Real OCD or one of the clones?

gearaddict

I was thinking about finally getting a Fulltone OCD but am I as well getting one of the clones like the Danno Cool Cat Drive or the Mooer Hustle Drive?

randomhandclaps

Sssshhhh, Mike Fuller monitors most guitar forums.... he'll send people for you.    :-$

gearaddict

Oops. Well, imitation is the sincerest for of flattery. n'shit.

frankus

Got a v1 Dano if you're interested

spacecadet

A real one. There happens to be the original version 1 in the classifieds too!
:-\"

crunchman

I sold my version 1.  Just built myself a v4 on a Mad Bean board.  I do prefer the v4.  It has a bit more beef in the mid range.

The Joyo clone is a hybrid of versions 2 and 3 as far as I know.  I don't know what versions the others are cloning.

randomhandclaps

One word of warning regarding the Joyo.  It's a good 'in the ball park' OCD and great value for money but is a lot noisier than many rivals.  The Dano is a better cheaper clone than the Joyo.

Dave_Mc

^ I'd have said the opposite. ) My dano died on me (with just light home use), too, which didn't exactly endear it to me.

randomhandclaps

Fair point. 

monquixote

I haven't tried it, but I would expect the Mooer clone to be considerably better than the Joyo (which I have owned in the past).

OCDs are very amp dependent IMO 

Dave_Mc

randomhandclaps said:

Fair point. 

)

I thought they sounded a bit different, too. I didn't get to try them head to head (since the dano died and the joyo was a replacement for it) but my gut feeling was that the dano was a lot brighter. At the time I found the dano a bit bright into my amps whereas the joyo, being a fair bit darker, worked better. But I think my ears or preferences change all the time, and currently i find the joyo a bit dark for some things and with certain amps, I may well prefer the danelectro clone these days. But the iffy reliability is a problem regardless of how good it sounds- my other two danos are still perfectly fine, but I'm not sure how much I trust them. )

EDIT: Also I think paid less for my joyo than the dano, i think. Not much in it, of course.

crunchman

If you google you can find the differences between the different versions of the circuit in detail.

Like I said, I don't know which circuit versions the Dano and Mooer are based on.  Its probably out there somewhere.

I have played the Mooer in a shop.  It sounds pretty good, but the way they have all but one of the knobs really small would make it a pain to reach down and adjust it on the fly in a live situation.

DannyP

IIRC, Gearmandude did a shoot out of all the different Fultone versions of OCD. I seem to remember they were all similar apart from small tonal variations apart from one which ead noticably weedier. Most clone kits seem to be of v4, suggesting it's the pedal builders' favourite.

JayGee

I got half way through a comment on this before realising that there were in fact two Dano CC "overdrive" pedals (the Drive and the Transparent Overdrive) and that I'd got (for the purposes of this thread anyway) the wrong one...

Probably worth anyone shopping bearing this in mind, particularly as some sellers may not be aware of the distinction - the Transparent O/D is the gold one, it's stupidly good value and a damn fine sounding pedal but it's a "Timmy" clone rather than an OCD, the Drive OCD clone is the silver one. Apparently that's a pretty fine sounding thing too but in a very different way.

Apologies if I'm rambling off topic here, but it might just save someone a little confusion or stop them accidentally buying the "wrong" pedal...

gearaddict

Yes, I have the Danno Transparent OD (gold one) version 1 (which is supposedly the closest to the Timmy). It's the best overdrive I have tried. It really is transparent. It just gives you 'more' of the things you want, depending on how you set the controls. You can't get these any more so I don't know what I would do if it broke...buy a Timmy I guess!

I was thinking about getting the Drive (silver one) for distortion pedal duties just beause I like the gold one so much and it is supposed to be an OCD clone...although maybe the v2 is less of a clone than the v1.

MattG

I had the Joyo and for me it was worth upgrading to the real deal its smoother, easier and quicker to get a good sound out of and alot more controlable for lower gain applications.
I personally wouldnt bother with the real deal if i was using it at high gain levels but for mid to low i'll take the OCD everytime but give both a try and see if you think the OCD is worth the extra for how your using it.

ThePrettyDamned

I actually preferred the ultimate drive to the actual ocd I tried. I preferred the mooer to both.

Differences were pretty minimal in fairness. And I didn't really like any that much, bit lacking in any character (which is sorta the point...).

gearaddict

Just thinking - I've not really tried any of the MXR distortion pedals...I have a Micro Amp that I use in the loop as a volume boost and I have tried that in front of the amp. In fact it is one of my favourite dirty channel boosts.

So what do people think of things like the Distortion + or Distortion III?

monquixote

Ta da 

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/2709/distortion-iii-review#latest

My review of the DIII 
The other MXR Distortions are all quite different. 
Compared to the OCD the DIII has quite a bit less gain and is more obviously distortiony. It has quite a rolled of high end so it works well into bright amps. 

Dave_Mc

gearaddict said:

Yes, I have the Danno Transparent OD (gold one) version 1 (which is supposedly the closest to the Timmy). It's the best overdrive I have tried. It really is transparent. It just gives you 'more' of the things you want, depending on how you set the controls. You can't get these any more so I don't know what I would do if it broke...buy a Timmy I guess!

I was thinking about getting the Drive (silver one) for distortion pedal duties just beause I like the gold one so much and it is supposed to be an OCD clone...although maybe the v2 is less of a clone than the v1.

I'd heard the v2s had changed (they were changed because they were found out to be clones, but obviously how much they changed them is another thing), but I haven't seen a schematic for them.

I agree, the v1 transparent od is very, very good.

ThePrettyDamned

Dave_Mc;69270" said:

gearaddict said:

Yes, I have the Danno Transparent OD (gold one) version 1 (which is supposedly the closest to the Timmy). It's the best overdrive I have tried. It really is transparent. It just gives you 'more' of the things you want, depending on how you set the controls. You can't get these any more so I don't know what I would do if it broke...buy a Timmy I guess!



I was thinking about getting the Drive (silver one) for distortion pedal duties just beause I like the gold one so much and it is supposed to be an OCD clone...although maybe the v2 is less of a clone than the v1.





I'd heard the v2s had changed (they were changed because they were found out to be clones, but obviously how much they changed them is another thing), but I haven't seen a schematic for them.



I agree, the v1 transparent od is very, very good.

Rather hilariously, it was ridiculed and laughed at as cheap, nasty, fizzy etc when it first came out. Then the schematic was revealed and... Well, you know the rest.