Steel Driver (1) vs Steel Driver (3)

Bob Miano · Post by **Bob Miano** » 1 Apr 2006 8:10 am

Does anyone have or familiar with the original steel driver by Goodrich?
I believe there is a Steel Driver 2
and 3. Has anyone had an opportunity
to compare them. The original had a
"polyphonic" switch which the newer models
do not have. I was curious, if you have
tried the original and a later version,
what your preferences are.
I am referring the fuzz effect in these units. I prefer the original......
would like to hear what you think.
Thanks,
Bob Miano
Zum/Derby D-10

Eddie Thomas · Post by **Eddie Thomas** » 1 Apr 2006 1:46 pm

Bob, I haven't tried the Steeldriver 1, but I have both the Steeldriver 2 and 3 model. The 2 model has a nice distortion and a very useable distortion. The 3 model is too British 60's sounding. Its thin and wiry sounding. However it is for sale if you are interested. Its like new. Hope this helps.

Frank Parish · Post by **Frank Parish** » 2 Apr 2006 5:38 am

I don't know of a Steeldriver I but I've had both of the other models. Near as I can tell The II model is a pre-amp/buffer on one side and distortion on the other. Buffer meaning it had a tone knob on it so you can turn down the treble if you wanted to. I never could tell by the sound that it had a pre-amp or that it made the tone of the guitar any different other than the distortion. The Steeldriver III is distortion like above on one side and the other side has the Matchbox 7A circuitry on the other side. If you're familiar with Matchbox then you know what it does. The III is the better and more expensive of the two. I've went through two II's and am currently on my first III. The only thing I would change would be to have a tone knob for the distortion mode to take some of the highs off. If you have a tone knob on your guitar like the Emmons, you can do it there.

Jon Jaffe · Post by **Jon Jaffe** » 3 Apr 2006 5:11 pm

Original Steel Driver:

In use since the early 80'. It is a combination Match Box and a distortion unit. It has variable tone without variable gain and a distortion unit with very variable tone. The distortion is hot but controllable with the volume pedal. Battery consumption is minimal unless the output is left plugged in for several days. I have tried to give it up and times, for reasons that are unclear, but I come back to it. The size is perfect.

Bob Miano · Post by **Bob Miano** » 4 Apr 2006 9:31 am

Jon,
that one looks a bit older than mine and I got mine in the early 80's too. Mine has the polyphonic switch on the front, not on the top of the unit.
I still prefer the original to the later versions of the steel driver....that's just a matter of opinion though.
Thanks for that picture.
Bob Miano