EHX (Electro Harmonix) Glove Overdrive Pedal Review

The EHX Glove is a pretty unique overdrive/distortion pedal. With MOFSET semiconductors, the pedal aims (and manages) to bring a wide range of overdriven sounds that are very tube-like, without being too harsh. Modelled perhaps after the Fulltone OCD, this pedal manages to bring a rich tonal sound for around £50.

EHX Glove

Here's how EHX describes it on their website: http://www.ehx.com/products/od-glove 

Rich, overtone laden sound that doesn’t get muddy. Responsive controls that take you from sparkling, clean boost through brown crunch and all the way to thick, saturated hi-gain. Advanced features like Tone Shift and selectable 9 or 18V internal voltage for surgical sound sculpting. The new OD Glove delivers overdrive and distortion with impact, and the modern player in mind.

So how does it play in practice?

Well, I absolutely love it. I listened to clips of this and the Crayon and am so pleased to have chosen the Glove. I play it through a Fender Blues Junior (with upgraded tubes and a Greenback speaker) and they work together beautifully. Said to be able to get that classic British rock crunch sound, I found this was a pretty accurate description but probably does a slight disservice to the range of the Glove.

It fits perfectly with my (now very sadly discontinued) Visual Sound Open Road and has a similar kind of tone. Howeever, the Open Road sits much more as a tube-like transparent sound. While the Glove aims for this to some extent, it does bring its own character. It is not a harsh, fizzy, or too fuzzy pedal but doesn't go as 'clean' or as 'transparent' as some may want it to, especially if you want to simply use it as a boost.

However, the overdrive is pretty smooth at lower levels. Some people have bought this looking towards that kind of Marshall distortion sound and certainly the pedal does nod in that direction more than a traditional overdrive pedal but without fully nailing the sound. Without a doubt this brings a thick and sustained sound that you'd hope for and doesn't lose character at high gain, certainly in comparison with some other EHX pedals. There's also a selectable 9v or 18v setting inside the pedal.

As you'd expect, this doesn't have the midrange cut through that you'd find on the Fulldrive or other tubescreamer type pedals. Nor does it act as a heavy driven metal distortion pedal as you'd equally expect. But it does what it does very nicely and with an excellent build quality. This thing is solid as a rock and won't get damaged anytime soon - as with all EHX pedals.

This is the kind of settings I use with the Glove pedal (often having the gain up a touch as well). I also leave the Tone Shift setting to 'On'. I have also managed to use the guitar volume to clean up very well with the pedal - another brilliant bonus. I haven't done a demo video as to be honest my playing can't compare with some of the videos online - listen to them and see if it's for you.

Overall, for £50, this absolutely blows the cheaper pedals out of the water sonically. It's rich, musical, retains a smooth tone and gives you that British tube amp classic crunch sound. Absolutely stunning.