In search of "the" OD pedal...

Twitch

Twitch

New member
Now before you come in and start hollering "SFX-03!" hear me out.

Budget: Would like to spend <175 but will be willing to go up to 200.

I want a pedal that can both dirty up the clean channel of my amp as well as boost the OD channel (Peavey Classic 30). The huge thing I look for in OD tones is that when I play high notes, they really scream out as high notes. I love Robben Fords blues tones (but have not been impressed with the Zendrive clips I've heard). At the same time I want the tone to have some grit to it. Not just super smooth singing tones. The final piece of the puzzle is note distinction. I want to be able to play double stops, tritones, and chords and be able to hear the notes ringing.

The pedals I'm going out to play soon are:
Ibanez Ts9 (modded pedals by forum bro. Stratdeluxer are not out of the question)
Boss SD-1
Boss DS-1
Boss BD-2
Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive
Fulltone Fulldrive II
Fulltone OCD
Barber LTD
Maxon Ts9 clones (not sure what the difference between all of them is, but I'm going to play some)

A few other pedals that I am very, very interested in, but have no way of testing out before purchasing are:
Banzai Fireball
Banzai Cold Fusion
Menatone Blue Collar
Menatone Red Snapper
==========================================================
What I'm looking for is suggestions that fit my description. Specifically pedals that I have overlooked and not included on this list.

Thanks for the time.

Edit: I'm playing w/ an MIM maple/maple neck + alder body strat that I'm either going to put SSL-1's or Chubtone 62's in.
 
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Re: In search of "the" OD pedal...

Try the Keeley Modded Ts9s
they pretty much work with any amp and almost always sound good. A great no-brainer.
 
Re: In search of "the" OD pedal...

I don't think you could go wrong with the FD-2. It is a great sounding pedal IMO.
 
Re: In search of "the" OD pedal...

Castiron: Yea I have not been impressed by any of the Boss pedals...but everyone raves about them after being modded. Thinking about it, I'd rather have something I like prior to mods as well.

Justice: I like the looks of the Creamtone, but it's 200 and Scott said he preferred the FD II. (Shaky response, so I'll consider that one too)

I really love the Banzai Cold Fusion Telecaster clip that is 5 minutes long found here- http://www.banzaieffects.com/products/coldfusion.htm
If none of the other pedals I try really blow me away, I think I might pull the trigger on a Cold Fusion. Then just send it back if it's not what I want.
 
Re: In search of "the" OD pedal...

Well, the Boss pedals have been around for over 20 years, pushing 30, for a reason. Not all of their stuff is bad. If it weren't for them, the rest of these boutiquers wouldn't be doing what they do and neither would many pedal modders.

That said, the SD-1 and BD-2 modded are great sounding. They're not too bad stock, but better when modded. Good bang for the buck.

Also check out the MXR Wylde. It doesn't color your tone like lots of other OD's do, the tone control actually does something, and it'll kick your amp in the nuts so hard you won't know what happened. :D
 
Re: In search of "the" OD pedal...

Fulldrive 2 is a great pedal...I'm continually amazed at how much I still like it (I buy and sell gear like crazy out of discontent) and I've heard it sound great on so many other peoples rigs either on stage or in the studio. Can't go wrong with it. The OCD would probably be great, though not as versatile since it doesn't have the boost button.

The Maxons are also very nice IME. I wouldn't mind having an OD808...

Mike
 
Re: In search of "the" OD pedal...

the guy who invented fire said:
DAMN IT!

Why did I click on that link!

Those sounded pretty damn good!

Which one do you have?
Click to expand...
I have the Custom Overdrive, which I run through a 65 Twin RI. Some really beautiful tones, and the boosted lead channel gives a really great lead tone.

Basically use it for all my playing, short of high gain. For high gain stuff I use the Morpheus, which replaced an MT-2.
 
Re: In search of "the" OD pedal...

The Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive I have fits the specs you listed....BUT....you need to get it modded by Robert Keeley. I like the stock feature that you can apply the gain to the signal and run the clean signal as well. It's worth noting that out of the box the pedal lacked some bass and wasn't transparent enought....but the Keeley mod fixed that for $65.
 
Re: In search of "the" OD pedal...

I've been using a DS-1 one with my strat and I have really liked how the stock pedal sounds. I think it works great with a strat. It's presently getting Spinafied and will be even better.

I haven't tried it but the Marshall JackHammer has been getting good reviews around here.
 
Re: In search of "the" OD pedal...

the guy who invented fire said:
DAMN IT!

Why did I click on that link!

Those sounded pretty damn good!

Which one do you have?
Click to expand...

Sorry for passing "gas" onto you! They are very cool products.... i have the Morpheus for that super saturated sound.... IMO its the best high gain pedal there is.
 
Re: In search of "the" OD pedal...

Rocktron Silver Dragon!

I know I just started a thread about it being a little noisy but the thing has the mose incredible low end chunk a pedal could have! It's also fairly transparent and has a tube in the od circuit. It also has another switchable SS distortion stage on top of the tube od.

It shure blows my modded Ts-9 out of the water.
 
Re: In search of "the" OD pedal...

I've owned a Fulltone OCD since last May and this thing is the freakin' shiznat crap... I LOVE it and I've used it on pretty much every gig and every recording I've done since then. If you look under Fulltone OCD and my name with the forum search funtion you'll find a review I did.
 
Re: In search of "the" OD pedal...

Check out the Hermida Mosferatu, it has more gain on tap and is a tad more aggressive than the Zendrive. In fact, Alf has been quoted saying Robben Ford was the inspiration behind the Mosferatu. There's a great clip up on the site, it's pretty indicative of how it will react with your rig. Notice how transparent it is, you can still tell it's a tele-style axe through a Dr. Z, just with more gain added. It's a very articulate and dynamic pedal too, very amp-like.

http://hermidaaudio.com/Mosferatu_Maz.mp3

There's a bit of a wait when ordering straight from Alf right now, as a bunch of guitar mags recently printed rave reviews of his stuff. However, if you keep an eye out at thegearpage.net you can usually grab a new one for $120-150.
 
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Re: In search of "the" OD pedal...

A little too much gain on the Mosferatu it sounds like from the clips.

Can anyone tell me more about the TIM? I found a lot of posts on the musictoyz forum but they all just talk about how they are handmade by an amp tech in Nashville and not so much about the tone.
 
Re: In search of "the" OD pedal...

Twitch said:
A little too much gain on the Mosferatu it sounds like from the clips.

Can anyone tell me more about the TIM? I found a lot of posts on the musictoyz forum but they all just talk about how they are handmade by an amp tech in Nashville and not so much about the tone.
Click to expand...

That's with the gain around 3 o'clock from what he says on the clip, and there is a knob you can use to turn it down after all.
 
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