Obviously we might have some home-brews that we think are the best ever (I do!) but do you have a pedal which you think needs more recognition? I have a couple of overdrives which I mention to people only to get blank looks. I guess there are just so many pedals around these days that some fantastic pedals will get overlooked and fade into obscurity - and that's probably a bit rough for the manufacturer.
My two overdrives of note are the Skreddy Hybrid Overdrive and the One Control Strawberry Red OD. A lot of players have heard of the Skreddy Screwdriver, P19 and Lunar Module but not many have heard of the Hybrid Overdrive. It's closely related to the Screwdriver but I think I like it even more. It uses a couple of silicon transistors and a single Ge transistor, hence Hybrid. It's a light to medium OD which breaks up a lot like a tight tweed amp or early Marshall. It has that magic amount of mids which give it a vocal quality for leads and perfect crunch and ring for chords. It has an extremely well voice tone pot which never gets nasty. I'm surprised it doesn't get more attention - it's a very natural sounding OD.
The One Control pedals don't get much press which is staggering to me because they are a high quality range of pedals. I've tried quite a few of the Bjorn Juhl designed mini-pedals and mostly they are excellent, but the one which really stands out for me is the Strawberry Red OD. It's a big sound for a little pedal. It has three knobs on top with a bass trimmer on the side although they are now making a four-knob version I believe. It's a tight, punchy sound which suits any guitar I plug into it. It kinda sounds like a very good boutique amp - it's that good! It can go from very low-gain grunt to more gain than I could ever use, and remains composed the whole time. It has a very lively, vocal sound which is addictive. It can really help fatten up a Strat better than most pedals without sounding clogged or artificial.
There are a host of "spin-off" designs from the Strawberry Red, but the original is still my favourite. The overdrive on my board is one of my own designs/ modified significantly from another pedal. But these two pedals mentioned above are still good enough for me to be reluctant to part with them.
What's your obscure favourite?
My two overdrives of note are the Skreddy Hybrid Overdrive and the One Control Strawberry Red OD. A lot of players have heard of the Skreddy Screwdriver, P19 and Lunar Module but not many have heard of the Hybrid Overdrive. It's closely related to the Screwdriver but I think I like it even more. It uses a couple of silicon transistors and a single Ge transistor, hence Hybrid. It's a light to medium OD which breaks up a lot like a tight tweed amp or early Marshall. It has that magic amount of mids which give it a vocal quality for leads and perfect crunch and ring for chords. It has an extremely well voice tone pot which never gets nasty. I'm surprised it doesn't get more attention - it's a very natural sounding OD.
The One Control pedals don't get much press which is staggering to me because they are a high quality range of pedals. I've tried quite a few of the Bjorn Juhl designed mini-pedals and mostly they are excellent, but the one which really stands out for me is the Strawberry Red OD. It's a big sound for a little pedal. It has three knobs on top with a bass trimmer on the side although they are now making a four-knob version I believe. It's a tight, punchy sound which suits any guitar I plug into it. It kinda sounds like a very good boutique amp - it's that good! It can go from very low-gain grunt to more gain than I could ever use, and remains composed the whole time. It has a very lively, vocal sound which is addictive. It can really help fatten up a Strat better than most pedals without sounding clogged or artificial.
There are a host of "spin-off" designs from the Strawberry Red, but the original is still my favourite. The overdrive on my board is one of my own designs/ modified significantly from another pedal. But these two pedals mentioned above are still good enough for me to be reluctant to part with them.
What's your obscure favourite?
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, and I’d love to see what the circuit looks like anyway. They always touted its “computer” circuits…
