MXR Badass OD vs Hardwire Valve OD

monquixote

As I'm sure I've mentioned before I'm a huge fan of the MXR Badass Overdrive which is essentially MXRs take on a tweaked TS/SD type circuit, but I noticed recently how close it appears to be to the Hardwire CM-2 which is ostensibly Digitech's attempt to do the same thing. 

In terms of similarities you have:

More gain

More output level

A separate bass control 

True bypass

A separate fatter voicing 

I picked up the Hardwire in order to run the two side by side and see which one I liked best. When it was new the HW was a similar sort of price to the MXR, but recently it's dropped like a stone in price and can be had for about £45 compared to the £85 you are going to pay for the MXR so if there isn't much in it the Hardwire is going to be a real bargain. 

Placed side by side the first obvious difference is that the Hardwire is slightly bigger with Boss style switching (I prefer the click of an MXR), but it wins points for having a super bright blue LED. The MXR lets itself down here as it has a dim red LED for engaged state and a very bright blue one to indicate that the "bump" switch is on. This isn't really needed and can easily confuse you into thinking something is on when you glance at your pedal board during a gig.

Switching them both on with the EQ at 12 drive at 9 and level at unity gain there is immediately some differences. Digitech have obviously made the decision to calibrate the EQ so that 12 o'clock means flat meaning the bass response stays fairly neutral as you kick it in and out while playing a low E. MXR seem to have benchmarked 12 o'clock as the same as a classic overdrive and so doing the same thing you get the characteristic bass drop as you kick the pedal in. Pushing the 100 Hz control up to 1 or 2 o'clock brings back the fatness of the clean channel whereas the Digitech sounds more like a classic TS with the bass pulled back a bit.

The 100Hz control on the MXR is really nicely voiced and can create some "American Idiot" style guitar down a telephone line sounds when pulled right back. Not something I'd use, but can be good for recording. You can also add loads of bass without it sounding too blobby as can happen with the Baxandall type EQs found in a lot of ODs with bass controls.

With the drive levels the same the MXR has a bit more grunt though it's still in the bounds of a classic OD while the Hardwire has more level. The most obvious difference that can be heard here is that the MXR has a slightly sweeter high end with a distortion that feels a bit more integrated into the sound with less of the sense of the overdrive sitting on top of the clean sound that the HW and most other TS types have.

Even in their standard modes both pedals have considerably more drive and level on tap than you will get from a classic OD. Digitech claims the CM2 runs at 15v and I would not be surprised to discover a similar trick was being played with the MXR to achieve the additional welly that this pedal is capable of.

Now it's time to kick into the alternate modes on offer. The MXR offers a "Bump" switch which claims to revoice the EQ adding more low mids and bass. Well it certainly does that. Engaging it ups the level a fair chunk (reversing the roles and making it higher output that the CM2) while adding masses of fat low mids. This makes it perfect for huge solos and the additional mid focus means that when it's being used to drive a dirty amp or stack into another pedal it creates loads of controllable feedback which makes it drip with sustain. It's hard to say which mode I prefer as the bump is brilliant for solos, but makes it a little too lardy for crunchy rhythm parts so the choice is probably determined by whether you are going to use it as a solo pedal or for dirty rhythm.

I was expecting the alternate modes on either pedal to be quite similar, but instead switching from "vintage" to "modified" on the CM2 ups the gain on offer quite considerably while adding low end. Though the pedal features a bass control this is still quite handy as the bass remains tighter in modified mode compared to running vintage with the bass cranked. The Modified mode changes the character of the pedal quite a bit and puts it closer to a medium gain distortion pedal in both drive and character. It actually reminds me somewhat of a beefier Boss Blues Driver and shares some of the slightly rougher high end characteristics which some people don't get on with.

So in summary what have we learned. 

The MXR is:

Somewhat sweeter in the high end

Better at stacking into other pedals and dirty amps

More at home as a lead boost pedal for sweet bluesy rock solos

The Hardwire is:

More versatile 

Slightly harsher in the high end

Flatter in terms of EQ

Given how similar the pedals are it really does underline what a massive bargain the Hardwire is. If was in a shop I'd have to think twice about paying double for the MXR, although given that I've owned several "holy grail" overdrives (Zen Drive, Boiling Point, KoT, Full Drive) that the MXR puts to shame despite being a fraction of the price you can't exactly call it expensive. 

The MXR will be staying on my board and the Hardwire will be going in the classifieds, but I could see myself being completely happy with either one.

monquixote

Just spent a few minutes with the Hardwire using it in Modified mode as a Distortion pedal.

I actually think I prefer it as a Distortion, its got some real 70's rock chunk to it. Gave the lower gain sounds of my Riot a run for its money.

Dave_Mc

Nice review. I got the hardwire the other day and it's great. The intial magazine reviews said they were made in the USA, now they seem to be made in China- I wonder if that has something to do with the price drop? Or maybe they've been made in China for a while.

I haven't tried the badass. I sometimes wonder if I should, but as you said, it's quite dear when I'd probably just use it like a bog standard SD1 (and I got my daphon clone for £13! ) ).

That's interesting that you say the hardwire has more top-end. I'd have thought the badass would have since SD1s are edgier than TSes. Maybe the increased voltage increasing the headroom is having some effect (I did notice compared to my bad monkey the Hardwire has none of the "blanket over the speaker" thing which is really the only thing wrong with the BM... though I suppose it wouldn't hurt if the BM had more boost on tap, too). EDIT: I must actually compare the hardwire to my daphon sd1 clone. Haven't done that yet )

I also didn't notice a massive difference between the two modes in the hardwire. Interestingly mine says "Tube distortion" on the pedal (yet "Tube overdrive" on the box). Dunno what's going on there. I got it from Thomann, so I'm guessing it's legit ok. )

monquixote

If yours says Tube DIstortion it's might be the other pedal. 

Are the modes Vintage and Modified or Crunch and Saturated?

RMJ

World guitars have a hardwire in their demo room and it sounds fantastic. Admittedly it is going into a Matchless, so a brick topped by a fresh turd would sound fairly decent in that room.

ThePrettyDamned

Very nice review, thanks mate.

I am sort of looking for an od at the moment - I'm thinking of trying an exotic comp and something less "blankety" sounding than the traditional tubescreamer I have (route 66). Are either of these different enough from a tubescreamer to consider, or would I be better off looking at a mojomojo overdrive, timmy, or possibly (seriously) a second son of Hyde (will test to see how it likes a comp in front of it tomorrow, as comp - od is a sound I like a lot).

Ooo there is the visual sound open road, too...

monquixote

Neither are a hundred miles away from the Visual Sound OD in standard mode though both have more effective bass controls than the slightly artificial bass boost on the VS. 

The Hardwire's Modified mode is quite significantly different sounding and quite a bit higher gain. It's on the classifieds now if you fancy it. 

ThePrettyDamned

I've spent enough for the week I feel (chorus pedal, jack plugs, cable, second hand kindle).

That said, if it's still there in a week or two...

I'll see if I can head to a shop in the week and try a few. Boss od-3 looks like a possibility, too.

TimmyO

The Hardwire Overdrive is brilliant. I sold one once and soon realised the error.

Occasionally I convinced myself that other things were better (usually titting around at home in isolation) but when I was gigging it was the go-to 

Dave_Mc

monquixote said:

If yours says Tube DIstortion it's might be the other pedal. 

Are the modes Vintage and Modified or Crunch and Saturated?

Nah it's definitely the overdrive ok. It says CM2 on it, and sounds like a "better" bad monkey. And the pic on the box says "tube overdrive".

http://www.thomann.de/gb/digitech_hardwire_hw_cm2_tube_overdrive.htm (check the picture in the link)

I did notice that there were maybe more differences at some pedal settings than others when using the classic/modified switch, though, so maybe that's it.

ThePrettyDamned said:

Very nice review, thanks mate.

I am sort of looking for an od at the moment - I'm thinking of trying an exotic comp and something less "blankety" sounding than the traditional tubescreamer I have (route 66). Are either of these different enough from a tubescreamer to consider, or would I be better off looking at a mojomojo overdrive, timmy, or possibly (seriously) a second son of Hyde (will test to see how it likes a comp in front of it tomorrow, as comp - od is a sound I like a lot).

Ooo there is the visual sound open road, too...

Depends. It does sound a bit more open I think than a Tubescreamer. That being said, it still has that sort of flavour, and is (fairly) TS-based as well. So it's hard to say. I'd say a timmy/bluesbreaker/bd2 or something along those lines would be more transparent if that's what you really want.

the open road is based on the nobels, isn't it? to me it's sort of similar to the hardwire in that it's more open-sounding than a ts but not really as transparent as a timmy etc. either.

of course, conversely, the advantage of the nobels/VS or the hardwire is that you could maybe get away with the one pedal with it (assuming you only use one boost at a time, and just want to be able to vary its tone between the mid-humped TS thing and the more transparent timmy thing).