Nobles ODR-1

Shipwreck

Not entirely sure why but I keep being drawn to it and am keen to hear what people think. Beyond the much peddled 'Nashville' thing, sonically it sounds like a good crunch / big 'chorus' thing I've been looking for to stack on top of my pre-amp pedal. I also like how relatively cheap and obtainable it is. Does anyone here use one? Does it work for you? Is it noisy? Should I be buying into some boutique-clone hype instead? All thoughts welcome. Cheers

Winny_Pooh

It's very smooth and fat, the opposite of a ds-1 or distortion plus. 

Only really useful on the bridge pickup as it has loads of bass (hence why tele players love them). In theory you can use a bass cut model but IMO cutting the bass changes the overdrive character so I use a thinner more raspy overdrive likea Liquid Sunshine or Supreaux for neck pickup work. 

It's my favourite overdrive, although a thorpy gunshot is great for this kind of job too. 

Rowby1

Yes, got one. Use it in front of a Revivaldrive custom for recording. I like it in that context and obvs any low end issues can be addressed with the RDs eq. 

Never gigged it though. Not noticed it being particularly noisey when recording. 

As you say, quite cheap and cheerful, I’d give it a go. 

Matt_McG

I have a clone that I built, based on the Aion Andromeda board (https://aionfx.com/project/andromeda-natural-overdrive/) which also has a bass cut and predates the various recent versions of the ODR-1 that have it. With the bass cut all the way up, I believe it's the same as the original ODR-1.

I really like it. You can get a pretty good range of sounds from it both in terms of EQ and in terms of gain levels. It has quite a "classy" smooth saturation with the gain cranked.

I currently don't have it on my board as the ODR-1 model in the HX Stomp is very good, and it frees up a bit of board space for other things, but I'd say it's my favourite drive pedal.

roberty

I built an Aion clone too. It's great. Was using it to smash the front end of a 1987x yesterday and it was spot on for that

26.2

I’ve had one for a couple of months (bass-cut version). I’m picky about overdrives but so far I really like it. Seems to produce very good and usable tones in a variety of settings. 

Rowby1

These three videos all recorded ODR-1 into revival drive custom.

https://youtu.be/nee28s-3m34?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/CzSY378Y5YI?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/8hfTTUDprtg?feature=shared

smudge_lad

Copied and pasted my input from a recent thread on here about the Nordland ODR-1:

I had this at the same time as an original ODR-1 and a Protein Drive. I now have the ODR-CC+ as well as the gold anniversary ODR-1.

Both ODRC and CC+ are awesome, awesome drive pedals, but I honestly felt that neither could absolutely nail my original ODR-1. I just couldn’t get the knobs into a configuration that sounded the same as my fav setting on the OG.

For this reason, I sold the ODRC, with frustration as I felt like the added knobs just made things more complicated than they needed to be.

My brother brought me the CC+ back from Germany a couple of years back, as I’d wanted the smaller form factor. It’s great, and perfect for my small board but it still doesn’t seem to match the ODR-1. For instance, the instructions say that the bass knob at 12 o’clock is the standard bass response on the ODR-1, but I have to have this totally cranked to get the same sounds. There’s a recent video on YT that shows this same thing. This might be impacted by how the other knobs are set, of course.

The gold anniversary ODR-1 with the external
bass knob is the best iteration I’ve played in terms of sound and sensible, minimal controls that improve upon the original pedal.

Granted the components in the Nordland’s will
be better, and likely having some kind of effect on the sound too, and in its own right it’s an absolutely killer OD pedal. But if you want “that” Nobels sound I’d highly recommend the gold anniversary edition

Danny1969

I replaced my Soul food about a year ago with a Noble ODR-1 on my main gigging board. What I like about it is you can still hear note clarity even with a fair bit of gain ... so kinda like amp overdrive which is what I'm always going for. 

thomasw88

I've had about 3 or 4.  They're fine.  The hype isn't justified though in my opinion.

The Barber Gain Changer for example absolutely spanks it in my  experience.

DoctorX

I got one of the 30th Anniversary gold ones last week. It’s fantastic, I’ve put my green one up for sale and ordered another gold one.

Shipwreck

Thanks for such a quick and detailed response folks! I must admit I've been eyeing up the Gold version for that added EQ knob (although it feels sacrilege not to be that iconic green!). I use a Fairfield Barbershop as an always on pre-amp and looking for something crunchier for big chords etc. (I've been using the Dist II side of a DreamBox for this to limited to avail; too noisy, spikey and hard to tame the gain in this context). Great to hear a lot of love for the ODR-1!

Keefy

I tried @TimmyO ’s ODR-1 Mini and immediately bought the BC version. It’s now on my amp-less board which I use with a Dire Straits tribute. To me it sits somewhere between overdrive and distortion, in a good way.

Neilybob

Love my gold one I grabbed last year.  Sound great boosted with a Klon style pedal. 

NelsonP

I'm selling an odr1 mini if you're looking for a low entry cost...
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/257827/fs-nobels-odr-1-mini-sold-source-audio-programmable-eq#latest

It does well here against its brethren...

Grunfeld

ODR-1 never left my board for 8 years till a month ago when it crapped out, picking up radio signals.

Put an OD-3 on but... it's not the same.  

I'll be getting an ODR-1 again.  Works for me.  Difficult to say why other than the much touted clarity cos what I noticed about the OD-3 is how "pedally"it sounds -- the Nobels doesn't sound like it's a pedal.

Grunfeld

Grunfeld said:

I'll be getting an ODR-1 again.

Looks like that took me 28 minutes!  Got one on the way.  Damn this thread costing me money but, thing is @Shipwreck it's a super pedal and one I realise I don't want to be without.  Works with the Jazzmaster; works with the RG.  Stacks beautifully with the Catalinbread Formula 55.

Josh_Cosku

I tried Nordland, Protein and Vemuram Shanks ODS and only kept Vemuram. I never played an original ODR but Vemuram was one of the best and maybe the best overdrive pedal I have ever tried. I thing it is the closest thing to the natural amp overdrive.

ODR comparison:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7shLWVeJIU8&t=3803s

snowblind

Grunfeld said:

ODR-1 never left my board for 8 years till a month ago when it crapped out, picking up radio signals.

Anyone else noticed this about ODR-1s? I have one but it can be a PiTA for picking up mobile phone pings and other RF noise.

roberty

Grunfeld said:

ODR-1 never left my board for 8 years till a month ago when it crapped out, picking up radio signals

Should be fixable. Is there a spring or something that grounds the circuit to the enclosure? I've never looked in one

Grunfeld said:

what I noticed about the OD-3 is how "pedally"it sounds

I always thought it sounded quite natural but the ODR-1 is a better amp smasher

Shipwreck

Keefy said: To me it sits somewhere between overdrive and distortion, in a good way.

This is what I'm looking for I think. I'm really liking the gainier sounds I hear on demos etc. Incredibly tempted!