Inexpensive OD Pedal ?

[leodgr81]

I am looking for a inexpensive OD pedal to play around with. Choices are Boss SD-1 $49.99 or Digitech Bad Monkey $39.99. Any one have any thoughts on either of these. By the way I play several different guitars through different amps such as a EC Strat, 50's Vintage Players Strat, Am Strat, Gibson Les Paul or a ES -335 with either a Fender Blues Jr, a Fender 135 watt Silver Face Twin Reverb or a Marshall AVT 100. The pedals I have now are a Dunlop Cry Baby, Boss BD2, DD3, CE5 and a Korg PX4.
Thanks,

Leo

[chuckocaster]

my buddy uses an sd1, and i play a modded ds1. the ds1 is thicker sounding. but both of those pedals you mentioned are tubescreamerish sounding if that is what you are looking for. i don't think you can go wrong either way.

[photoweborama]

I have an Arion Tubulator. For a cheap pedal, it's very, very good. I just got a Wasabi Ao-1 overdrive. Not bad either...

[MIKEH]

A lot of folks like the Nobels ODR-1. I think they are about $50-60, if you can find one.

[Kap'n]

Just stay away from the Boss DS-1. Worst distortion I ever played.

[TremoloKing]

I hate the SD-1 and the DS-1 out of the box. That's why I began looking for ways to improve them. If you already own one they're definitely worth modding because they turn out great. Or if you can get a deal on one, used or on sale.

At $50 + mods they come out to about $90. That's still cheaper than anything that sounds as good as they do modded, but it's probably not in the price range that you're in.

[curtisstetka]

I've got Ron's (TremeloKing) DS1 mod. It's just fantastic.

I'd recommend you get yourself an SD1 and when you can afford it, have Ron upgrade it.

[Don]

You could pickup a used Ibanez TS-5 for about $25 and mod it to sound great yourself for a few bucks more.

[chuckocaster]

i just saw the new musicians friend, and the arion pedal like photo was talking about i think was about 16 bucks or so.

[Thunder]

What does modding these pedals involve? Do you have any good resources/websited to look at, is it something that requires a degree in rocket science? Just curious, I've never heard anything other than stock pedals. Thanks.

[Don]

Check out www.geofex.com and www.diystompboxes.com.

Modding pedals is easy if you know how to solder. If you don't, you can learn.
It involves soldering on pcb traces, but they're usually fairly large traces and not too complex.

It's very rewarding to get a great sound out of a cheap pedal.

[TremoloKing]

Be prepared to do some experimenting and have an array of resistors and small caps on hand. Not all mods yield what I think are good results and they certainly don't translate between different pedals.

It took a lot of experimentation before I settled on what circuit modification I think (and others seem to agree) produced a good result on the SD-1. These *exact* changes don't work on a TS-9. But it's a similar enough circuit that it only requires a few adjustments.

Just a heads up.

[Kap'n]

Check out www.geofex.com and www.diystompboxes.com.

Modding pedals is easy if you know how to solder.

Yep, but stick with some of the more basic circuits first. Stay away from modding stuff with active tone circuits to start with...things like those 'teen-tone' metal pedals.

[Fret Wire]

The hardest thing for a beginner when modding a TS-9, DS-1 or SD-1, is the tightly packed boards (close proximity of the pads and traces). The mods themselves aren't hard. 99.9% of the mods have been on the net for years, nothing new there.

The trick is to understand what each mod does, and what, if any, interactance it has with the other mods. That's no trick really, again it's been well documented. Once you have a goal, tone wise with these pedals, you just apply the relevent mods. The IC's should always be socketed, and it helps to temporarily socket certain caps and the diodes.

Some mods are universally applied, and some you adjust to suit your particular rig.

Take Phillip Bryant's mods for the DS-1 and SD-1 on Fuzz Central. He took some of the most proven mods from several sources, tested them, and put them on one easy to follow, consise page. These mods will suit the majority of people with those pedals. And again, you can tailor them for your needs.

http://fuzzcentral.tripod.com/SD1.html

http://fuzzcentral.tripod.com/DS1.html

The mother of all Tubescreamer mods:
http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folder...ch/tsxtech.htm

Depending on your needs, not all mods are worthwhile. To find out for myself with the TS, I used six identical TS-9's to test the various mods in real time versus the normal procedure of mod...play..take it apart...mod....play etc. With six pedals, you can a/b the various IC differences and other mods without losing your frame of reference, hearing and time wise.

There are some proven, basic mods for these pedals that work for all. Then, there are some other "special" mods that some work, and some aren't worth the time.

[Great King Rat]

Get something that is true bypassed and it sounds good. Get your self a Barber DD. For $99.00 it is really nice. It will hold its value as well.

[Kap'n]

Get something that is true bypassed and it sounds good. Get your self a Barber DD. For $99.00 it is really nice. It will hold its value as well.

The Direct Drive has replaced my Rat and my (pre-FM) Fulldrive II on my board. The only other dirt I have there is my Bad Bob Boost.

While I haven't tried zillions of boutique pedals, the DD is the best dirt-in-a-box I've ever used.

[Thunder]

Thanks for the great web sites. Fret wire, those were very informative.

Sorry for the hi-jack.