The enclosure is fairly
standard; true bypass
switch, and four knobs
for Bass, Treble, Volume,
and Gain. One thing I will
mention though, is that
I loved the inclusion of
Marshall-style knobs on this
pedal. This is true to the
original design and they
feel (and look) great. The
Overdriver can be powered
on either nine or 18 volts,
the latter providing more
headroom. The sound of this
pedal is very open, perhaps
more open than any other
Power Boost I’ve tried.
Even when powered with
nine volts, this thing has
a whole lot of headroom,
which is great for boosting
Muffs or giving the sound
a nice clean lift in either
bass or treble. It takes a
lot of dullness out of any
vanilla guitar sound, and it
just begs to be left on all
the time, as it makes the
guitar sound more brilliant
and wide, especially on a
high-headroom amp. On
a low-headroom amp, it’s
a very different sound.
The Overdriver pushes
the front end of the amp,
driving the preamp tubes
into saturation and creating
a wonderfully dynamic
overdrive—the way it was
meant to be heard. One
thing about this circuit—it
is very reactive to the amp
and guitar choice. Got a
high-headroom amp with
high-output pickups? It’ll
have a beefier sound that
breaks up quicker. Got a
low-headroom amp with
low-output pickups? The
drive is more subtle and
tasteful. Every builder claims
that their drive pedal is
“transparent,” but truth
be told, they sound the
same on every setup. The
Overdriver sounds different
on every guitar and every
amp combination, and it
is well worth the time to
experiment with different
guitars, different settings,
and different strokes.
WHAT WE LIKE
Transparent, clear, and
reactive to many different
setups. Very open sound
that can either be used as
clean boost or transparent
overdrive with different
guitars, amps and settings.
Great for use as an EQ and
begs to be left on all the
time. Knobs are sweet, and
true to the original.
CONCERNS
On high-headroom amps,
overdrive is a little hard to
dial in at bedroom/home
levels, but that’s the nature
of the beast.
ToneReport.com
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