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Seymour Duncan 805 Overdrive doubts

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  • Seymour Duncan 805 Overdrive doubts

    Hello,

    I recently purchased the Seymour Duncan 805 Overdrive. I have 2 doubts about it:

    - First:

    Closing the level potentiometer, gradually closes the main signal until there is no sound at all. Is this normal?

    - Second:

    When you turn the pedal on with all the equalization potentiometers in the middle, you can clearly hear that it is applying an equalization. Usually, to compensate these, I need to raise the bass (to like 75%) and lower the mids and treble (to like 40% more or less on both). Is this normal?

    Thanks in advance!

  • #2
    This is the way mine works. I never have the level down to 0, as I want to hear the signal. Also, the EQ is TS-based, so there is abolutley still a midrange boost with the controls at noon. But you can cut that out with the active tone controls. If you want a boost without a mid-boost, the Forza is the one to get.
    Administrator of the SDUGF

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Siziksu View Post
      When you turn the pedal on with all the equalization potentiometers in the middle, you can clearly hear that it is applying an equalization. Usually, to compensate these, I need to raise the bass (to like 75%) and lower the mids and treble (to like 40% more or less on both). Is this normal?

      Thanks in advance!
      I can't address the first question because I have the first gen and not the new one. But on the 2nd question, it may not be a matter of it changing the EQ per se, but that it's removing the "load" from your guitar. Your guitar is a passive device, who's tone is affected by the simple things like your cable capacitance. The Booster removes those influences. So, you'll hear that affect, even though the Booster is set for "flat" EQ.

      Ideally, you want to leave the Booster on all the time, and call that your new "norm" for your basic tone. Adjust EQ downstream from there. Make sense?

      Artie

      Edit: Mincer filled in info that I didn't know.

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      • #4
        What Mincer said.
        1994 Ibanez IC500 Iceman reissue
        Jackson Soloist 7 string
        ESP LTD M-400
        Original Marshall Silver Jubilee 2553

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        • #5
          Mincer! Thank you very much, firstly because it has helped me to clear up my doubts. Secondly for pointing me in the direction of the Forza, which I think is really what I'm looking for, a transparent booster!

          Artie, as Mincer says, the 805 EQ in that pedal is based in a more mid boost kinda sound. So it shaves off a little on low and high end. In the case of Forza, that I didn't knew about until Mincer talked about, there is a mora natural sound, more transparent, so your tone is more intact.

          So I feel that what I'm looking for is the Forza instead of the 805. But being honest, the 805 it's an amazing sounding pedal. There is a huge difference between all what I tried before.

          Thanks to both for the anwsers!

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          • #6
            Keep in mind, the Forza still adds gain, although the EQ is flatter. A true, flat-eq clean boost with no distortion added is the Pickup Booster.
            Administrator of the SDUGF

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            • #7
              This is why I wish they still made the good ole SFX-01. I don't know what drives those marketing decisions. Add a 250k resistor on the input, and you have a unity-gain, zero-EQ buffer with the knob all the way down. Then you can still dial in 20 dB of gain. (Which is a lot.)

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              • #8
                I thought the second iteration of the Pickup Booster did exactly that? Have the unity-gain option at zero?


                Do what I do. Hold tight and pretend it's a plan!

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by stevie_bees View Post
                  I thought the second iteration of the Pickup Booster did exactly that? Have the unity-gain option at zero?
                  It does. Sorta. Kinda. Not exactly. Keep in mind, that the classic guitar amp has an input impedance of 1 meg. (Also, most current guitar amps, for that matter.) Passive guitars are sensitive to the input impedance that they play into. That's why we fuss over the value of volume pots.

                  The original SFX-01 had an input impedance of 470k. Its gain range was 6 db to 26 db. That means that when you punched the pedal, you boosted the output by double the voltage. If you install a simple 470k resistor on the input, the input becomes effectively the 1 meg that the guitar wants to see, and the gain range now becomes zero to 20 db. Much nicer. (That's how I've modded mine.)

                  The new Pickup Booster has an input impedance of 250k. Gain of zero to 25 db. That's cool for the gain, but weird for the input Z. (Impedance.) That's 1/4th what an electric would like to see. Maybe I'm making too big of a deal of this. I suppose I should buy one and try it.

                  The Forza and 805 both have an input Z of 470k. (Like the old SFX-01.) Gain of 11 - 37 db and 8 - 36 db respectively. Modding them to the 1 meg input Z becomes a little more tricky.

                  Maybe I'm overthinking this. I just get anal about the input impedance that my passive guitars see.

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                  • #10
                    Very interesting all the info about the unity gain. I'm still pretty lost, I'm very noob with this things, but at least I now quite realize about how it works, or kinda :P

                    Keep in mind, the Forza still adds gain, although the EQ is flatter. A true, flat-eq clean boost with no distortion added is the Pickup Booster.
                    True! I finally managed to try both side to side. I thought at first that Forza will win the comptetition due to the fact that I thought I needed that flat EQ. But in the end wasn't. To my ears, the Forza is a more flat response but, not flat. I repeat here that is to my ears. What I hear is that you keep the bass response but you loose brightness, so I feel there is something in the mid/treble section that affects the original sound a bit. Also, you are very true Mincer, you can clearly notice the difference in gain. It's not a subtle pedal, from the beggining of the potentiometer it adds pretty more gain. The EQ fact, makes the Forza get more difficult to EQ in a mix and even to find the sound I want (this last thing I think it's because of the gain amount).

                    So, I ended up keeping the 805. Like I said in an earlier post, it's an amazing sounding pedal. It cuts the mix perfectly and has that creamy sound that fits perfectly with my amp.

                    Thank you all for your help!

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                    • #11
                      Sometimes a few minutes of testing can confirm things. I am happy you know what you like now!.
                      Administrator of the SDUGF

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