ODB-3... whats ur gripe?

[tremor100]

i saw one on a local classified site. So i decided to look into it. I read tons of reviews on it that were very negative much like you folks on here after doing a forum search. Alot of people saying its garbage, its best when turned off ect. ect. Well this forced me to try it before even considering talking to the guy. And i gotta admit im not a big fan of boss... but im impressed. Is everyones big problem with this pedal the fact that its not REALLY a overdrive or? I dont know like when i used it im essentially using it like a fuzz. Im assuming that either i have really crap taste in tone or somthing, because to me this sounded like a well defined, warm and growly distortion.

Ive had issues in the past with the Big Muff sounding amazing for sustained notes... but really lacking in the definition, alot of people say for best results for definition get a blending unit. Well i think this is likley to most usuable distortion ive tried for at least the price range.

So since this is a forum and posts are supposed to have a point, my point is A) if you dont like it, please express why if you so choose.. im assuming its cause it distorts your signal more then it just EQ's your tone to cut or B) go try one if youve been on the bubble on it and hopefully you will be happy with the results like me if you dont have 400 dollars to blow on boutique pedals and a blending unit.

[varunkapahi]

In praise of the BOSS ODB-3 - In praise of the BOSS ODB-3


i have personally not checked out the pedal but i think it is not an overdrive but more fuzzy anyway my only gripe is that i am not getting to check it out here in my city at any of the stores

[smo]

I guess one of the reasons people here seem to bash it so much COULD BE; because most of us have tried it and moved on at one time or another.
It seems to me that a lot of equipment on these boards gets a heap 'o' praise by people who have never tried it for themselves.

It is a useful pedal - but I think the main reason people don't like it, is because it isn't an easy pedal to get the perfect tone.
For me; to get the right sound - I boost the mids and highs on an EQ BEFORE going into the ODB-3, so the highs and mids will get a lot more distortion, but the lows retain some of their character - then on the overdrive I drop the highs and flatten the mids.
All with a low gain.
This has the effect of retaining a nice solid low end, and getting a nice bit of grit into the mids and highs. Not the easiest way to go about it - and kinda the reason I don't use the pedal anymore live - but it does work.

Good Luck.

[Alcyon]

My gripe is that the top end is irritating and a famous tweeter killer... Overall I just find the tone very frustrating. I guess it's a very polarizing pedal. For bass I would much prefer to have some kind of fuzz... and if I wanted a very aggressive tone I would play guitar and use something less abrasive.

[lowbass68]

I have a Boss ODB-3 and like it for some things. It is limited in the sounds that can be had though and it is much more of a heavy metal distortion than overdrive. I always use it in conjunction with my GEB-7 to tweek the sound and quite often use my envelope filter to get a wild guitar sound.
That being said I am still looking for a good mellow overdrive because I can't get that with the Boss, but when I do add another overdrive/distortion to my pedal board I will still use the Boss ODB-3 for some things.

[nellie48]

I had one and sold it for $25 bucks. It just took up space on my board because I could never get the sound I wanted, no matter how much I tweaked it. All the low end punch would disappear when engaged. My band mates thought I quit playing. The distortion was too synth/metal sounding. This pedal does not do a natural overdrive sound. It may work if you are into the over-the-top distortion sound. I got a Fulltone Bassdrive and love it.

[fenderthrupeave]

Ive had it for a long time and still cant get a sound I like out of it. so I think its going to be getting replaced soon.

[RickenBoogie]

It's all yellow and stuff.

[Bassbasixx]

I like it and I find it does do mild overdrive IMO, in fact I don't like distortion or fuzzed out sounds. Works for me. I posted a mini review in the In praise of the Boss ODB-3 thread.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showth...ighlight=odb-3

[cybersnyder]

I have one and I keep it only because I wouldn't get enough out of it to bother selling it.

[roflol]

its really unatural try some higher end stuff and you'll see what your missing out on!

[mellowgerman]

if you want real fuzz, get a messdrive.

i owned this pedal and sold it for $35. still regret buying it new.
i didn't like it because even with the gain as low as it would go it was still too distorted. i did like the blend knob but that only goes so far. if i wanted the sound of the odb i could have just borrowed my friends crappy digitech deathmetal distortion. just complete overkill in my opinion.

[Mudfuzz]

RickenBoogie nailed it and stuff

That and out of all the gain pedals I ever owned other than a Ibanez sound tank it was the worst sounding.

It still got the job done in terms of being distorted and being bassy but it still sounded bad to me. But then there also might be something worng with me because I stuck with the thing for like 8 years...........................

[Joe P]

I kind of wonder if more of the people who are slamming it haven't used it in a band setting. When I dial mine up in a rock band it really seems to work well in the mix -- then I get it back home, fire the rig up, and it never ceases to amaze me how shrill and harsh and whatever...

Along with the rest of my processing, I get some pretty jaw-dropping killer sounds out of the ODB. I should say, though, that I essentially NEVER run it by itself - whether it be a pre-OD (these days, an MD-2, but the Diesel Dawg really sounds better all-around), a compressor (CS-3, or custom 'distressing' comp), a Bass Xciter (mainly because of the lows-compression from the Big Bottom) - I never run it all-by-itself. Oh! -and I'm talking about putting stuff BEFORE it (at the input-side); except for delay/verb, the ODB is always the LAST thing in my chain.

Also, as I mentioned in the linked ODB-love thread: Any of you who DO like the tone of the ODB... TRY THE METAL MUFF - it's MAYBE the first pedal (out of MANY) which I've tried, that actually beats ODB, for that "bag'O'glass into the wood chipper" sound of which I am so fond. And that's without any pre-processing!

Joe

[bassbrad]

I'm with Joe P, all alone it does sound harsh and brittle, but in a band setting it seems to sit just right with the right amount of cut and grunt.

[K2000]

Originally Posted by tremor100

iIs everyones big problem with this pedal the fact that its not REALLY a overdrive or? I dont know like when i used it im essentially using it like a fuzz.

I dunno, I think it is an overdrive, because it has a pretty serious volume boost, which you can use to slam your tube amp into OD. The extra gain on tap is there for people who want extra additional grit.

Somebody called it a "tweeter killer"... I believe the ODB-3 was made before tweeters were popular in bass cabs. My speaker cabinet doesn't have a tweeter, and I like the ODB-3.

Are there better, more expensive ODs? I don't know, probably. But the ODB-3 works for me, with my amp (ampeg tube amp and 8x10)

[Mudfuzz]

A Dunlop 105Q into a ODB-3 can blow your tweeters! Man what an intense sound!

As said I used it for a very long time and just got sick of the sound.

I used it in a band setting the whole time I used it, and through a Ampeg tube amp, although I've never liked 8X10 cabs, actually I don't like 10s at all really.

[DosiYanarchy]

to be honest, i spent ages loving AND hating it while i had it, I could never get the tone i wanted until i played on the same bill as a Foo Fighters covers band, and their bass player's ODB3 sounded awesome, so i asked him what his secret was:

blend- almost clean, like 8 o'clock or something
gain - about 10, or 11
EQ-to taste
this gave a crunchy overdriven bass sound,

The ODB3 cant be that bad, lots of pro's use it (look it up), altho i guess the only difference between a pro and a regular non-pro is getting paid enough to call it your job.


In the end i just got bored of it (the ODB3), it just didnt have any dynamics or 'original' character to it (i know its subjective). I thought it was a very practical pedal, but i probably wouldnt go back to it now, i prefer either more or less organic sounding pedals (organic to me: BMS, muff, B:assmaster, VT Bass, non-organic: Blowtorch, B:assmaster(again))

[Joe P]

Originally Posted by K2000

...Somebody called it a "tweeter killer"... I believe the ODB-3 was made before tweeters were popular in bass cabs. My speaker cabinet doesn't have a tweeter, and I like the ODB-3...

Oh, yes - that's another thing I should mention: I have a tweeter (a big'ol waveguide horn in a JBL 2X15 PA cab), BUT I always use the 5KHz crossover highcut on my GK head.

Yeah - it's pretty darn shrill without the 5KHz cut.

Joe

[BassJunkie730]

The intersting thing that I've found about Boss - from working on a number of their pedals - is that they MUST use traditional amp and instrument formulas when developing their pedals.

For example - the DS-1 tonestack kills so much mids that it leaves me to believe that they must have used a marshall type amp to demo the product.

I'd be willing to bet that they tested an SVT or some kind of 70s or 80s bass amp when doing R&D for the ODB-3 even thought the pedal isn't that old.

Also there are many botique options to compare there pedal to - to right there the ODB-3 will possibly get criticism.

BUT the great thing about boss pedals is they are GREAT mod platforms.

Sounds to me like this pedal can benefit greatly from a diode switch (to LEDs or something) and a sift through the circuit to see how high some carefully placed low pass filters are.

It sounds like the pedal extends far above 5K. perhaps lowering the cap or resistor in a Low pass to set right at 5K would straighten out the tweeter killing issue.


Anybody have a comprehensive schematic on this pedal.

I'd love to tackle it for some changings.