. I would never buy anything again. Period.


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 12, 2015)

except for commercial profiles 

but at between $7 and $30 a pack, with the more expensive varieties basically offering you all channels at numerous settings with different cab and mic combinations of an amp, it's still WAY cheaper than actual guitar gear. It did take me a while to find a few great Mark IV profiles, but I've spent less than $100 on that endeavor, compared to what, $1000+ for an actual Mark IV? And that's the only one that has been a real crapshoot, which I expected because it's a unique sounding amp, with an impossibly large variety of ways to dial it in. On the other hand, I spent $7 for some insanely good Marshall Plexi profiles, and I'm 100% satisfied and don't need to continue that hunt. And many amps have excellent profiles that are free. One guy has made a ton of profiles of his Mark IIC+ that completely NAILS the Petrucci lead tone and didn't cost me a dime.

It can add up if you try to take a Pokemon, gotta catch 'em all, approach. But honestly, if you do that, you won't even have time to play them all. I'm eventually gonna do a website to fully review everything I own. The Kemper community is also really good and are happy to steer the newcomers into who has killer ___ profiles and who has duds.


----------



## lewis (Sep 12, 2015)

meambobbo said:


> except for commercial profiles
> 
> but at between $7 and $30 a pack, with the more expensive varieties basically offering you all channels at numerous settings with different cab and mic combinations of an amp, it's still WAY cheaper than actual guitar gear. It did take me a while to find a few great Mark IV profiles, but I've spent less than $100 on that endeavor, compared to what, $1000+ for an actual Mark IV? And that's the only one that has been a real crapshoot, which I expected because it's a unique sounding amp, with an impossibly large variety of ways to dial it in. On the other hand, I spent $7 for some insanely good Marshall Plexi profiles, and I'm 100% satisfied and don't need to continue that hunt. And many amps have excellent profiles that are free. One guy has made a ton of profiles of his Mark IIC+ that completely NAILS the Petrucci lead tone and didn't cost me a dime.
> 
> It can add up if you try to take a Pokemon, gotta catch 'em all, approach. But honestly, if you do that, you won't even have time to play them all. I'm eventually gonna do a website to fully review everything I own. The Kemper community is also really good and are happy to steer the newcomers into who has killer ___ profiles and who has duds.



Thanks dude. Duly noted. Sidenote too, your guide for the HD Pro helped me a tonne. If something similar is made for the Kemper from yourself I would be all over it. 

Great work


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 12, 2015)

Yes! Wikpa.org

I didnt write a lot of this. It preexisted as a pdf and i copied most of it to the site, and reorganized it and cleaned it up. Im actually working on something much bigger now.


----------



## lewis (Sep 12, 2015)

meambobbo said:


> Yes! Wikpa.org
> 
> I didnt write a lot of this. It preexisted as a pdf and i copied most of it to the site, and reorganized it and cleaned it up. Im actually working on something much bigger now.


 legend!. Great to know


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 12, 2015)

Im no pedal aficianado, but im very happy with my Airis Effects Savage Drive. First thing i did was open it, and it looked 10x better than that mess. Input and output jacks are some of the best ive ever felt. Seems like i can dial it in any way i want. and its ab half the cost of that protone. i have a thread about my experience with a clip on here


----------



## technomancer (Sep 12, 2015)

meambobbo said:


> Im no pedal aficianado, but im very happy with my Airis Effects Savage Drive. First thing i did was open it, and it looked 10x better than that mess. Input and output jacks are some of the best ive ever felt. Seems like i can dial it in any way i want. and its ab half the cost of that protone. i have a thread about my experience with a clip on here



After the attitude Airis copped on here I would not want to deal with him if there was ever a problem with a pedal  He is one of the only people I know of that actually managed to get a Vendor account revoked. 

Also if you're going to comment on build quality / what things look like it might help your credibility to post photos including gut shots.


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 12, 2015)

@technomancer, I don't know the backstory, but I know Rick and he's a stand-up guy. Offers a 2 year warranty on his pedals and uses good components. Was in the process of taking pics: here they are:


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 12, 2015)




----------



## meambobbo (Sep 12, 2015)

sorry if the image quality isn't the best, but hopefully you get the picture. ;-)

not a fan of the distressed lettering, but I assume that's the desired effect as that's how the stock photos on his site appear. The graphic looks solid - no blemishes or anything like that.


----------



## technomancer (Sep 12, 2015)

meambobbo said:


> sorry if the image quality isn't the best, but hopefully you get the picture. ;-)
> 
> not a fan of the distressed lettering, but I assume that's the desired effect as that's how the stock photos on his site appear. The graphic looks solid - no blemishes or anything like that.



Looks better than the Protone pedal and the pots are definitely higher quality. The silk screening on the enclosure looks good too even if the graphic isn't my cup of tea.

That said I'm going to move the posts to your thread on the Airis as it is a bit of a threadjack.


----------



## Koneko (Sep 12, 2015)

Edit

Congrat man,

This looks way better indeed.Eveything looks higher quality than my Protone (it's not difficult though).
I would love to try one of these. But I'm afraid it sounds too "transparent". 

Would you record a clip only using the Airis ?


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 12, 2015)

Sure - in my clip I wasn't trying to radically alter the tone, just tighten it up or add a little bite. I already love the way that Sinmix 5150 profile sounds, but it needs help when I use the 8-string. I prefer an OD820's tone over an OD808 - I don't like to lose too much bottom end. I was also trying to compare the Kemper's Green Scream (Tube Screamer) model to the Savage Drive with virtually the same tone, except keeping some thick bass where I could.

EDIT: I also was trying to set the Airis's output to neutral given the settings dialed in. I feel adding distortion isn't going to give anyone a good comparison.

Double EDIT: If you check the Savage's page on his site, there's a good demo where the guy shows various settings being tweaked in real time: http://www.airiseffects.com/the-savage.html But I'm more than happy to try anything.

I was to do some much stronger boost sounds on a JCM800 profile to push it into insane metal territory, as well as test out its distortion tone using a Strat-style guitar into a Fender profile. Is there anything else you'd like to hear? I have a Kemper and can basically dial up any amp tone you want.

@technomancer, I agree with the move - I don't want to derail anything.


----------



## Koneko (Sep 12, 2015)

You know, I'm just curious to hear how it sounds as a "boost", with gain close to 0, but without any amp if that makes sense... Probably not the most musical thing but it should give a good idea of how much it tightens and color the sound.


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 12, 2015)

consider it done - check back in a day or two.


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 14, 2015)

i started doing this but I ran into trouble. I tried to keep dirt on minimum and volume/output at noon, but depending on other settings this can easily lead to too much output for the digital audio and cause digital clipping.

I have it set up now, and I'll get it done tomorrow. I'm basically using 5 different settings on the Bite and Tight pots - 7:00 (min), 9:30, 12:00 (dead center), 2:30, and 5:00 (max), with all 25 possible permutations. I will adjust volume/output for each pair of Bite/Tight settings to get the digital audio just under clipping, and I will record the value needed to do so. Dirt will stay at 7:00 (min).

Let me know if there's anything you feel I'm missing.


----------



## Koneko (Sep 14, 2015)

Wow, feels like a lot of work man.
But that sounds great 

I would definitely have to do the same with my Protone now.


----------



## sylcfh (Sep 14, 2015)

Have one on the way myself.


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 14, 2015)

Well i kind of want to see for myself as well, and i want to get faster at reamping so no sweat


----------



## MAJ Meadows SF (Sep 14, 2015)

Nice review and HNGD. I am definintely interested in this pedal.


----------



## Sepultorture (Sep 14, 2015)

i'm pretty happy with the CM-2, but this has been a pedal i've been keen to try, especially now that it's got some low end tweaking goodness


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 15, 2015)

ok, raw guitar clips are up:
Directory /airiseffects/allSettingsClean

check the text file for the exact settings. I used clock settings, so 7:00 is minimum, then 9:30, then 12:00, then 2:30, then 5:00. Each clip features Tight set to one setting, then I progressively step Bite through the aforementioned settings. Dirt stayed at minimum, and Volume was adjusted to prevent clipping the DAW.

I kind of hate the way this turned out. It's hard to really hear what's going on. Oh well...maybe it's of some use to yall. I'd start out with Tight at noon, then venture each way from there.

Some notes while I was doing it - all the controls are VERY interactive. Volume had to be adjusted quite a bit to retain a consistent output level, but that's just looking at DAW numbers - the Tight and Bite controls do seem to change the compression of the tone, which means perception differs from the numbers. I feel like above 3:00 and below 9:00 are not very useful on this pedal, at least for normal applications. Maybe there's some niche use for them, but I think it's best to avoid them. Also, as you can hear, the pedal can get dirty even with Dirt at 0, given certain settings. In a saturated distortion environment, you don't really hear it, but this is not a pristine clean boost, at least not at all settings. That said, I feel it still has more headroom than the typical TS.

Next up I want to try out its dirt on a clean Fender-y sound.


----------



## Koneko (Sep 15, 2015)

meambobbo said:


> ok, raw guitar clips are up:
> Directory /airiseffects/allSettingsClean
> 
> check the text file for the exact settings. I used clock settings, so 7:00 is minimum, then 9:30, then 12:00, then 2:30, then 5:00. Each clip features Tight set to one setting, then I progressively step Bite through the aforementioned settings. Dirt stayed at minimum, and Volume was adjusted to prevent clipping the DAW.
> ...



Thanks man ! That was very useful.
Sorry for the pain you had to reamp this.
I'll try to do the same with the Protone.

This Airis is definitely aiming to the same target as the Protone but it sounds completely different. It's very transparent and clean with Drive à 0. It's like a tight hot clean-ish boost to me. I understand why it sounded so thin in some reviews. I've always put the drive knob à 0 on my tubescreamers (like a lot of metal guys) but you really need to push the drive a little bit to add some guts to the guitar.
It seems the Airis is definitely more versatile than the Protone too. I'm pretty sure you can dial in almost every tone you want with this.

I would really love to try one of these


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 15, 2015)

Its like a TS but more in every direction. It can be cleaner or dirtier, louder, thinner, or thicker. The one thing to keep in mind is that its a dirt pedal, not a distortion pedal. It doesnt get a soft saturated distortion, just dirties your peaks.


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 17, 2015)

New clips:
[SC]https://soundcloud.com/meambobbo/airis-effects-savage-drive-dirt-on-crunch[/SC]

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/meambobbo/airis-effects-savage-drive-jcm-800[/SC]


----------



## sylcfh (Sep 17, 2015)

I might have to check my cables, but I'm noticing a big increase in hiss with the sweep of the bite knob going up.


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 17, 2015)

Where is your Tight knob?


----------



## sylcfh (Sep 17, 2015)

I usually keep it right behind the Bite knob by a few degrees. That cuts down on the squealing a lot, but it's still pretty noisy.


----------



## meambobbo (Sep 17, 2015)

Ok well then yes thats a bit odd if tight is at 0, bite can get quite hissy, but if its compensated by tight, you should be ok. If you want me to try out your exact settings, post them and ill record a clip toggling the pedal on/off with a high gain amp but no gates and not playing


----------



## sylcfh (Sep 17, 2015)

Try bite at about 2:00 and tight at just before noon.


----------

