VINTAGE GUITAR GEAR REVIEW - October 2004.
T.C. Electronics' Luxury Drive by Bob Tekippe & Ward Meeker.
ONE KNOB? What can you do with one knob?
That was our initial reaction as we set about to review yet another boutique pedal in that ever growing realm. This one is called the Luxury Drive, and it's built by Tim Jauernig.
A true grass-roots business, Jauernig started his company, T.C. Electronics, by building elegantly simple pedals for himself and a handful of local customers. But before he knew it, they'd garnered a very good reputation.
Jauernig's latest pedal, the Luxury Drive is, he promises, not your typical "overdrive" pedal. In fact, it's designed to deliver very little overdrive. Rather, its purpose is to boost the signal already going through an overdrive or distortion pedal, with just an edge of "treblelicious" tone and touch-sensitive compression.
In terms of nuts and bolts, the Luxury Drive is a rugged little unit about the size of a classic MXR effect. It's wired and built by hand (Jauernig even prints the decals himself) and features a level control with a chicken-head knob, true-bypass switch, LED indicator, and an AC adapter jack. A variety of interchangeable transistors lets you alter tone to your taste. Inside you'll find very clean work and high quality components. The unit uses a 9-volt battery or a standard negative-tip adapter.
To take the Luxury Drive for a test drive, we used an all-tube Peavey Delta Blues amp with two 10" speakers, an Epiphone Les Paul Standard Elitest Plus and a Samick Malibu with factory single-coils. And to test the Luxury Drive's compatability with other pedals, we grabbed a Danelectro Daddy-O distortion.
Running the Epiphone into the Luxury Drive in front of the Daddy-O, and with the amp set to clean, we set the Daddy-O's gain halfway up, played a bit, then turned on the Luxury Drive. All speculation dissolved - the Luxury Drive did just what it's supposed to, adding body and life with a touch of sparkle, without changing the amp's tone. Almost completely transparent, and no low-end was sacrificed : in fact it fattened the bottom slightly.
Plugging in the Samick, the response was very similar. When we boosted the level on the Luxury Drive, it proffered more transparent tone.
Next, we removed the Daddy-O, switched channels on the Delta Blues, and turned up the gain. Engaging the Luxury Drive with the level control backed off slightly, it fattened up the tone and added a slight edge, making the amp really sing. We then turned the level control back up and got more gain and volume, again without sacrificing tone. We then pushed the level until the amp cried "Uncle!"
Going back to clean on the Delta Blues, we plugged in the Epiphone, backed off the level, and found more clear depth, with the sparkle back on the top-end. It simply made the amp sound better, with very little volume boost.
It treated the Samick much the same, as notes popped out of the amp. Touch sensitivity was exceptional. One could leave this pedal on all night and get more out of any amp, no matter how good it is.
The Luxury Drive is one of the best boost pedals you'll hear, find or play. It'll make any rig, regardless of quality sound better ...
Jauernig also offers the Luxury Drive Mdl-T, which adds a trim control that adjusts the level of boost (for those who want to use the pedal as a volume boost in the effects loop of an amp) ... Luxury can be affordable.
