MichaelW
Well-known member
- Build Rating
So in an industry where the notion of "hype" goes way beyond simply "marketing" and a well executed "hype" strategy can ensure that your pedal orders will always have a backlog, there's "over the top" hype that can be pretty baffling. Take for instance, why anyone would ever put themselves on a 4 year wait list for MBB variant is just beyond me.
Enter 1981. I guess I've been living under a rock because I'd never even heard of them until I started doing some research on building the "Informant" drive. (1981 DRV). Granted it's a great sounding pedal, I really like it quite a bit, just like I really like my KOT clones.
When @Robert told me he was working on their new (and only second pedal release) the 1981 LVL, it was like "well, color me interested".
It was on my wishlist and when it popped up in an in stock email notification, I immediately grabbed one.
Again, doing some research about what this pedal is, honestly, I was expecting more. Which is another way of saying that I'm underwhelmed with the Nivel.
The DRV has a lot going for it, even though it's "just" a Rat variant. It actually sounds good, and has a lot of flexibility and tone shaping on tap that's not available on a stock Rat. So it's an additive extension of the whole Rat concept.
Which is why for the LVL. I was kind of expecting at least something more than........an opamp boost. Which is all I'm getting from the LVL.
There's a ton of "hype" marketing nomenclature floating around about this pedal. "Full Range Overdriver" (which means it will work with your bass, as do 95% of my other boost pedals). It's a "professional low gain device". Uhm.....this kinda smacks of the whole Kirk Hammett "for real guitar players" thing heh. I guess since I'm not a professional musician, then I won't get it? (That COULD explain why I don't get it heh).
"Culmination of a 4 year process and I needed the help of another pedal designer to get this done". Heh, well I guess that speaks for itself.
Ok, so enough of my snarkiness......it's actually not a bad sounding pedal. It's essentially a boost/buffer that has some opamp clipping with the gain dialed up.
It kind of fits into the same niche that I've been using my "Obtuse Boost" (Fulltone Fat Boost 2) for. Except that the Obtuse has more flexibility in that it has a tone stack.
I wired my Nivel boost as true bypass as I don't really need another buffer at the start of my signal chain.
Otherwise it's built stock.
I used a Tayda Gold enclosure and like my Informant build, I laid out the footswitch with a nod towards the original pedal.
I also used some aluminum knobs, again as a nod towards the original retail pedal.
The build was smooth as expected. I have not gotten a look at the schematic yet to see what's going on circuit wise, but I'm not expecting any surprises nor am I expecting anything that strays too far from the Orman boost concept.
I recorded a demo trying to show what it sounds like. It does a pretty nice job boosting another drive pedal and also boosting a crunchy set amp.
(But again, nothing really special here, I have a dozen other boosts that can do the same thing.
I think the closest thing it comes to my ears is a bit of a cross between the Fat Boost and the Katana Boost with the grit setting.
I don't regret building it at all, but I'm still scratching my head a bit on this one. Maybe I'm missing something that someone can fill me in on?
Enter 1981. I guess I've been living under a rock because I'd never even heard of them until I started doing some research on building the "Informant" drive. (1981 DRV). Granted it's a great sounding pedal, I really like it quite a bit, just like I really like my KOT clones.
When @Robert told me he was working on their new (and only second pedal release) the 1981 LVL, it was like "well, color me interested".
It was on my wishlist and when it popped up in an in stock email notification, I immediately grabbed one.
Again, doing some research about what this pedal is, honestly, I was expecting more. Which is another way of saying that I'm underwhelmed with the Nivel.
The DRV has a lot going for it, even though it's "just" a Rat variant. It actually sounds good, and has a lot of flexibility and tone shaping on tap that's not available on a stock Rat. So it's an additive extension of the whole Rat concept.
Which is why for the LVL. I was kind of expecting at least something more than........an opamp boost. Which is all I'm getting from the LVL.
There's a ton of "hype" marketing nomenclature floating around about this pedal. "Full Range Overdriver" (which means it will work with your bass, as do 95% of my other boost pedals). It's a "professional low gain device". Uhm.....this kinda smacks of the whole Kirk Hammett "for real guitar players" thing heh. I guess since I'm not a professional musician, then I won't get it? (That COULD explain why I don't get it heh).
"Culmination of a 4 year process and I needed the help of another pedal designer to get this done". Heh, well I guess that speaks for itself.
Ok, so enough of my snarkiness......it's actually not a bad sounding pedal. It's essentially a boost/buffer that has some opamp clipping with the gain dialed up.
It kind of fits into the same niche that I've been using my "Obtuse Boost" (Fulltone Fat Boost 2) for. Except that the Obtuse has more flexibility in that it has a tone stack.
I wired my Nivel boost as true bypass as I don't really need another buffer at the start of my signal chain.
Otherwise it's built stock.
I used a Tayda Gold enclosure and like my Informant build, I laid out the footswitch with a nod towards the original pedal.
I also used some aluminum knobs, again as a nod towards the original retail pedal.
The build was smooth as expected. I have not gotten a look at the schematic yet to see what's going on circuit wise, but I'm not expecting any surprises nor am I expecting anything that strays too far from the Orman boost concept.
I recorded a demo trying to show what it sounds like. It does a pretty nice job boosting another drive pedal and also boosting a crunchy set amp.
(But again, nothing really special here, I have a dozen other boosts that can do the same thing.
I think the closest thing it comes to my ears is a bit of a cross between the Fat Boost and the Katana Boost with the grit setting.
I don't regret building it at all, but I'm still scratching my head a bit on this one. Maybe I'm missing something that someone can fill me in on?
)
