SD-1

[John E Rokker]

I keep trying new OD's, loving them till the honey moon wears off, and going back to old faithful.

Oh SD-1, with your bite slightly dull, and you're low end quite lacking. In the bedroom I'm bored, so I wander to new toys, till I take them out in public and become disappointed. You're everything I need, and deep down I knew it from the start. But I had to try because I'm a man, and man is always searching for something that is just out of reach. I will always hold a special place for you on my pedalboard. And I hope that you will always let me plug in when I need too, my sweet SD-1.

[crusty philtrum]

Re: SD-1

Put a Monte Allums GT kit in it and it will be even better.

[John E Rokker]

Re: SD-1

I've had modded ones. And while they do sound better in the bedroom, or even loud by yourself, with a band they don't cut through as well. They get all washed out between the other guitarist, bass and cymbals. Yeah, It doesn't have that top end "sparkle" but it cuts through every time.

[SteveAlysis]

Re: SD-1

Call me kwazy, but I found the stock SD1 way too harsh in both at home/a band situation. Ii gave it to my bass player

[crusty philtrum]

Re: SD-1

I've used the same SD-1 for over thirty years, at every gig, rehearsal, recording session I've done in that time. It was okay in stock form with some very fine tweaking of the tone control. With the Monte Allum GT kit, it's superb. I have also changed all the caps in the signal path to red box Wimas and polystyrenes for the small pF ones.

I've never had any complaints about my sound or the way it sits within a band context. To the contrary, i usually get great compliments on how i sound (and i only use vintage-style, non-master volume amps, the SD-1 and a delay pedal, so a very simple rig). At some point, the player has to take some responsibilty for their sound and performance and stop blaming their gear.

I just recently installed a Monte Allum kit into a brand-new SD-1 for US member Laughing Kookaburra and shipped it back to him. Hopefully he'll chime in here and give you his impressions.

[crusty philtrum]

Re: SD-1

Call me kwazy, but I found the stock SD1 way too harsh in both at home/a band situation. Ii gave it to my bass player

Yup, the harshness is one of the biggest issues that most good mods address, along with making the tone control more useable. I think the OPA2134 chip upgrade is a big improvement too. Having used an SD-1 for so long, i can testify that Monte Allum absolutely nailed the areas that could be improved, and nailed it with his mods for those issues.

"with it's bite slightly dull" is a comment i find very strange in relation to a stock SD-1 in proper working condition.

[AlexR]

Re: SD-1

+1 for the Monte Allums mod......apart from the SUPER bright LED though. I've got the one with the two toggles for clipping and harmonic content.

[ErikH]

Re: SD-1

Two changes that work great with the SD-1 are removing C6 which opens it up a little more (adds some sparkle), and increasing C3 to .1uf which increases the low-end.

The overall character of the pedal is still there, just a little more refined. Two part changes, that's it.

[GaryB]

Re: SD-1

ErikH
Cheers for that tip, I was wondering about an easy mod without sending for a kit..I'll give it a go.

Best

Gary

[gvis]

Re: SD-1

+1 for the Monte Allums mod......apart from the SUPER bright LED though. I've got the one with the two toggles for clipping and harmonic content.

Me too, sounds much better than stock. I avoided using the monte light.

[ErikH]

Re: SD-1

ErikH
Cheers for that tip, I was wondering about an easy mod without sending for a kit..I'll give it a go.

Best

Gary

Anytime. I'm sure you'll be happy with the results.

[Diego]

Re: SD-1

I must be doing something wrong with it.
A friend of mine has one, I've tried it and I hate it, pushing a dirty amp or dirty by itself. Just terrible.

I prefer my Keeley Blues Driver a million times.

[John E Rokker]

Re: SD-1

"with it's bite slightly dull" is a comment i find very strange in relation to a stock SD-1 in proper working condition.

Compared to the Keeley mod and the MXR Classic OD, the Stock SD-1 is slightly dull sounding. But I love it.

[JeffB]

Re: SD-1

I had an old one from the 80s that was very nice..i used it for many years as a goose. The new ones do not sound the same.

[misterwhizzy]

Re: SD-1

Compared to the Keeley mod and the MXR Classic OD, the Stock SD-1 is slightly dull sounding. But I love it.

I agree with Crusty. I hear the stock SD-1 as a fairly bright pedal. In its stock form, I had to turn the tone down to about 10 o'clock, and it was still a bit harsh. The Monte Allums kit made all the difference in the world, and it makes a real great boost to give some sparkle and character to cleans. It went from being a pedal I never used to one I turn on pretty frequently.

But stock, it was anything but dull.