the OCD is well known as one of the best overdrive pedals on the market.
wether you agree or not with the massive hype surrounding it, the OCD is undeniably a very versatile stompbox, able to range from a subtle and dynamic break up to a proper distortion, with a very personal voice.
the MOOER Hustle Drive is an OCD clone, able to deliver more or less the same tone its bigger cousin is known for in a much more compact - and definitely less overpriced - package...
the tiny metal case hosts 2 minuscule potentiometers for level and tone (the latter is a set and forget control, but a bigger knob for level would have been extremely useful - if impossible to fit on such a small pedal), a full sized drive control and a miniswitch to select the drive mode (HP adds gain - even a bit too much - and compression, and turns the OCD in a proper distortion pedal. LP is more dynamic and "overdrivey") withouth really changing the pedal's voice.
the footswitch feels a bit stiff, but works perfectly fine. oh, and of course there's a function LED.
there's no place for a 9V battery, so an external power unit is mandatory (power consumption is minimal, 6 mA, so massive daisy chaining shouldn't be an issue...)
as i wrote above, the gain range is surprisingly wide, and goes from a clean boost to a mid-high gain distortion. i'd dare to say it goes definitely beyond a classic DS-1, but loses definition and character, with some of the mud and fizziness you can expect from solid state pedal distortions... up to 3 o clock (approximately) it sounds very sweet, and still gainy enough to play classic rock. use a tube screamer (or similar) to push it a bit more and you're ALMOST in plexi territory. ALMOST. personally i prefer to use it around noon, in LP mode, to get that sweet, bluesy overdriven tone, and boost it with another overdrive when i need some more power (still below the gain levels of my amplifiers, of course, but that's the whole point of using OD pedals on the clean channel!)
to summarize, it sounds like an OCD. it's small, cute and cheap. there's really no reason not to buy it. except if you've already got the original pedal it's based on...
