Best natural, transparent, edge of break up pedal?

Bellycaster

Bogner Blue set low on Plexi setting is lovely.

DannyP

Caline High Chief is my fave low gain OD of any I've tried at any price point. Less gritty than the Blue Sky. I don't know why I bother recommending it, no-one ever tries it!

enjo

Cornerstone Gladio is what I use - very responsive.

Majorscale

Been through the Timmy and Peacekeeper. Still have a Dane on all my boards, but what I use for edge of breakup is a Benson Preamp. An amazing pedal.

GoFish

It will depend on the type of "natural break up" you're after, I guess.

Timmy (which we know you absolutely hate )

Spark (4 knob)

Peacekeeper

ODR (with bass cut)

Zoom Power Driver.

Bluesbreaker, Barbershop, Sweet Honey all do a cracking low gain, but it's got "character".

Box of Rock, MojoMojo, Tech 21 Charecter pedals, Catalinbread stuff also do great low gain, with a bit more "personality"

DOD 250, Distortion+, Rat, TS, can all do low gain, but neutral they are not.

Erm, Fuzzface?

Th4fonz

Most do what you want tbh.  Comes down to a feel thing.  I love the Vemuram Jan ray.  Lightspeed was great but I didn’t like it with my current amp.  And bluesbreaker style pedal will do that also.  Maybe look into the Kingtone blues power also

Winny_Pooh

Majorscale said:

Been through the Timmy and Peacekeeper. Still have a Dane on all my boards, but what I use for edge of breakup is a Benson Preamp. An amazing pedal.

I'd probably take this recommendation if reading this thread. One of our best gearslutz.

Majorscale

Winny_Pooh said:

Majorscale said:

Been through the Timmy and Peacekeeper. Still have a Dane on all my boards, but what I use for edge of breakup is a Benson Preamp. An amazing pedal.

I'd probably take this recommendation if reading this thread. One of our best gearslutz.

Oh the infamy 

strat84

Barber LTD Silver 

NickB

Barber 1/2 Gainer if you can find one...

TimmyO

Def worth trying a Lightspeed. 

Transparent is an odd thing that means different things to different people. Lightspeed definitely lightens the low end, but does not have a mid hump. 

ODR-1 is too bassy for me - but that may well be it being flat/transparent in the low end, which then seems more prominent when boosted. 

Wasn’t the Xotic RC meant to be exactly what you’re talking about back before a thousand booteek brands ? 

Fishboy7

I think there is a fine line between transparent and boring ODs 

Dumodal

stickyfiddle said:

Extra votes from me for the following:

Benson Preamp
Anarchy Gold Class
Kingsley Page

All are exceptional

Got a Benson Preamp recently and I am really enjoy it, from boost to fuzzy sounds but it sounds natural or more clear than the Hudson Broadcast!

I also recommend the Decibelics Golden Horse or Royale, it's a Klon Clone but sounds fantastic the royale gives you the advantage of having two Klon sides so you can set one as a booster and the other as a more OD crunch.

Sporky

GoFish said:

Zoom Power Driver.

I think I've got one of them in a box somewhere. 

StuartMac290

Most of the ODs I see labelled as "transparent" I find are anything but!

Transparent, to me, means you get a great sound on your amp, and when you kick in the pedal, that sound remains - just a little (or a lot) hairier.

I guess this is why I don't get on with the vast majority of pedals. Most of the time I dial the amp in just how I want it, try kicking in a "transparent" overdrive - and the entire EQ changes. The highs shift or disappear altogether, the lows get lighter, it's a different sound entirely.

That why I love the Kingsley Page and Harlot. It's just your amp sound, but more of it.

GoFish

Sporky said:

GoFish said:

Zoom Power Driver.

I think I've got one of them in a box somewhere. 

I think we all do

I marginally preferred a Timmy type to it, but very little in it. That whole Zoom range was amongst the best things they've ever done. 

Confession time - I think the Nobels was the most boring drive pedal I've ever tried - maybe that could be right for your uses, OP?

 Not to be cheeky - we've all got our peccadilloes. I love, love, love a Bluesbreaker, but I'm sure ICBM will have good reasons why I shouldn't!

26.2

Duke of Tone in boost mode.

Or as others have suggested- try a Pure Sky. Cheap and excellent.

Keefy

I’m surprised no-one has yet mentioned the Origin Effects RevivalDrive Compact. I use one for exactly this purpose on my rock’n’roll pedal board - I blend in some of the clean signal so that engaging the pedal gives almost the same sound, but a tad louder and with a little bit of break-up. It’s capable of a lot more than that, and used examples come up in tFB market place now and then.

SPECTRUM001

I either posted a similar thread, or took on advice from a similar thread a couple of years ago.

The unanimous steering I got was towards a Klon clone. Subsequently ended up with a J Rockett Archer.

I can hand on heart say it changed my world, and given me the perfect sound for my playing at home. A full on revolution from frustration to perfection.

Surprised it doesn’t appear to have been mentioned so far, albeit I expect any half decent version will do the same job.

JD50

Why not try a Boss GE7 with the eq set flat and just boost the level?