Ok - received the pedal today. That's right, I bought it on ebay on Saturday, it shipped the same day and arrived today!
Now THAT is fast shipping!
Anyway, I'll give a brief rundown of the OD-8 pedal.
Housing:
The pedal itself is encased in a chrome, durable housing. I pressed against the case, knocked it, etc., and it seemed sturdy.
Knobs:
The knobs have chicken heads, which are fine. The knobs didn't seem flimsy, but I haven't had it long enough to put it to a durability test.
The knobs exist as such:
- Level
- Tone (There does not seem to be a terribly wide frequency range. In fact, I'd say the change in frequency is subtle throughout, so don't expect to be able to "dial in" a good low end - it's not going to happen.
- Drive - even at 0 (turned all the way down), there is a degree of drive present. For my purposes on bass, anything more than 0 is too much drive. Just my tastes, though, as I like a more subtle OD.
Switch Positions:
The three-position switch was, well, your standard three-position switch. It could break or it could last a long time, depending upon how the pedal is treated, I suppose.
There are three switch positions:
- TS - "standard" tube screamer
- Bright - fortunately, this is not a euphemism for "shrill". This elevates the high mids as much as anything.
- Warm - From what I could tell, this setting possessed *slightly* less in the way of high mids than the other two. Very subtle difference between this setting and the "TS" setting.
On-Off Switch:
Okay, this was where things got ugly. There is a VERY noticeable "pop" when engaging and disengaging this switch. Annoying as hell and I would hate to hear this sound when I engage the pedal whilest my band's overall levels are lower.
Overall Tone:
I've only tested this for bass, so I can't speak for those of you who might also want an OD for g****r. Tone-wise, this thing is, for all intents and purposes, a TS clone, so it loses low end. No matter what you fiddle with (tone knob, switch positions), there is a noticeable low end loss, so much so that I won't be adding this to my bass pedal board (though I will try it out with my g****r).
Interchangeable Chipsets:
The pedal came with three chipsets:
- JRC4558 (according to the ebay ad, this was originally used in the Maxon)
- KWK737 (From the ebay ad: "features really good drive with nice treble overtones")
- NE5532 (From the ebay ad: "has some serious growl and presence that sounds great with either chordwork or solos") This was the one I went with, ultimately.
I can honestly say that I found very little difference between these chipsets, but then, I only tried this pedal on bass.
Verdict:
Seemingly well-built pedal with nice features, especially for the price (59 bucks, I think). No clean boost capability (didn't expect it, though). I wouldn't terribly mind the heavy drive if the pedal retained low end but, alas, it doesn't. That's not a knock on the pedal, necessarily - it is, after all, a TS clone and I've never cared for a TS on bass. I took the chance because of the price and the tone knob and because the three-position switch reminded me of a Rust Ride (ehhhhhhhhhhhhh not so much!).
In short, I don't personally recommend it for bass, unless you like a TS for bass and don't mind the loss of low end. For my purposes, I'm sticking with the good ol' Bad Monkey (even over my Fulltone Bass-Drive).
I was wondering about that one.
Get in the right thread.
