What is it? Danelectro CTO-1 Transparent overdrive from Cool Cat series. Made in china, late 00’s. It seems that CO-1 and CTO-1 from the series are becoming rare. There was a time one could snatch one of either one for peanuts through auction sites. I believe these two were manufactured in very limited numbers and…
Tag: Overdrive
Boss OD-2 Turbo Overdrive
What is it? Boss OD-2 Turbo Overdrive from Boss Compact series. Made in japan, march 1986. The OD-2 was apparent attempt to create a follower for the classic OD-1 which already had a vast user base with lots of hype going for it. In all its simplicity, the OD-1 was pretty much Boss’ venture to…
DOD FX100 Even Harmonic Overdrive
What is it? DOD FX100 Even Harmonic Overdrive (with Integrated Tube (TM) Technology. Made in USA in 1997. Of course i was curious about this new and exciting thing called Integrated Tube (TM), or I.T. (TM) technology. What it actually is – it is how marketing department takes random words, put them one after another…
Digitech DSB Screamin Blues
What is it? Digitech Screaming Blues Overdrive/Distortion from “D”, or “Distortion” series. Made in china around mid 00’s. When DOD seized to produce the later versions of the famous overdrives like FX50B, their closest successor would be the DOD FX102 Mystic Blues overdrive. When DOD seized to exist, the next step for the design was…
DOD FX91 Bass Overdrive
What is it? DOD FX91 Bass Overdrive from DOD FX-series. Made in US around year 2000. No serial or battery door in tact, even though this late enclosure version has the door attached with a rod. Bass overdrives are a fun genre. I’ve seen a few and nearly all of them are pretty standard overdrive…
Maxon OD808 Overdrive
What is it? Maxon OD808 Overdrive. Reissue, made in japan around 2008. Another Tubescreamer? Well. Sort of. Apparently the design for Maxon OD808 has varied a lot over the years, depending on the “re-issue”. Some schematics available show the input and output buffers to be implemented with a LM1458 opamp instead of NPN transistors. This…
Barber LTD Silver
What is it? Barber Electronics LTD, Silver edition. Made in USA, 2005. Barber pedals pretty well known for high quality in their designs, as well as for their build quality. This unit is the first Barber pedal for me. Got it in a trade, played with it for a while and opened it up. Yup….
Marshall JH-1 The Jackhammer
What is it? Marshall JH-1 Jackhammer Overdrive/Distortion. Made in china in mid 00’s. We’ve seen a few of these units that combine two popular dirt effects – the overdrive and the distortion. So far i haven’t come across an unit that would excel in both. First analogue would be Boss OS-2, which is terrific distortion,…
Yamaha COD-100 CMOS Overdrive
What is it? Yamaha COD-100 C MOS Overdrive from Yamaha 100-series. Made in japan in mid to late 80’s. Happened to score one of these in near mint condition with an original retail box from a local guitar builder guru J. Lindén. Since i’m still fond of those coin-op design Sound Device series pedals, this…
Korg TNB-1 Tone Booster
What is it? Korg TNB-1 Tone Booster from Series 1. Made in japan in late 80’s. Korg hasn’t produced many guitar effects, but they are well known for their high quality synthesizers and other products. In fact, the Series 1 is just a rebranded Yamaha 01 series, both manufactured by KLM. Or the Yamaha series…