Nobels ODR-1

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  • siraxeman said:
    You guys are giving me GAS for one of theses....could they really be betterer than teh awesomeness that is the Dano transparent overdrive (mark  1 version) ?
    For rootsy low gain, especially on bridge pickups and twice so on single coils I believe they are unmatched by any pedal or even amp break up.

    the mid and high gain are very good too. There a decent 80's lead tone in their too
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71963
    Dave_Mc said:
    You can dial it in to be sort of tubescreamery, though. To my ears, that's what the spectrum control does- it dials in (or out) the mids and dials in (or out) the treble and bass, so you can have something tubescreamery or something with a flatter EQ. It's a very good pedal, and I can sort of see (especially back when first released when there were few other non-tubescreamer options) why it has such a rep, but I think it's a bit over-rated, too- if I want the tubescreamer thing, I'd rather have a tubescreamer (or clone) or a Boss SD1, and if I want something more transparent, I'd rather have a timmy (or clone) or soul food or similar. Even if I wanted it all in the one pedal, I'd rather have a Digitech/Hardwire Tube Overdrive, lol.
    I agree… I don't dislike them at all, in fact I quite like them, but I struggle to see why they're rated as the best overdrive pedal ever. To be honest I find them a bit characterless - but maybe that's what people like about them - that they don't have the more specific sound of something like a TS or a SD1?

    Watch out for ones with the factory flaw in the PCB, which shows up as self-oscillation when the level control is right down. I fixed one for someone here a while ago and discovered that's what the cause was - two solder pads bridged at the end of the cable that goes to the pots.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • SassafrasSassafras Frets: 30273
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71963
    It really is stupid if these are selling for more because of this fault. The self-oscillation is not useful, and it doesn't improve the sound when it's not doing it either. But you seem to be able to put the price of anything up if it's "early" or "rare"...

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • ICBM said:
    Dave_Mc said:
    You can dial it in to be sort of tubescreamery, though. To my ears, that's what the spectrum control does- it dials in (or out) the mids and dials in (or out) the treble and bass, so you can have something tubescreamery or something with a flatter EQ. It's a very good pedal, and I can sort of see (especially back when first released when there were few other non-tubescreamer options) why it has such a rep, but I think it's a bit over-rated, too- if I want the tubescreamer thing, I'd rather have a tubescreamer (or clone) or a Boss SD1, and if I want something more transparent, I'd rather have a timmy (or clone) or soul food or similar. Even if I wanted it all in the one pedal, I'd rather have a Digitech/Hardwire Tube Overdrive, lol.
    I agree… I don't dislike them at all, in fact I quite like them, but I struggle to see why they're rated as the best overdrive pedal ever. To be honest I find them a bit characterless - but maybe that's what people like about them - that they don't have the more specific sound of something like a TS or a SD1?

    Watch out for ones with the factory flaw in the PCB, which shows up as self-oscillation when the level control is right down. I fixed one for someone here a while ago and discovered that's what the cause was - two solder pads bridged at the end of the cable that goes to the pots.
    That's exactly what I like about them.... they just sound like "guitar". A bit like the KOT is "characterless"
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  • Dave_McDave_Mc Frets: 2328
    Dave_Mc said:
    You can dial it in to be sort of tubescreamery, though. To my ears, that's what the spectrum control does- it dials in (or out) the mids and dials in (or out) the treble and bass, so you can have something tubescreamery or something with a flatter EQ. It's a very good pedal, and I can sort of see (especially back when first released when there were few other non-tubescreamer options) why it has such a rep, but I think it's a bit over-rated, too- if I want the tubescreamer thing, I'd rather have a tubescreamer (or clone) or a Boss SD1, and if I want something more transparent, I'd rather have a timmy (or clone) or soul food or similar. Even if I wanted it all in the one pedal, I'd rather have a Digitech/Hardwire Tube Overdrive, lol.
    Funny that, I think it's far better than any of those pedals especially with single coils. Switch to it from an sd-1 and it sounds like you've changed to a closed back 4x12. You can add lows to a Timmy but it doesn't add any extra mojo or complexity unfortunately, just grit.
    Yeah. Admittedly I usually use humbuckers, so maybe it does work better with single coils.
    siraxeman said:
    You guys are giving me GAS for one of theses....could they really be betterer than teh awesomeness that is the Dano transparent overdrive (mark  1 version) ?
    IMO, no. At least for the transparent thing. If you want to get into tubescreamer territory (ish) too, then the ODR1 is better than the Dano, but as I said above, if I wanted all of that out of one pedal I'd rather have the Digitech/Hardwire Tube OD (if you can still find one).
    ICBM said:
    Dave_Mc said:
    You can dial it in to be sort of tubescreamery, though. To my ears, that's what the spectrum control does- it dials in (or out) the mids and dials in (or out) the treble and bass, so you can have something tubescreamery or something with a flatter EQ. It's a very good pedal, and I can sort of see (especially back when first released when there were few other non-tubescreamer options) why it has such a rep, but I think it's a bit over-rated, too- if I want the tubescreamer thing, I'd rather have a tubescreamer (or clone) or a Boss SD1, and if I want something more transparent, I'd rather have a timmy (or clone) or soul food or similar. Even if I wanted it all in the one pedal, I'd rather have a Digitech/Hardwire Tube Overdrive, lol.
    I agree… I don't dislike them at all, in fact I quite like them, but I struggle to see why they're rated as the best overdrive pedal ever. To be honest I find them a bit characterless - but maybe that's what people like about them - that they don't have the more specific sound of something like a TS or a SD1?

    Watch out for ones with the factory flaw in the PCB, which shows up as self-oscillation when the level control is right down. I fixed one for someone here a while ago and discovered that's what the cause was - two solder pads bridged at the end of the cable that goes to the pots.
    Yeah. They sound a bit grainy to me, and don't really get that compression that a ts or sd1 does. I know a lot of people hate compression, but I like it.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71963
    gibsongretschfan said:

    That's exactly what I like about them.... they just sound like "guitar". A bit like the KOT is "characterless"
    I think that's the problem. I like my overdrive pedals to sound like overdrive pedals - I have no use for "more of the same" or "just like the amp but louder"… that just sounds boring and pointless to me. I want more gain and grit, and more harmonic-y-ness or whatever you call it :).

    Dave_Mc said:

    Yeah. They sound a bit grainy to me, and don't really get that compression that a ts or sd1 does. I know a lot of people hate compression, but I like it. 
    I don't like clean compression, but I do like it combined with increasing levels of crunch and bite as you pick harder, which is what a good overdrive pedal does. But then I never use an overdrive pedal as a clean boost either.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • Dave_McDave_Mc Frets: 2328
    edited July 2017
    ^ Yeah. Me too. I use them as a boost but a TS or SD1 is pretty compressed even when using them that way. Or else I'm just using way too much gain already on the amp! D EDIT: I actually do like flatter EQ on an OD for rhythm tones, that's why I like having both a TS/SD1 type and a flatter EQ type of OD.
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  • impmannimpmann Frets: 12649
    I like the ODR-1 because if I dial in a big open clean sound on my Tele, I can step on a pedal that gives me the same big open sound but with some grit - a bit like winding the volume up on a non-master volume valve amp but without the volume boost.

    I utterly fucking detest TS9s and the like because that mid hump plus the compression that comes in immediately closes the sound up to a weedy fart, unless you are already hitting the amp hard. Utterly useless to me. Most OD pedals compress too much (if I want compression, I have a compressor) and end up sounding nothing like a cranked valve amp... unless that cranked valve amp is tweed. And mine isn't...

    I tried the Boss Blues Driver with the Keeley Mod... nice but no. TS and their derivatives just hold no place on my board. The Okko Diablo gets too middly at times, and certainly compresses too much for that sound.

    Frankly, I haven't found any pedal that does exactly what the ODR-1 does.

    Oh and folks go on about it being 'characterless'... erm, no its TRANSPARENT unlike most transparent drives. If you like that sort of pedal the ODR-1 does it better than anything I've tried.
    Never Ever Bloody Anything Ever.

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  • grammargrammar Frets: 27
    Love the sound, hate the build quality. Still it's the only OD I'll never sell.
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  • siraxemansiraxeman Frets: 1935
    Build quality....so they're bad then in that dept? Thought them there Germans were big on build quality??
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  • GrunfeldGrunfeld Frets: 4028
    edited July 2017
    siraxeman said:
    Build quality....so they're bad then in that dept? Thought them there Germans were big on build quality??
    Well, I hope these aren't famous last words but I've not noticed anything dodgy about the build quality on the unit I use. 
    Mine is a re-issue.  I wonder if these are built better than the originals?
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  • mike_lmike_l Frets: 5700
    There was nothing wrong with the build quality of the 3 Nobels pedals I had.


    Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21) 

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  • Winny_PoohWinny_Pooh Frets: 7733
    FWIW, I've found the Clark Gainster clone (madbean egghead) a great pedal to put in front of the ODR-1. With a lowish drive setting and treble past noon it adds a bit of upper mid grit and some more 3d'ness to the extra gain. I kick it in for leads or more dirty ZZ top style drive.
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  • It's built like a panzer tank
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  • SassafrasSassafras Frets: 30273
    It's built like a panzer tank
    Not much of a recommendation seeing as how the Krauts lost the war.
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