It's high noon at the OK corral yet again
Blood will be shed!
Previous OD Shootouts
Round 1
or Round 2
The participants are:
OD's
Fuzz
Gear and Recording Info:
Guitar:
Swamp ash/Curly maple top Strat with Dimarzio True Velvets
(Thx to my bud Steve Blucher for the kick ass pickups!)
Amp:
70's Modded Fender Princeton, with 1 Weber
12F150 12"speaker
The amp was modded by my bud, amp guru, and fellow GPager, Bruce Marcolina.
with the following mods:
Stokes mod
Paul C mod
GZ34 rectifier tube
extra gain stage (from removed tremolo circuit's 12AX7)
Amp Settings:
Volume 2
Treble 3
Bass 5
Mic:
Sennheiser 609 close mic'ed
in addition to
Red Box cabinet emulator
hard panned
Interface:
M-audio firewire
Software:
Adobe Audition 3.0
MP3 192kbps
Lava Cables used exclusively
No additional EQing, or processing was added. Some 'verb/delay was used before the amp on each track
All comments are simply my opinion, and not meant to offend :-) I mean... who the hell am I anyway?
This took a lot of work and effort on my part. I did this for
the fun of it, and in the hopes that it may help others who may not have access
to all of these devices, or the ability to hear them side by side with the same
gear.
There is no substitution for trying these for yourself with your own gear... but
it's better than just words
There was some issue with my computer that caused a 500MS drop out on a few tracks. No idea what it was, but I just kept going. Also some of the pics were less that great quality
Disclaimer:
I have endorsements or affiliations with some of these companies. I in no way
ever hype or shill products. I always call them as I see them.
Harry Jacobson
www.harryj.net
OD's
Gas Pedals, Dumb Bell
Uber simple setup
2 Foot switches, 1 Knob
1 Preset for brighter, light OD, 'nother for full on OD
Limited parameters, but sounds and feels friggin' great.
Unlike some of the other devices, I was not able to change the gain control
during the demo.
You do need to use the guitar's volume to control the gain, this demo doesn't
really show that very well.
Love Pedal Cot 50
Bias control is very cool, seems to change the compression to my ear. Cool tone, perhaps a tad bright, without a volume or tone control it can be limiting. Designed to be controlled via the guitar's vol knob... like the ol' days. Cleans up very well with guitar volume.
M I Audio Tube Zone
Lots of variation options here.Very nice
Ocean EFX Pearl Drive (Prototype serial #0001)
Very natural, smooth, transparent warm tone. Lots of mid push on
hand, but unlike many TS9 influenced devices, this one is very controllable
Sounds great with Singles as well as 'buckers. Very dynamic, spongy, saggy, easy
to play feel
Level 11:00
Drive 9:00 - 1:00
Mids 9:00 - 2:00
Treble 1:00
Mid switch down
New clip will be added shortly
Analogman King Of Tone
Exceptionally smooth and natural tone. When set to lower-med
gain, the note decay allows more of the natural tone to shine through, without
the grit, unlike many of the others. It cleans up very well, while retaining the smooth feel, and warm sustain but
with less grit.
This version has 2 separate internal DIP switches allowing either side to
function as OD, Higher compression distortion, or boost
One of my favorite settings is the OD going into the clean boost. The second
stage just adds a very amp like fullness, no added drive
Pigtronix OD
Very full tone, sweet subtle amount of mid push, med gain device with lots of crunch.
Lots of lower mids and lows on this puppy
Very quiet device. also sounds great pushing an amp on the verge. This puppy
plays very well with others. The combination of the low noise threshold, and
unusually full lows makes this a superb choice as the first stage in a
cascading OD setup.
Zen Drive
Warm, smooth, natural, singing tone with very pronounced
mids. Med gain, but just right for me
The Zen seems to especially shine at stage volumes. Notes bloom and go into
harmonic feedback very easily. The feel is yet another aspect that just can not
be demonstrated here, very spongy, extremely dynamic ,easy to play. This has
been a resident in my main pedal board for a long time, and many, many devices
have come along to try to claim that spot.
For blues gigs, I often leave it on the whole night and work the guitar's volume
like the good ol' days. Cleans up just like a sweet tube amp
Maxon 808
Thick ,warm, smooth, singing tone with lots of mid push as would be expected. Not much clean on hand. Seems to have a bit more gain and more lows than standard TS9. Very sweet. Seems to have a little more of a natural warmth than the stock Ibanez to my ear.
Maxon D&S
Tons 'o distortion! Ballz to the Wall Marshalls... kinna grainy, gritty but that is the idea IMHO
Jetter Red
Bit of a mid push, exceptionally natural, warm and smooth. Cleans up beautifully.
Rich full tone with lots of lower mids
Responds to dynamic picking beautifully
Jetter Purple
Slightly tighter low end than the Red. Also very smooth, dynamic, cleans up great. Crank this puppy up to stage volumes and just try to not play some Angus :-)
A bit rawer, nasty, grittier tone... perhaps less polite in 'yer face
T.C. Jauernig Gristle King
Lots of tonal flavors available on this one.
Like the Analogman KOT, it has an option to cascade a boost either before
or after the OD.
PedalWorx Cactus Crunch (Ver.2)
As the name implies, crunchy, a little nasty grit, in a good way. Full low end
Sans Amp
Built in cabinet emulator is great. Very natural, with lots of headroom,
pretty low compression. Sounds great when pushed with a nice
booster.
This was my unit of choice for nearly 10 years in the early/mid 80's
Tim Boost
Extremely versatile, uber transparent, sweet tone with low compression, 2 gain stages, effects loop, subtractive
EQ.
Lows are a tad loose
This has a second stage boost option, but unlike some others, it is hard wired
to pre OD and can not be used independently. Still sounds friggin' great IMHO
tim3.mp3
ProCo Rat
This was my main OD in the early 80's. The original
Sans Amp kicked it out of my pedal board
Still a very nice sounding box IMHO. No true bypass. Lots of gain on tap here
OCD
Pretty open, lower compression, a little gritty, The is modded to version 3. A good bit thicker than it used to be. I like it a lot better than the ver 1 or 2. Have yet to hear the newest.
Fulltone FullDrive 2
This one surprised me. I have heard less than great demos of this, but found
it to be very smooth and natural.
I find the VERY cool 3 way FM/Vintage/Boost switch to be a bit similar to the
Vaughn modded TS9 (No idea which came 1st).
(Considering both designers are
members of the gear page I suspect I may find out?)
John Bull (Prototype ver. 2)
A cool pedal named after a fine British beer. A presence control was added to the original formula. full, thick, tone with tons of gain on tap, somewhat gritty tone in a good way. Setting the presence higher creates a bit of a buzzy tone.
TS-9 (double mod)
You know it... You love/hate it
right? The Analogman mod had a subtle, yet noticeable improvement on the tone, but I can
not rave enough about the Vaughn
dual tri-mode mod!
There are two 3 way switches. The first offers 2 low boosts to compensate for
the TS9's thinner tone. The 2nd switch is super cool. It offers a less compressed,
more natural tone as well as a clean boost. The 3rd option on each switch is
back to stock, somewhat similar to the Full Drive's 3 way switch IMHO.. After I heard the less compressed option,
I rarely go back.
Keeley Modded Boss Blues Driver
Huge improvement on the Boss, low compression, pretty gritty, still less than warm. Functions extremely well as a clean boost to push an amp on the verge. Sounds pretty buzzy into a very clean amp
Xotic AC Booster
Modded to newer version by company to be less compressed, nice EQ, somewhat pronounced mids, sweet, not much headroom, but more than the first version
Xotic RC Booster
Great boost device with a little of gain on tap. I personally find this to shine at the end of my device chain
Xotic BB Preamp
Very sweet, full, and smooth tone with a touch of grit, nice feel. Seems to be a bit less compressed than the AC, and it cleans up beautifully.
Boss SD1
Ok... So it's not Booootique. Less low end warmth... what no true bypass? ahh the good ol' days
Fuzz Pedals
Analogman Sunface NKT-275 (Germanium)
When I first tried this one, I didn't get it... Was muddy,
inarticulate, nonmusical IMHO... Then I tweaked it and experimented a
lot.
Now I really like it. Seems to work best with the fuzz almost cranked, then used
the guitar volume to control intensity. The middle bias knob seemed to sound
much richer and thicker to the right. I suspect that may change with different
guitars and amps?
Sweet harmonics, thick tone, cleans up better than most IMHO
Volume 1:00
Fuzz Just short of cranked
Middle knob (bias) almost all to right
Analogman Sunface BC 108
(Silicon)
Similar to the NKT, perhaps a little thinner, brighter, buzzy?
Volume 1:00
Fuzz 4:00
Prescription Electronics Yardbox (Germanium)
Very cool, warmer, throatier fuzz tone. Rich harmonics... 5th harmonic just jumps out!
Volume 10:00
Gain 7:00 (almost off)
fuzz 7:00
treble/bass set to all bass
Pigtronix Disnortion Fuzz (Diode)
Seems to allow much more of the natural tone through, Less
buzzy?
.
Piggy uses a different approach with it's use of diodes, seems to allow much
more lows and low mids through. It has many tone variations with the shape knob.
This is the device that has occupied my main board for the past year or so. I use this
a lot with the gain set pretty low then placed in front of an OD or amp on
the verge. This
adds an amazing depth to the tone.
This box allows the combination of the fuzz with the OD in parallel
for yet a fuller tone.
I kick in the OD in series with the fuzz at :28, back out at :59, in at 1:04
Fuzz
Level 12:00
Gain 9
Shape 1 (full spectrum)
OD
Level 11:00
Tone 5:00
Gain 5:00
Love Pedal 200 LBS (Silicon)
Seems to be a bit less thick as would be expected from a
silicon unit ... perhaps less compression
Changing the guitar vol a good bit in the demo
Vol 1:00
Fuzz Just short of full
Fat 5:00
M I Audio Neo Fuzz (Germanium)
Has tons of useful parameters. Thick tone with tons of sustain!
Harmonics leaped out.
I was able to tweak it to sound very similar to the NKT-275 with the
following settings:
(Vol 1:00, Fuzz 1:00, Tone 1:00, Body, 10:00, Bias, 12:00,
Load 9:00 bright switch center)
Settings for this clip:
Vol 11:00
Fuzz Full
Tone 1:00
Body Full
Bias 12:00
Load 1:00
Switch to left
Pedal Worx McFuzz Hot Version (Silicon)
Nice tone, good sustain. A good bit brighter... I'm guessing Silicon?
Level 1:00
Gain 9:00 - 1:00
Tone 11:00
