Hermida Audio / Zendrive / 2010's / Silver/Black / Effect For Sale
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Hermida Audio Zendrive 2008 hand built by Mr. Alfonso Hermida USA in mint condition. This is not the Lovepedal Hermida Zendrive Re-issue ! Thoroughly tested and in perfect working order.
The Hermida Audio Zendrive pedal was originally produced in tantalisingly small numbers by one Mr. Alfonso Hermida, who designed stuff for NASA prior to getting into the pedal game. Legend has it that he designed the Zendrive when trying to capture tones inspired by a legendary guitarist [hint: Robben Ford] who has access to an extremely expensive and exclusive amplifier [hint: Dumble]. Design tweaks continued until the spec was locked in back in 2004. The originals go for alarmingly high figures on the used market, but the pedal is now made by Lovepedal and although it’s not a cheap little box in its present form it’s certainly more affordable than an original. And as the unique control set may suggest, it’s designed from the ground up rather than based on an existing model overdrive pedal. You aren’t going to get Dumble tones by chucking a few extra bits into a Tube Screamer.
SHUT UP AND DRIVE
There are four controls on the Zendrive: Volume, Gain, Tone, and Voice (more on that last one later). The design is kind of minimalist and the text is rendered in what appears to be Papyrus font, and when you add in the Yin/Yang graphic it all kinda makes this pedal look like something you’d buy at a New Age bookstore. Battery access is the old-fashioned way: you’ve gotta unscrew the pedal. Otherwise there’s a 9v DC jack below the input jack. Everything is very straightforward and there aren’t any additional switches, buttons or lights to distract from the job at hand.
For testing I used a Michael Kelly 1957 guitar, a Telecaster-like design with a flame maple top, Michael Kelly humbucker in the neck position and Seymour Duncan Little ’59 in the bridge (with coil splits for each pickup), through my Marshall DSL50’s clean channel.
ZEND ME AN ANGEL
The first three knobs do pretty much what you’d expect, although they seem carefully voiced to never, ever make you suck. The fourth is really fun because it utterly revoices the pedal. Turn it all the way to the left and the sound becomes very dark and deep, yet it never loses power. Turn it all the way to the right and it becomes extremely edgy and cutting, with that same hair and grit around the edges that you would expect from a very high-quality valve amp turned up very, very loud. There’s a rich, cutting upper midrange quality which seems to practically cradle your guitar in its lap while massaging its temples, regardless of whether you’re using the pedal for sweet, articulate melodies or angry, driving rock chords. And this voicing is slightly deceptive in that it makes you feel like you’re playing through more gain than you are. It seems to goose the guitar sound in just the right frequencies to give you that same kind of confidence in your playing that you feel when you’re hiding behind a wall of gain, and yet it preserves every little detail and nuance and makes you want to play at your best.
There are some really amazing tones lurking in the extremes of the Tone and Voice pedals, especially when you max out one and turn the other right down. In other words, if you’ve got the Voice control cranked to its edgiest, you can soften the corners by turning down the Tone control. Or if you’ve cranked Tone to 10, you can get a smooth, creamy, sunny-sounding solo voice by turning Voice all the way down. There are also various ‘sweet spots’ here and there that you’ll find as you explore different balances of these two controls, and some of them are emphasised more when the gain is lower rather than higher. It’s kind of amazing that a pedal designed with one particular sound in mind is so very interactive and adaptable, but there it is. And the Zendrive pumps out enough output to work really nicely as a boost pushing an overdriven amp into meltdown, with the Voice control lending a particularly chewy texture to low-string riffage.
THE BOTTOM LINE
This is one of those pedals that really makes you work for it: if you play badly it’ll let everyone hear, but if you’re on top of your game it will show everyone how awesome you are. There’s no way to get a bad sound out of it: it simply can’t happen. Whether you play fusion or blues or rock or alternative or even country or stoner metal, there’s a sound in there that you can make work for you.
Features
Made in USA
Input, Output, DC adapter connections
9V battery operation or DC adapter
4.37″ (L) X 2.37″ (W) X 1.07″ (H)
Vol, Gain, Tone & Voice controls
BEP - Boutique Effect Pedals, Netherlands 
Bienvenidos a nuestro monasterio BEP, donde yo, junto con otros monjes cazadores de pedales muy bien formados y educados, estamos en la búsqueda del pedal más sagrado de todos. BEP se especializa en pedales de efectos vintage y boutique. Actualmente, nuestro principal objetivo es vender pedales de efectos fuera de la UE debido a las normas fiscales confusas dentro de la UE, con las que nos enfrentamos actualmente. Cuando se resuelvan estos problemas fiscales, volveremos a realizar envíos dentro de la UE. Sin embargo, el lado positivo es que BEP realiza envíos regulares a EE.UU. UU., Canadá, Japón, China y Australia con costos de envío subvencionados por nuestra parte, por lo que estas normas fiscales confusas dejan de ser válidas. A partir de junio de 2021, BEP ha sido honrado con la distinción de convertirse en distribuidor oficial de pedales de efectos Ibanez, GuitarSystems y MTFX. BEP ha aceptado estas oportunidades y nos gustaría que otros fabricantes de pedales se pusieran en contacto con nosotros. En BEP tenemos nuestro propio departamento de reparaciones, por lo que todos los pedales se han enviado después de haber sido probados varias veces. Algunos nos llaman el Louvre de los pedales de efectos vintage, pero otros preferirían el Versalles de los pedales de efectos vintage gobernados por Miss Domina XXL XIV. Antes de que se envíe su pedal o compra, se probará para detectar problemas comunes, como interruptores de encendido/apagado pegajosos, potenciómetros agrietados, clips de batería sueltos, etc. Estas pruebas se grabarán en video, principalmente para la participación de los clientes de Reverb, pero estará disponible si lo solicita. De acuerdo con el plan de protección de Reverb, está cubierto durante 7 días después de la entrega. Si surge algún problema, comuníquese con nosotros primero. Tenga en cuenta que todo el trabajo de BEP está protegido por derechos de autor, incluidas las fotografías, el texto y las descripciones. gracias
Welcome to our monastery BEP where i amongst other well trained and highly educated pedal hunting monks are on a quest to find the holiest of all pedals.
We're processing 1300 vintage effect pedals so keep a watch out !!!!
BEP specialises in Vintage and Boutique effect pedals. Currently our main focus is selling effect pedals outside the EU because of fuzzy tax rules within the EU, which we are currently dealing with. When these tax issues are cleared then we will be shipping within the EU again. On the sunny side however .... BEP ships regularly to the USA, Canada, Japan, China, Australia with subsidised shipping costs at our end, so these fuzzy tax rules become non valid.
As of June 2021 BEP has been graced to become an official dealer of Ibanez, GuitarSystems and MTFX effect pedals. BEP has accepted these opportunities and we would welcome other pedal manufacturers to contact us. At BEP we have our own repair department so all pedals have been shipped after been tested several times. Some folks call us the Louvre of vintage effect pedals, but others would prefer the Versailles of Vintage effect pedals ruled by Miss Domina XXL the XIV. Before your pedal or purchase is shipped it will be tested on common issue's such as sticky on/off switches, cracky pots, loose battery clips etc etc. These tests will be recorded on video, mainly for Reverb's customers engagement, but will be made available on your request. According to Reverb's protection plan you're covered for 7 days after delivery. If any issue's arise please contact us first. Please beware that all BEP’s work is copyright protected, including photo’s and text, descriptions. Thank you
Our pedals are sold on a personal level and are thoroughly tested on battery power and with an adapter. These tests include sticky on/off switches and cracky potmeters and all tests are recorded on video. Before any pedal is shipped we make sure that they work 100%.If for any reason your ordered pedal is not working properly then please contact us first, so we'll make sure the correct Power Supply Unit is used ( Boss ACA vs PSA Adapters for example ). Please do not open the pedal yourself, not even for a battery replacement, unless it has a separate battery compartment such as regular Boss pedals, but contact us first. If you do open the pedal we can not accept a return.
Nuestros pedales se venden a nivel personal y se prueban minuciosamente con la alimentación por batería y con un adaptador. Estas pruebas incluyen interruptores de encendido y apagado pegajosos y potenciómetros que crujen, y todas las pruebas se graban en video. Antes de enviar cualquier pedal, nos aseguramos de que funcione al 100 %.Si por alguna razón el pedal que pediste no funciona correctamente, contáctanos primero, para que nos aseguremos de que se use la fuente de alimentación correcta (por ejemplo, adaptadores Boss ACA o PSA). No abras el pedal tú mismo, ni siquiera para reemplazar la batería, a menos que tenga un compartimento de batería separado, como los pedales Boss normales, pero contáctanos primero. Si abres el pedal, no podemos aceptar una devolución.
