Sublime Guitar Company Hippy Joel Overdrive

When I received today’s pedal in the mail from our friends at Sublime Guitar Company, one person immediately popped into my head: Joel Cummins, keyboardist for Umphrey’s McGee. Being the elder member of the group, Joel has repeatedly taken flack and guff from the other guys in the band over the years, and the graphic on the aptly-named Hippy Joel Overdrive was just about a perfect fit. I decided to shoot Joel a message about doing a review for this pedal, as we had recently become followers of each other on Twitter, and he happily agreed to take a look and give some feedback. Well, I’m happy to say that not only Joel, but fellow bandmate Jake Cinninger (guitar) as well, agreed to share their thoughts on this pedal, and here’s what they had to say:

Jake Cinninger: “This pedal really shines on transparency and does not muck up the sound of doing a light boost to a soft smooth clip with any instrument you run through it. If you’re looking for Metallica, this isn’t the pedal; creamy blues breaker tones are more of this pedal’s forte. It’s more hifi than a tube screamer, yet very colorful.”

Joel Cummins: “I tried out the Hippy Joel pedal on two different instruments, my Fender Rhodes & a Mellotron m4000d. While I enjoyed the slight grime it brought to the Rhodes, much like most distortion pedals, I lost the low end so crucial to making the Rhodes cut through a mix of rock n roll. For an instrument like a Rhodes, it’s essential that any distortion pedal also preserves the integrity of the original tone, or you risk having a sound that’s too overly bright & forthright in the mix.

I had better results with the Hippy Joel on my Mellotron as it gave it a much edgier sound. The Mellotron doesn’t depend on mid & low end frequencies nearly as much as the Rhodes, so this made sense to me. The Hippy Joel pedal, while clearly designed for a guitar, added some interesting weirdness to the mellotron while coming up a bit short on a Rhodes.”

As a bonus, Joel got the whole band to sign the pedal, and sent it back to me to continue to enjoy (see pic). I was fortunate enough to meet Umphrey’s McGee waaaaaay back in 1998, when they opened for some friends of mine, the now defunct Freshwater Collins, at one of my favorite East Side Milwaukee bars, Thai Joe’s. They were just getting started as a band then, and I was one of 20 or so people who got there early that night to catch their set, then got to hang out with them afterwords, and they couldn’t have been nicer guys. As you can see, there’s a little history here for me, and getting this pedal back signed by one of my favorite bands is a real treat, so thanks to Joel Jake, Brendan, Ryan, Kris and Andy for taking some time out and giving me some memorabilia I will cherish always.

Now then, check out the video below for a small sample of what the Hippy Joel sounds like, and remember to get over to the Sublime Guitar Company website, and see the rest of their pedal lineup. Also, don’t forget to go out and see Umphrey’s McGee the next time they’re in a town anywhere close to where you live – their live shows are not to be missed! Thanks to everyone involved in this review, stay tuned for more “guest reviewers” coming up in the near future.