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Source Audio OFD

#501
Here is a fairly long demo of the OFD. I tried to spend a lot of time in each section going through all the possible options to show how different it can sound just by changing the EQ slightly. I spent a lot of hours the past 3 days working on all the prep and production for this demo. I hope you guys enjoy it!! I was actually amazed even more by the gated fuzz after being able to tweak it while a loop was playing, rather than me tweaking it in between playing. It got to a Mammoth space and sounds really great. It's going to soon be my new 2nd preset.

I didn't mess with the noise gate mostly because with the loop I had it would never engage, plus the pedal has enough other options to focus on. The noise gate is great!

 
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#503
I just got my OFD in the mail a few hours ago, and have been fiddling with it quite a bit. I've got two other SA pedals (the Orbital and the Manta), and this one is by far much more difficult to dial in. My initial thoughts are as follows:

- Most of the so called tube distortions seem a bit too synthetic and square-wavey, with the exeption of the Tube Drive.
- The Smooth Tube is my least favorite. I've been using Mesa gear exclusively for 16 years now, and this doesn't really sound anything like any of the many Mesa amps I've owned. It sounds a bit closed off and muffled, and overly gainey. There's not much in the way of decent tone to be found even in the lower gain ranges.
- Most of the tube models sound best with lower gain settings - at high gain they all start to sound the same. The fuzz sounds are pretty good at high gain settings, but methinks they could stand for even higher gain.
- The Gated Fuzz doesn't sound much like my Wooly Mammoth. It's the one model that could stand to be more synthy and squelchy sounding.
- The range of the mix knob is too delicate, especially on the left side. Even with a totally raging distortion, if I turn the Mix knob to 9 o'clock the distorted tone disappears and I'm left with nothing but a clean signal. Finding a good in between tone with only the range from 9-12 o'clock is tricky and tedious.
- The octave fuzz is a bit too square wavey and actually not harsh enough on the high end - my B:assmaster blows this thing away.
- On the tubey side, the Tube Drive, Crunch Tube, and TS9000 are definitely the best, especially in low gain settings. They sound much more open and transparent than the Smooth Tube and Power Stage.
- On the fuzz side, I'm digging the Gated Fuzz and Metal tones, largely at the higher gain settings. The other fuzzes don't seem to have much of their own character, and kind of blend together.

Overall I'm on the fence, but I've only had it for about 6 hours. That said, I was completely sold on the Manta and Orbital in a matter of minutes, so I'm a bit surprised that I'm not immediately blown away by this thing. I'll continue to fool with it (or at least, I'll fool with the replacement - this one arrived with a dead LED) and see if I can fall in love with it or not. I really want to like this thing, as it could simplify (and expand upon) my gigging rig immensely. More knob tweaking awaits.
 
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#504
I agree on the blend knob. I'm sure it's hard to fix considering it is a dual function.

Also agree that some tube side effects tend to sound very similar. Try messing with the EQ on each. I notice a little treble boost and mid cut help to balance and enhance them.
 
#506
I found that the mid on the EQ is a huge key factor. I couldn't get my OCD tone dialed in with the TS9000. I hooked up my OCD and OFD at the same time and went from there. Once I put the mid to about 11 o'clock, I found that it almost matched my fav setting on my OCD. The OFD is what it is after all, a modulator. But to me, it's a great modulator. And it's saved me room on my board a little. I'm still quite happy with it. I only use the TS9000 and crunch tube as my presets anyhow. All the other things are covered by single pedals on my board.


Killing gods
 
#507
Benjamin Strange said:
I'll continue to fool with it - I'm sure it's worthiness will reveal itself or not at a few big gigs I've got in the upcoming weeks.
Click to expand...

What do you think of the El Raton... As a big fan of the RAT sound, I think it's easily on par with the best boutique RAT's out there... I also don't care much for the lower gain settings. I probably just haven't found a use for them, since I am definitely in my "extreme FUZZ" phase...
 
#508
handofseven said:
What do you think of the El Raton... As a big fan of the RAT sound, I think it's easily on par with the best boutique RAT's out there... I also don't care much for the lower gain settings. I probably just haven't found a use for them, since I am definitely in my "extreme FUZZ" phase...
Click to expand...

I haven't spent a whole lot of time with that one. On the fuzz side of things, I generally want more extreme (my favorite being a ZVex Machine), and the fuzzes in this thing seem a little tame for my tastes.

My live and recording rig has generally been a lightly overdriven Mesa amp, with some extremely fuzzed out pedals in front of it. So far the OFD isn't covering any of those tones. There's some promise in the lower gain ranges of the Tube Drive, and in the higher settings on the Big Pi and Gated Fuzz, but the other sounds aren't really capturing enough interest to explore.
 
#509
I bought it on the strength of the El Raton. Also, I find the Tubescreamer to stack really well with some of my favourite pedals (Heliotropic in particular). With time, I don't doubt I'll be able to dial in more tones I like, but it will never replace things like my Depth Charge, Diabolik, Heliotropic, MASTOTRON etc.... And I really don't think it's meant to. Just a great all around pedal, and not the be all end all.
 
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#511
Benjamin Strange said:
- On the tubey side, the Tube Drive, Crunch Tube, and TS9000 are definitely the best, especially in low gain settings. They sound much more open and transparent than the Smooth Tube and Power Stage.
Click to expand...

Can anyone point me to demos that really focus on the low gain side of this pedal ? I'm not really into full-on distortion and have limited application for fuzz, so the demos I've heard so far are for my tastes very samey ... they're all off into a realm I'm not interested in.

I guess I may have to buy or borrow one to find out, but if there are any demos out there ... ?
 
#512
I've spent several more hours this morning tweaking, trying it through different amps (albeit all Mesa), and I'm starting to come to some solid conclusions about the OFD.

I think every model suffers from a sort of "reedy" character that just can't be dialed out. It doesn't reveal itself as much in the lower registers, but as one climbs the neck the reediness becomes more pronounced, especially when notes are held. Lowering the gain helps, but unfortunately most of the models just don't seem to respond well to lower gain settings. Perhaps I'm expecting too much from what is a relatively inexpensive digital pedal, but it just sounds a bit synthetic.

That said, even finding 2 usable sounds will make this a worthwhile purchase. I've managed to find passable low gain (read: crunch) sounds with the Tube Drive and Crunch Tube models, but of course I'm blending clean signal in with the distorted sounds, so those are mostly just accentuating the tone I already have rather than creating a new and unique distortion tone. I'll probably end up choosing one or the other as my drive tone, and will save a Gated Fuzz sound for the other preset. Overall I'm not really blown away, the way I was with the Orbital and the Manta, and am a bit disappointed in the synthy-ness of this thing. I originally considered the Multiwave Distortion, which is very synthetic sounding on purpose - I was hoping for a more natural tone out of the OFD. As the OFD is a bit too synthetic to my ears, I might as well have gotten more use out of the Multiwave. Of course, nobody in the audience is going to care about subtle nuances in my tone, and this will allow me to leave all my expensive analog and tube boxes at home.
 
#514
johnk_10 said:
I don't find the OFD to be 'synthy' or digital sounding at all so I guess we all have different opinions.
Click to expand...

I don't think it really sounds digital per se, but there's a certain reediness to the character of the tone that just makes it sound synthetic. It's lacking a certain depth of character, and perhaps some smoothness, that I get out of it's analog counterparts.

Distortion is tough, and it's not easy to please everybody, and I think SA is at least on the right track here. Perhaps future iterations of the OFD could address some the issues (such as more useful range on the Mix knob, greater tonal difference between models, more usable low gain stuff).
 
#515
What's amazing is how broad the appeal of the OFD is! Dirt is a really personal thing for most of us & the market has more dirt options than anything else.

I wouldn't expect any pedal to replace every option for a player. But, what the OFD does for well under $200 is nothing short of amazing!
 
#517
I've been trying to dial in a sort of subtle overdrive, more as a 'leave on' kind of effect. I really like the sound of a Darkglass VMT at low drive settings, and I've been wondering if anyone has managed to get a similar sound out of their OFD? Of so, would you mind sharing?
 
#518
CfoScoop said:
I've been trying to dial in a sort of subtle overdrive, more as a 'leave on' kind of effect. I really like the sound of a Darkglass VMT at low drive settings, and I've been wondering if anyone has managed to get a similar sound out of their OFD? Of so, would you mind sharing?
Click to expand...

I don't have a VMT to compare but I almost always have the OFD on when I play at church. It's really a super super subtle drive. Most people probably wouldnt be able to tell but I find it sweetens the notes as you climb, and growls them as you drop. Here's a video of really the best mixed recording I have of our service, most of the time the bass is more or less missing.

Its also blended with the clean signal so it is extra subtle, but still adds some flavor.



Also, if you link me to a sound you think you'd like I could try and see if its able to dial in.
 
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#519
adamaarts said:
I don't have a VMT to compare but I almost always have the OFD on when I play at church. It's really a super super subtle drive. Most people probably wouldnt be able to tell but I find it sweetens the notes as you climb, and growls them as you drop. Here's a video of really the best mixed recording I have of our service, most of the time the bass is more or less missing.

Its also blended with the clean signal so it is extra subtle, but still adds some flavor.



Also, if you link me to a sound you think you'd like I could try and see if its able to dial in.
Click to expand...

Post it up. I'd give it a try! Love your guys' graffix! Sounds good, I can pick your lines out!
 
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