NPD - Overdrive content

[lars]

It's no secret that overdrives rule the guitar pedal scene. The most valuable guitar pedal is an overdrive. The most copied and popular circuit is an overdrive. The most talked about and debated tone-shaping devices...overdrives. With that much hype and scrutiny surrounding overdrives, it amazes me that some big brand offerings pretty much fly under the radar. Enter the Boss OD-2. This particular one is a MIJ model from 1986. It does not suffer from any kind of unity gain problems that I've heard some people complain about with some of these. And the fact this is a MIJ "black label" model in this kind of condition, I can't believe you can still get these in the sub $100 range.
Other than modding the ACA power supply to work off 9V, I haven't done anything else to the pedal, and this thing is spot on for what you would want from an overdrive. The mode 1 setting can go from mild to fairly crunchy. It sounds just like my OD-1 modded SD-1. The mode 2 "turbo" mode can get into straight up stack distortion. And that one trim pot works very much like a variac for the turbo mode. Starving the gain stages to get more distortion at lower volumes...I wonder who started that idea? All this in a pedal that uses no op amps. It's actually a pretty unique circuit design that was partly used in the highly-regarded Blues Driver. To put a caveat on all this, the later Taiwan version and the OD-2r version are not the same as the original MIJ OD-2. So if you can get your hands on the MIJ version, do it. You won't regret it.

[jimilee]

Nice!


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[Thewintersoldier]

Super awesome! I recently built this circuit on the aurum board by Aion. Unlike the original that had some fancy switching I had to build each mode on seperate boards. It's a really great circuit that I've become a big fan of after taking a deep dive on the circuit. Nice find.

[lars]

I recently built this circuit on the aurum board by Aion.

I looked at that project and did note the build document mentions, "However, the OD-2r also corrected one one of the most persistent flaws of the original unit, which is that it could barely get to unity gain at the highest volume setting."
I really don't understand where this idea comes from that the OD-2 can barely get to unity gain. I don't turn mine up past 12 o'clock and it's more than loud! I think maybe too many people try to run their old ACA Boss pedals with a 9V power supply without doing the correct mods. That doesn't work because the ACA supply was 12V. That would explain the loss of headroom and volume people complain about since that would run their pedal at around 6V with the turbo mode only around 3.5V! The gain recovery circuit Boss added in with the OD-2r changes the sound of the pedal because it eliminates the interaction between the tone and volume controls, which are directly connected in the original unit.

[WonkoTheSane]

People have said the same thing about the volume with the MIJ HM-2, which I don't know what they are talking about there either. They must either be running it on the wrong power supply, or they have a defective unit.

[Thewintersoldier]

I recently built this circuit on the aurum board by Aion.

I looked at that project and did note the build document mentions, "However, the OD-2r also corrected one one of the most persistent flaws of the original unit, which is that it could barely get to unity gain at the highest volume setting."
I really don't understand where this idea comes from that the OD-2 can barely get to unity gain. I don't turn mine up past 12 o'clock and it's more than loud! I think maybe too many people try to run their old ACA Boss pedals with a 9V power supply without doing the correct mods. That doesn't work because the ACA supply was 12V. That would explain the loss of headroom and volume people complain about since that would run their pedal at around 6V with the turbo mode only around 3.5V! The gain recovery circuit Boss added in with the OD-2r changes the sound of the pedal because it eliminates the interaction between the tone and volume controls, which are directly connected in the original unit.

I don't mind having the added volume on tap with a drive pedal as I always run my amp at the edge of breakup and using the extra volume as a clean boost is a great option to have. He also lets you know what to omit if you want to build without the added gain stage at the end. Now what I did to make non turbo mode was a little more involved as it required omitting and jumpering part of the supply voltage and the added gain stage in turbo mode. It really is two whole circuits prior to the tone stack with each circuit getting it's own gang on the dual concentric gain pot. Really cool stuff going on, similar coolness in the SD-2.

[selfdestroyer]

People have said the same thing about the volume with the MIJ HM-2, which I don't know what they are talking about there either. They must either be running it on the wrong power supply, or they have a defective unit.

Its cool seeing an OD-2 so loved, its been forever since I messed with one.

I just picked up a 1986 HM-2 and I ran it with a 9v one-spot to test with not knowing about the ACA PSU. I modded it with a jumper to work at 9v with a standard PSU and I noticed the EQ got a bit brighter and it seems to sustain a bit longer but I never had an issue with the overall volume.

[lars]

Its cool seeing an OD-2 so loved, its been forever since I messed with one.

Now if only Josh Scott would do a video where he runs this up against a slew of other overdrives! (that might be a bad thing because the asking prices would triple) I think there would be an even greater gamut of drives that the OD-2 could compare to, given that it has two modes. I seriously can't find a single overdrive-type tone that this thing can't do.

[Aentons]

Its cool seeing an OD-2 so loved, its been forever since I messed with one.

Now if only Josh Scott would do a video where he runs this up against a slew of other overdrives! (that might be a bad thing because the asking prices would triple) I think there would be an even greater gamut of drives that the OD-2 could compare to, given that it has two modes. I seriously can't find a single overdrive-type tone that this thing can't do.

I think he needs to do a video where he shows all the overdrives and makes them all sound the same.Then in two years reveal that he was really just plugged direct the whole time.