Fun Poll : Booteek OD's

IF you had to spend YOUR hard earned money, but can can only choose between these, who will get your moneys :?:


BlackStone : $225.00 new
Klon : $340.00 new (up to $900.00 used :rolleyes: ...)
Frantone Hi-Ball : $380.00 new


http://www.blackstoneappliances.com/
http://www.frantone.com/hi-ball.html


Disclaimer : i am NOT looking into an OD, this is purley a fun thread.

GO !

I went with the blackstone

These are all a small sampling even in the boutique category...

Meh... we already did this and I don't remember it bein' any fun... :confused:


I have...

Arion MTE-1 Tubulator - 20.00
Proco Rat - 60.00
Barber DD Low Gain - 149.00

less than 250.00 total... :cool:

It's "boutique" people, "boutique".

I'll take a Bad Monkey and a DS-1 thank you. That's about $90 bucks plus tax :wink:

I just don't buy into the so-called "boutique" pedal hype. The only people at a gig that will actually care to fuss about what pedals you're using are other guitar players. The audience is there to hear your music, not to judge your talent by the expensive boo-teek effects you might have on your pedalboard.

MXR GT OD, about 70 quid, not often gushed about on forums etc., but I think it sounds killer!

MXR GT OD, about 70 quid, not often gushed about on forums etc., but I think it sounds killer!


Speaking of the MXR GT-OD . . . i will take this unit over ANY current or vitage Ibanez 808 / TS9 out there :wink:

RockBox boiling point. that should get your pockets a-burnin.

Not voting because Tim/Timmy aren't there!!!!

ZVex SuperDuper...voted for Klon out of those choices.

too limited choices. I'm presently building a BYOC OD2, FWIW, even though use a FD2 and Tim...

Blackstone bro.....needs a much brighter led....or maybe an led for each channel.....other than that it delivers....!!

Kestrel, I can't say I agree with you 100 percent, although I do agree that many boutique overdrives seem overpriced. I've been through many overdrives and my not-cheap Jetter GS3 is light years better than any other overdrive I've tried including the Mesa Boogie V-Twin, Barber Direct Drive, Marshall Drivemaster, Boss OD-1, Fulltone FullDrive II MOSFET, Rat (a later version that I bought on impulse and hated), MXR Distortion +, Hughes and Kettner Cream Machine and probably a few others I can't remember. The only pedal I've heard that I like even remotely as much as the GS3 is the Xotic BB Preamp, also not cheap.

I've been playing guitar for 41 years and have been on a quest for an overdrive sound in a pedal that truly satisfies me, and the GS3 and BB Preamp are the only two I've heard that do the trick. For me, they're worth the money--I can now hear myself live and on tape and be totally psyched by the sound, instead of wishing I sounded better.

That said, I recently heard a guitar player using a bad Monkey (with a PRS hollow body and a Bruno amp), and he sounded great.

I'm perfectly happy with my Boss OD-3, but I have nothing against boutique pedals. I just don't have a good reason to spend that much money on a pedal.

I've got the Blackstone and dig it. The other pedals (Klon etc.) are different in that they're designed to push an amp that's close to overdriving just a bit further. The Blackstone is meant to be used with a totally clean amp and be the sole source of distortion.

A TS-9 and LPB-1 work fine for me. I'd rather spend my money on amps at this point.

Kind of off-topic: I do wish I still had my rams head BMPi and ProCo "The Rat" for some recording stuff.

I picked up a Blackstone and its good.
Have a bunch of other OD's. The B-stone is more organic sounding.
Not convinced that the B-stone is the end of the trail,
but its doin' its thing and that's pretty cool.

I picked up a Blackstone and its good.
Have a bunch of other OD's. The B-stone is more organic sounding.
Not convinced that the B-stone is the end of the trail,
but its doin' its thing and that's pretty cool.

So far i heard only good comments about said Blackstone OD :wink:

So far i heard only good comments about said Blackstone OD :wink:

It's pretty righteous. It has a lot more balls and deep bass than most other ODs I've tried, without getting flabby. I really, really like using it with the gain turned up just to the edge of being a little too muddy for playing chords, and then using the volume knob to play around. It really does sound a lot like an old low-wattage Marshall, but without the hearing loss.

Anyways, that'd be my vote. I have a few other pedals, but I find 90% of the time the Blackstone (with a Deluxe Memory Man here and there for flavour) is the only one turned on.

I bought in to the Booteeque OD hype, started with a $175 dollar pedal, went through a series of many many trades, ended up selling the resulting pedal for $325 and plan on using that money to buy at least 3 pedals made by a famous mass-market producer.

Bootique is hype


Just for the fun I started a pedal-board of Ibanez 10-series pedals, even though the cheap jacks and switches . . . it has turned out to sound very excellent and has put much of my main board into jeopardy.


I will recommend any Barber and Menatone pedal though . . . .

Barber

I went on a massive OD hunt a while back. Settled on a HAO Rumble Mod... expensive, but great tone. I recently picked up a Skreddy Screwdriver which gets a lot of duty with my Tele, although I think the Rumble Mod is slightly better. But the Rumble Mod sits on a large, heavy pedalboard, and in one band I usually bring just an OD pedal and an amp. In that case, it's the Screwdriver.

Booteek is hype, but it isn't JUST hype. There's a lot of creative, well-made stuff from small builders (like the Screwdriver - it's actually a treble booster into a fuzz, not something you can just buy from Boss). I think the booteeks work best when they're doing their own thing, not just cloning a classic. I don't think the booteek TS9 clones are better than originals, generally, nor are Rat clones.

(like the Screwdriver - it's actually a treble booster into a fuzz, not something you can just buy from Boss)


I think the Screwdriver is a Mosfet booster into a Fuzz Face (or I might be full of it... :grin:) I do know the Analog Man Sun Lion is a Treble Booster into a Fuzz Face.

I think the Screwdriver is a Mosfet booster into a Fuzz Face (or I might be full of it... :grin:) I do know the Analog Man Sun Lion is a Treble Booster into a Fuzz Face.

According to the web site, it's a "MOSFET treble-boost input section" into a "hybrid fuzz", which is apparently a germanium/silicon Fuzz Face circuit. So I guess we're both right!

Regardless, that pedal is a MONSTER. Warm, supremely touch sensitive, and very flexible. Between the Screwdriver and the Rumble Mod, I don't miss amp distortion one bit! I just use clean Fenderesque amps (mostly a Boogie Mark I these days) to get as loud as I want. I love my ol' Boogie, but consistent OD tone at any volume is not its strong suit.

Regardless, that pedal is a MONSTER. Warm, supremely touch sensitive, and very flexible.



Yeah erksin (Catalinbread) raves about his all the time... :grin:

Not voting because Tim/Timmy aren't there!!!!

Mr. Cochrane says his pedals are not boutique :lol:

My ProCo RAT does a terrific job at this i believe. Maybe my playing isn't good enough to need better stuff :confused:

i forgot to chime in. I want a Klon. :sad:

My ProCo RAT does a terrific job at this i believe. Maybe my playing isn't good enough to need better stuff :confused:

If I had to live with just one pedal, it'd be my Rat. The Skreddy, HAO, Prescription Electronics, Way Huge, Lovepedal, and other boutique stuff would all fall by the wayside first!

In my personal, unscientific, survey of the hundreds and hundreds of acts that I've mixed, I've come to these conclusions:

-Professional, touring acts are as likely to use Boss pedals as they are boutique pedals.
-There is no correlation between the quality of the performance and the brand of pedals on the stage.
-Boutique pedals are (very) slightly more likely to cause problems in a player's rig than mass-produced pedals.

I love my DS1.

That is all.

I love my Klons (I have two, one on a board and one stand alone for blues gigs/jams).

Great live and in the studio.

i forgot to chime in. I want a Klon. :sad:

I'm getting one in about 17 days. And yes, I am counting days :lol:

I've had a Rat and a TS-9 for a long time, and those, along with a recently acquired Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster, seem to cover pretty much all my overdrive needs. That said, I'd still like to try out some of the better-regarded boutique pedals such as the Blackstone, Klon, Ethos or Zendrive (I like that "Dumble" tone).