Help me choose an overdrive!

[ice9]

against my better judgment i am re-entering the dreaded Overdrive Quest again.

must be....

- small size (mxr size)

- got tone stack (bass, mids, treb)

- fairly transparent

- to be used as eq/ clean boost / light dirt

- no crazy waitlist or "heyimrichbitch" prices

right now, all i can think of is the wampler black 65

rock on!

 

[carboxymoron]

Danelectro Cool Cat Transparent Overdrive v1, but only got treb and bass knobs, no mid

and fatter than MXR I guess

 

[Vax]

The few Paul Cochrane Timmy's floating around on the classifieds are quite a bargain, without the crazy wait!

 

[CyanideJunkie]

The Marshall GV-2 Guv'Nor comes to mind.

 

[ice9]

thanks guys.

@carbox, vax: mids control is quite the must for me

@cyanide: nice! checking out the marshall . it has the controls i want yay! sound wise gotta research abit

keep em coming!!

 

[alvinkubi]

how about a love pedal amp11? its got a nice tone with a boost.

 

[Godspeed64]

Tone stack and MXR size? Pretty tough to get something like that.

Catalinbread Silver Kiss (v1/v2)
Weehbo Mastiff Distortion
Weehbo Bastard Low End Distortion
Dr. Scientist The Elements
Dr. Scientist The Cleanness
Railhead Effects TUA
Wampler Black '65
Wampler Plextortion
Pigtronix Polysaturator
Pigtronix Aria Disnortion
T-Rex Engineering Totenschläger

Most are metal-flavoured so they're not in the OD camp you're looking for. I highly advice going for a standard 'tone' knob on an OD as they usually sound more than capable of handling your EQ needs.

Maybe the Black '65 is your best bet, if not The Elements/Cleanness or Silver Kiss. Some of the heavier stuff could handle low gain as well just not sure how well they could do it.

 

[CyanideJunkie]

Good call on the Silver Kiss. Pity they're been discontinued.

 

[Godspeed64]

Good call on the Silver Kiss. Pity they're been discontinued.

Really? Had the V1 and hated it lol. Could never bond with it but most people mentioned the V2 was much better. For the V1 I had the treble practically all the way down. The original owner bought it back though so I suppose it worked for him better than it did for me.

I think the OP might like the Dr. Scientist stuff.

 

[ice9]

@godspeed: thanks bro. im using the dr sci elements now for distortion. love the tone controls. just not practical to constantly bending down to adjust gain mid-song. need a dedicated OD. cant find a silverkiss mk2

kinda surprised that with boatloads of ODs and boosters coming out almost monthly, no one has done this. especially considering how diff dirt sounds respond to mids and how most people have different tastes for mids.

 

[dacrylic]

From what i see you may want to try the empress multidrive. The EQ section is very useful and there is even a toggle switch to choose the mid frequencies. Also, the 2 presets mean you can have a light OD on one preset and then all 3 channels on the next to boost your gain. I just got the multidrive recently and its really versatile. A little expensive though.

 

[carboxymoron]

Have you considered using a Source Audio Programmable EQ before your distortion, as a gain/mids control? Very powerful stuff http://www.sourceaudio.net/products/programmable_eq/

 

[zesn]

The lovepedal kalamazoo probably does everything you needed except for the 3 band EQ,
and cost around 260 SGD.
But hey, it's really worth it, I don't think you need the mid control for that hmm.

 

[ice9]

zesn, i have a kalamazoo which i use alot and ur right. its reli transparent, but i need something with more eq tweakability.
i loop alot and each overdub has to have a distinct eq setting to stand out. whether its harsh noise or clean twang, the EQ is probably my most important "effect".

carboxymoron, i think that may suit my purposes better than a light OD/boost. most ppl dont use EQs as a boost but i think they make the best clean boosters because not only can it give an overall level boost but you can accentuate different frequency ranges.

 

[carboxymoron]

I know what you mean about distinct EQ when looping... it's the only time I use my tone knob + coil tap a lot. The Source Audio sounds like it'll really help then, it can cycle through 4 presets.

 

[zesn]

Nice, you don't want to spend money on another eq instead?
Ya i know, you want to just step on 1 pedal for convenience right.

yea it kind of make sense because i was just tone testing the other day on logic,
soloing over the progression i played was really bad, the progression and my solo was clashing.

Since you have so many pedals already, how about a looper into your looper?