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Search for the Perfect Overdrive


chase1410

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Hey people, i have been having a real hard time of finding a overdrive, that doesnt color your tone...I have a Fulltone OCD, GMD Luther Drive, MXR Classic Overdrive, and had a boss bluesdriver. But all of them seem to really color my tone. I've heard Barber's LTD SR and there 1/2 gainer, are supposed to be really good. Any suggestions?

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Fulltone OCD.

 

[thumbup] B)

 

 

 

Oh, wait - nevermind.

 

[biggrin]

 

 

When I see a list of effects like you have, I really have nothing to offer.

I'm the original Good American guitar >>> Good 20' cable >>> Good Tube Amp with Nothing in Between guy.

I broke down and bought the OCD after 30 years of playing - I love it, but I don't depend on it.

 

When you're chasing tone with digital gadgets, I'm completely out of my element.

 

Good luck!!!

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Fulltone OCD Version 2.0.

 

But if you want something really innovative, you can get the best of both worlds.

 

Snapshot2010-09-1522-19-18.jpg

 

 

For many, many years you've basically had 2 choices for your Overdrive;/Distortion pedals... You could either get "Soft-clipped" Bluesy, slightly compressed, (Toob Screemer, FD2, etc etc etc etc etc etc) type Overdrive pedals... or you could get "Hard-Clipped" (OCD, Distortion+, Boss DS-1, etc etc etc etc etc etc) type Distortion pedals.

 

What if there was a pedal that offered both?

 

There is now..... the Patent Pending Fulltone PlimSoul

 

PlimSoul has those Softer Bluesey, Compressed capabilities but also has a Second Stage that you can roll in with the turn of a little dial to add that firmer, crunchier, British output tube style Distortion! What's more is you not only hear and feel it...you can SEE the pedal reacting to your every mood via a firey LED that glows brighter and dimmer depending on how distorted it is and how hard you're hitting it.

 

Touch sensitive? Doesn't get any better.

 

Clean up with the guitar's volume control? More than any, yes, even more than the OCD. Speaking of OCD, people ask "What's the comparison? Easy answer: OCD has an honest flat EQ, won't change your amp's tone. PlimSoul has a gorgeous enhanced Midrange and Lower midrange...excellent to transform a combo into a Marhall-like Lead machine, not so necessary if you already have a Marshall-like amp. I use PlimSoul on any combo, I use my OCD on both Combos and larger Marshall-style amps/cabinets.

 

Good with Humbuckers as well as Single coils? Yep.

 

Does it play nice with other pedals? Yes, it has an Ideal 500K Input Impedance, ideal super low 10K output impedance.

 

How dirty does it get? VERY dirty, the dirtiest pedal I make...but gets very clean as well.

 

Can I blend the 2 types of Distortion? Yes, and you can have ONLY Soft clipped or ONLY Hard Clipped :)

 

In a Nutshell? Extremely good Sustain/Feedback qualities, just the right amount of Mids, bottom, Great touch sensitivity, dynamics, and all those in-between shades available when you know how to use your guitar's volume control.

 

I guess i should be flattered, I'm already starting to see pedal builders taking notice and "getting inspired" by the PlimSoul's unique design, which combines independently adjustable soft & hard clipping and successfully emulates the "sag" and other behaviours associated with a tube amp's output section and tube rectifier. With the OCD, I gooped the pcb for 5 years or so to slow them down, but you're now seeing a handful of "OCD inspired" pedals being sold under various names. Now I'm seeing photoshop renderings popping up from other makers claiming to be developing "emulates output tube distortion" pedals ala Plimsoul. I didn't bother gooping the PlimSoul, but we are well into the Patent process :)

 

 

$199 (US Retail)

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Hey thanks for all the replys guys, I really appreciate it and i apologize for my description for it was confusing. When i say "color" my tone, it seems to me that when I engage any of these OD's that all of the character from my guitar is gone, and the "pedal" basically took over the sound. Im looking for a very transparent OD that will add gain but still let my guitars sound shine through. Out of all the OD's I have had, the OCD has been my favorite. The best OD I've heard from demo's and such has been the Klon Centaur and the Fancy Lad, ( One of the few exact clones of the KLON). But man are they expensive, but i guess it all comes down to, you get what you pay for. Thanks again guys, and its always nice hearing other people's opinion.

 

PS: Vourot, that BYOC was amazing...Im gonna check into the prebuilt ones, is that the 2nd link you gave me? Incredible OD, Ive known of BYOC but never really looked into em. Thanks!

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Hey thanks for all the replys guys, I really appreciate it and i apologize for my description for it was confusing. When i say "color" my tone, it seems to me that when I engage any of these OD's that all of the character from my guitar is gone, and the "pedal" basically took over the sound. Im looking for a very transparent OD that will add gain but still let my guitars sound shine through. Out of all the OD's I have had, the OCD has been my favorite. The best OD I've heard from demo's and such has been the Klon Centaur and the Fancy Lad, ( One of the few exact clones of the KLON). But man are they expensive, but i guess it all comes down to, you get what you pay for. Thanks again guys, and its always nice hearing other people's opinion.

 

PS: Vourot, that BYOC was amazing...Im gonna check into the prebuilt ones, is that the 2nd link you gave me? Incredible OD, Ive known of BYOC but never really looked into em. Thanks!

I haven't found what your looking for in an Overdrive Pedal. In my experience they all have some pretty "colorful" characteristics.

 

Try an MXR Distortion+ at low to mid gain. It acts a lot like an over eager overdrive pedal with very little voice of it's own. You might want to try a treble boost or an EQ with a gain like the MXR Kerry King thingy.

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I haven't found what your looking for in an Overdrive Pedal. In my experience they all have some pretty "colorful" characteristics.

 

Try an MXR Distortion+ at low to mid gain. It acts a lot like an over eager overdrive pedal with very little voice of it's own. You might want to try a treble boost or an EQ with a gain like the MXR Kerry King thingy.

Yes a treble boost can be remarkably effective whilst retaining the basic sound character.

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Hey thanks for all the replys guys, I really appreciate it and i apologize for my description for it was confusing. When i say "color" my tone, it seems to me that when I engage any of these OD's that all of the character from my guitar is gone, and the "pedal" basically took over the sound. Im looking for a very transparent OD that will add gain but still let my guitars sound shine through.

PS: Vourot, that BYOC was amazing...Im gonna check into the prebuilt ones, is that the 2nd link you gave me? Incredible OD, Ive known of BYOC but never really looked into em. Thanks!

 

Yeah... you're not looking for an overdrive pedal. Coloring the sound is at least 1/2 of what they're about. You want a boost pedal. Or an EQ pedal set to dime all appropriate frequencies, which is basically the same thing. Or a volume pedal. Or a multi-channel amp with two channels that sound the same and have separate output stages.

 

But not an overdrive. Pretty sure that's not what you want. [sleep]

 

 

(but I could be wrong... [unsure] )

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What about the BK Butler Tube Overdrive?

 

My overdrives are the Way Huge Pork Loin and the Digitech Bad Monkey....I also use a MXR 10 Band EQ with the mids boosted for a dirtier tone but still quite clean and distinct.

 

I only use those with my little rig though.....Not too big on pedals for everyday use. (except like delay, reverb etc.)

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Though I haven't played every OD pedal out there including some mentioned here, I never have been happy with pedals for OD. We go to all this trouble to find the right "all tube" amp for a reason and then ??? => put a solid state pedal in front of it for distortion. And there are some innovative pedals out there that actually have a 12AX7 in them but you take them apart and there's so much solid state surrounding the tube that it's still a solid state pedal.

 

I love just having the amp do the work and better yet have it so wonderfully reflect both my pick action and the volume setting of the guitar. With an OD pedal in front, it's just softer or louder fuzz. But, then again, I don't play metal where you're looking for even more distortion than most amps can generate. They're out there though.

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I like this one ALOT

MXRCL1ClassicOverdrivePedal.jpg

Plus there's a little dip switch at the top, it's an OD-GT when the switch is to the right and a ZW-44 when the switch is to the left.

According to a number of online sources they use the same board for both pedals, and this M-66 is just a re-housed GT-OD.

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