Horde Howler

[Guardians of the analog]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

On this installment of Boss's blasts from the past, we have the ubiquitous yellow overdrive...the other tube screamer, the SD-1. The SD-1 is IMO the superior tube screamer, especially with humbuckers.

Unlike the TS, the SD-1 has Asymmetrical clipping like a tube amp. The smooth symmetrical clipping is part of the reason I dislike a stock TS, it sounds and responds so unnatural. The Asymmetrical clipping gives the texture of the drive more character, openness and more dynamics. The SD-1 has a broader range of gain available, more volume on tap to be used as a clean boost, and the added high end presence makes it less dull sounding and better suited to darker voiced guitars and amps. It has to my ears more bass response as well.

For the enclosure I went with a yellow tayda enclosure and UV printing. For the horde howler name, I went with Jack Russell aka the werewolf by night. While I know it's not as cool to play this circuit when everyone wants the new boutique clones with more clipping options and a more full frequency response, but those are more for low volume bedroom players. If you play a blackface amp, play live at high volumes or want to simply tighten up a high gain amp I highly recommend the SD-1, it's a classic for a reason.

 

[Paradox916]

“ especially with humbuckers…” “ better suited to darker voiced guitars”…You know how to sweet talk a girl… and something about a clean build just sells it..I got to build one now. Excellent job

 

[Guardians of the analog]

It's always nice to have people appreciate attention to detail and not just a pretty box. I think you will like this better with your rig vs the TS.

 

[Fizz]

I recently purchased this PCB and am looking forward to building it.. but I thought it was a Tube Screamer circuit? They advertise it like this:

There are a lot of TS-style drives out there. So many of them have the same topology as the original, so just a few value changes gives you something different. With the HORDE HOWLER you can build at least 8 different variations (and with a little research probably dozens more) of the classic Ibanez TS808.

Where as, the Odd One Out was the SD-1 circuit I thought? I got one of those too.

 

[szukalski]

Love it. The Boss overdrives are underrated these days with all the “unique” boutique drives about. I feel there’s something special with them. Still got a hankering to build an OD-2 (even though I have two of them).

 

[Guardians of the analog]

Great, now I'm gonna have to build an OD-2 to motivate you to build one. And that means I gotta build an OD-1 because I built the 2. You may as well just build them all.

 

[giovanni]

The SD1 was my first overdrive and I still have it and it’s still one of my favorites!

 

[peccary]

Ridin' high, my friend.

 

[Fizz]

Where as, the Odd One Out was the SD-1 circuit I thought? I got one of those too.

My bad.. the Odd One Out is the OD-1 circuit... supposedly Effects Layouts favorite OD

 

[Harry Klippton]

This looks tight. I've never tried an SD-1 but now I'm curious