Blackstone Appliances MOSFET Overdrive Owners Club

[Bill]

I'm a big fan of the BAMO--two channels of Marshally/Fendery goodness in a box the size of an MXR pedal.

Since I'm a hack player who just noodles around at home, I have no comment on how it works live with a band or what it sounds like with a real musician.

I use it through a clean Fender amp--the pedal produces all the overdrive and the amp is there more or less to set the volume. I can plug it into my ’77 Pro Reverb and have it produce great overdrive at conversational levels.

As far as the sound, with the overdrive low it sounds and acts a lot like an old tweed amp to me. Cranking up the gain, it sounds like a Marshall. It is not super grainy or super smooth, just has the right amount of graininess for me. One thing I like about it over most other pedals is that the overdrive sounds like it is part of the note. When I tried some other pedals it sounded like there was a clean note with an overdrive tone laid on top of it. The BAMO just sounded more organic to me.

I really like its amplike response--it cleans up from the volume control on my guitar much like playing an old tweed amp. To get this effect though, it has to be first in the chain. And each guitar and pickup sounds like itself.

The maker, Jon Blackstone, has amazing attention to detail. There are adjustable dip switches and controls inside and replaceable caps for customizing the tone.

He even etches his own comments for people who get too anal about fooling with the pedal. Here's the pedal with the back off:

And closeups of a bug I found:

And a comment he left:

OK, I'm done with my shilling. Anyone else a fan?

 

[Tarnisher]

Ha! I was just thinking I'd start this thread, but then I got hungry and made a sandwich.

At least I'm the first replier.

I LOVE my Blackstone. For years I dreamed of an overdrive that somehow combined a high and low gain channel into one tiny enclosure- a pedal that would give me a nice light dirt for rhythms and softer leads, and a raging crunch for loud rockers and solos. But I wanted something different from the typical Tube Screamer variants. And I wanted it to look cool.

This pedal is all of those things and more. It almost makes me think he's some kind of wizard...

By the way, I use mine in a band, and it works wonderfully. It is very touch sensitive, which means that I can turn on the red channel and go from rhythm to lead by strumming soft and picking hard, with no other adjustments. Fantastic!

 

[jnepo1]

I currently own 3. A V2 and both versions of the V3. I love them, works well with any pickup, dynamic and cool looking as well. I'd like to see Jon make a fuzz version with 2 drives as well.

 

[Grateful Ape]

I recently picked one up used. Lovely item in all respects. Agree entirely w/OP. Wish trimpots were external, but since I only intend to use it for recording, no biggie.

 

[nrand]

I love mine, just after volume, and before other effects on both my electrics.

 

[h2ocreeker]

I'm in. I've had one on my board for years. Works well with any guitar and other od pedals. The sounds are great and the looks remind me of my grandpa's old office, straight out of the late 30's. I have had many people ask me how I got that tone/growl. I show it too them and they have never seen one before. It surprises me that it is not more widely known. I guess it is just our little secret.

 

[shourah]

I'm a big fan of the bamo too from asia...need info badly about the fan group, cheers

 

[tiskit86]

I'm in. First in line after my tuner. Brown channel always on w/ light overdrive. Just seems to make everything sound a little better.

 

[maxvintage]

I love this pedal. It's the most "amp-like" of any pedal I've tried. The touch sensitivity, the lack of fizziness, the response to volume. It's extremely versatile and gets a marshallish vibe on the red channel. It looks cool and it's small. Great pedal

 

[Piotr]

I still got mine and use it a lot. I used to run it through a clean SS amp, but it sounds great with my 5E3, go figure.
It is the most useful OD pedal I have ever encountered.

 

[vegetablejoe]

Got a used one recently, and I still need to spend a lot of time with it to decide whether I love its tones over my other dual od favorites (KOT, VS-XO, Ethos, Plush). Other than susceptibility to scratches on the faceplate, it looks pretty sturdy.

I'm wondering whether dialing it in will mean vastly different pedal settings between tube and ss amps. I'm hoping to have just one set of tone settings settings through both amp types.

For now I'm already loving its compact size and potentiometer design. Amazed that it's this small!

image removed