OD Advice

lincolnblue

I've been on here recently about wanting a new OD pedal but need some further help.

I discovered the Chelle Odie pedal https://chellee.com/product/odie/ and loved the sound from demos - particularly the texture setting toggle. Having that feature would be really useful I think.

Sadly the price of shipping of the Odie virtually doubles the price so it's less appealing. I have a budget of £60 - £80 (new or used) and am looking for a low gain OD - nice and transparent as I never play heavy gain stuff. It'd be nice to have the clipping toggle if possible. I like the sound of the EHX Soul Food but it doesn't have any controls beyond gain, volume, tone.

Can anyone recommend something that is worth considering - that's available in UK.

Thanks!

not_the_dj

What amp are you using?

(drive pedals can react pretty differently to valve/solid state/digital amps).

mike_l

Boss DS-1

Digitech Bad Monkey

You get both new for less than £80.

MXR Distortion3 (it's not a metal distortion)

MXR custom 78 either distortion or OD (@monquixote really likes his OD, I really like the distortion)

I've not tried but a Digitech Screamin Blues might fit the bill nicely.

The Hardwire CM-2 is also a brilliantly goood drive pedal.

 

lincolnblue

I have a Laney Cub 10 set clean. Should I change the amp it would be for a similar, clean sounding valve amp. 

not_the_dj

lincolnblue said:

I have a Laney Cub 10 set clean. Should I change the amp it would be for a similar, clean sounding valve amp. 

Cool. You could go for a boost pedal to push the amp into overdrive. The TC Electronic Spark Booster (full size not the mini) is actually a really nice transparant low gain OD pedal as well, there's a toggle for clean/mid/fat boost....and an OD control that gives you a nice bit of grit.

Mike's list is certainly good, he's got one or two OD pedals ;-)

I've got a Soul Food myself and like it a lot, I wouldn't get to hung up with the clipping options you've seen on the Chelle pedal.

NPP

The Plimsoul has two types of clipping that can be dialled in separately. It does low-gain but I'd say it's more of a mid-gain pedal really.

lincolnblue

I had thought of the Spark Booster but was advised against. I'll have to try it out at my local shop

not_the_dj

lincolnblue said:

I had thought of the Spark Booster but was advised against. I'll have to try it out at my local shop

It's great...and not just a boost. The Fat setting is particularly great with single coils to, well to fatten them up a bit. The mid boost works well to cut through the mix.

mike_l

The Marshall JackHammer and Guvnor 2 pedals are also really good "Marshall in a box" type pedals. Both, used, should come in around £20-30 each.

Incidentally the Jackhammer does both OD and Distortion. My personal opinion is OD is better.

ThePrettyDamned

If you want a fairly transparent type of od, the boss od-3 is good. It's not as compressed as most, and goes from pretty low gain to moderate distortion.

A similar pedal is the mxr dist 3. Ignore the dist in the name - maxed out, it's moderately gainy, but it's more of an open voiced overdrive than a distortion until that point.

Actually, one of the best overdrive/distortion pedals I've owned. Really class act, that one.

Or the badass od. Not tried this one, but in general if Mike and monquixote like it, I do too. The badass distortion is excellent so I've no doubt about the od being good, too.

mike_l

Oh and MXR dirt is different (at least to me) than Boss, Marshall or the others.

I kinda like the MXR's (you choose which) for a lower, more bluesy gain/tone.

Other than that, I used, at a blues jam, the SD-1, the Bad Monkey, and the MXR's.

If you want a clean boost to get the amp to break-up, then the MXR MicroAmp is great.

Johnnyseven

I second the Boss OD3.

nickp

I bought a secondhand lovepedal OD11 which I quite like for low gain on the strat through a clean amp

I've got a bad monkey but don't really like it as it kinda muffles stuff (see thread on blanket over amp) but I guess it must be coz i'm not fond of the mid boost tubescreamer types.

i've also got the spark booster which I use to boost the strat to an equivalent volume as the LP but it does add some fatness.  

I'm tempted by the videos of the digitech screaming blues and for the price it is difficult to ignore - seems to compare ok to the blues driver

not_the_dj

nickp said:

I bought a secondhand lovepedal OD11 which I quite like for low gain on the strat through a clean amp

That's a good suggestion. Some say it's based on the Timmy, I've had both but not at the same time and from what I recall they are pretty similar. 

mike_l

@nickp the Bad Monkey really is best as a boost of a dirty amp, rather than a stand-alone alternative to the amp's distortion.

 

lincolnblue

not_the_dj said:

lincolnblue said:

I had thought of the Spark Booster but was advised against. I'll have to try it out at my local shop

It's great...and not just a boost. The Fat setting is particularly great with single coils to, well to fatten them up a bit. The mid boost works well to cut through the mix.

Love the sound of it with the fat boost. 

allicio

I'd spend the extra 20 and get the chelle pedal ypu want. Its always gonna bother you otherwise. You could always ask him to declare it at $50 which will save you a bit on the old import duty? Ive worked with quite a few builders that have done that

Dave_Mc

He just said in his thread the shipping has dropped ($17 if I read it right and remember properly)

MattG

Fulltone OCD can be had secondhand in your budget alterantively see what some of the smaller builders are selling off cheap at the moment as you may be able to pick up a boiling point clone or even a blue breaker in your budget

lincolnblue

MattG said:

Fulltone OCD can be had secondhand in your budget alterantively see what some of the smaller builders are selling off cheap at the moment as you may be able to pick up a boiling point clone or even a blue breaker in your budget

Any of these in particular you would recommend?

crunchman

If you want transparent then I'd agree the OCD is an option to look at.  You should be able to get a second hand original around the top end of your budget although you may have to go to £85 or £90 unless you are willing to be a bit patient waiting for a cheap one.

Mooer do a clone clone called the Hustle Drive.  There is a Joyo/Harley Benton one as well - I think it's called the Ultimate Drive.  There are slight variations. The OCD circuit has had a few tweaks over the years.  If I remember correctly, the Joyo one is based on a hybrid of version 2 and 3 of the original - there are features from both.  I'm not sure which version the Mooer is based on.