In praise of the Nobels ODR-1 overdrive

Bucket

I've had one of these for almost a year now and even though the honeymoon period is long gone, I still use it all the time because it just sounds fucking ace. Today I was playing my dad's blue flower Telecaster with it and was blown away by how great it sounded. It's good with humbuckers, but it seems to work best with single-coils. Pair it with a good Tele and you'll be in tonal heaven. Kept me playing for about four hours. With the bridge pickup it sounds amazing for the kind of grunge and alt-rock I like playing, and can go heavier too. And with the aforementioned Tele's neck pickup I was able to totally nail the Another Brick in the Wall lead sound. And it's also a favourite of country players, Jerry Donahue being a notable user.

It's green and has three knobs, but it's not your normal TS-style overdrive by a long shot. The way I have it set, with the Spectrum control at about 1 o'clock and the gain around the same, gives a more scooped sound that is very responsive to dynamics, and also responds really, really well to being stacked with a more middly overdrive with the gain set lower and the volume higher. You've gotta try one.

I don't have any video clips of my own sadly, but I'd like to get some up with the Tele soon. For now, here's PGS Andy.

Oh, and the best thing? I got mine for 55 quid. New.

I'll be a dick and even post a link if anyone fancies an impulse purchase. If you have a Tele though, you owe it to yourself.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/nobels_odr1_green.htm

monquixote

Their chorus pedal is about £18 on Thomann. 

I assume it's probably shite?

Bucket

monquixote said:

Their chorus pedal is about £18 on Thomann. 

I assume it's probably shite?

Quite possibly, never tried anything else by them.

Don't judge the ODR-1 based on that though, it's excellent.

monquixote

It sounds good from the demo. 

If one pops up on the classifieds I might grab it. 

Is the spectrum just a fancy name for a tone control?

Bucket

monquixote said:

It sounds good from the demo. 

If one pops up on the classifieds I might grab it. 

Is the spectrum just a fancy name for a tone control?

It affects more of the EQ (not just top-end frequencies) but also affects gain - at 9 o'clock the tone is more middly but with a touch less gain. You have to balance the gain and spectrum controls a little, but I didn't find it very difficult to dial in.

JDE

Great rhythm overdrive - nice bite, lots of gain on tap, too.

Never tried their chorus but the Nobels tremolo is pretty good too.

benecol

JDE said: Never tried their chorus but the Nobels tremolo is pretty good too. Trem is amazing: the blend control (the option to have the trem effect the bass only) is worth its weight in gold.

JDE

Too much for my simple fingers! Anything more than 3 knobs on a trem is difficult for me, but I lol when I see TR2's (actually still very good, IMO) going for 70 quid used on eBay and the Nobels climb the dizzy heights of £30.

dogload

+1 for the ODR. I've had one on my board for a few years now. 

They are very versatile, although I use mine mostly to add zing to clean sounds and with the same setting it really kicks my Boss SD-1 into feedback heaven. 

Kebabkid

I liked the pedal when we heard it last week and liked the controls and the fact you had more options than a TS. Yep, the originals (don't know if they differ to current ones) are the Nashville studio guitarists favourite OD. I believe the Rockett Chicken Soup is based on it but costs twice as much

Dave_Mc

Nice pedal. Not my absolute favourite, though I can see why people like them.

meltedbuzzbox

monquixote said:

Their chorus pedal is about £18 on Thomann. 

I assume it's probably shite?

It would say it would be worth a punt. I have owned the Dt1, ODR-1, ODR-S, the tremolo and a compressor from nobels and all have been fantastic, especially at the price point. 

not to mention you cant rally go wrong at £18

impmann

I have an ODR-1 and it's flipping brilliant, at ANY price.

Dave_Mc

^ In that case I'll sell you mine to have as a spare for £1,000,000.

DrJazzTap

I tried to poach this from an old bassist years ago! Sadly no joy.

Dave_Mc

Huh, I really didn't like it on bass. Bit grainy-sounding. Admittedly, I'm pretty new to bass so I was probably doing something silly. )

joeyowen

the pgs demo makes it sound perfect for Foo Fighters stuff, I can't not hear them in the pedal now