King of Tone or Nobels?

[chickenwings]

So ive got to the top of the waiting list and I can order an Kot, but recently ive been thinking of getting a nobels instead. I dont have the option to try either out so i will have to go with recommendations.
Currently im using a tele with fralins thru a princeton with a 12 inch speaker.
Ive had so many overdrives over the years, but im having trouble getting one to sound good with the tele. Im not keen on the waza blues driver for lead sounds, and the SD-1 has a kind of unpleasant distortion noise. The ocd is too compressed and buzzy and ive sold my fuldrives. I cant even remember how many other drive pedals ive tried out. Perhaps im spoiled because i have a gorgeous sounding jtm type clone that distorts wonderfully.
What im after tho, is the lovely clean sound i can get out of the princeton, but with a sweet (not fake) sounding lead tone from a pedal. Maybe it is not even possible, but tele players seem to like the KOT and the Nobles, so....let me know which one i should get and why?

 

[DakotaRed]

Get the KOT. If you don't like it, sell it for a profit.

You can get a Nobels anytime...

 

[chickenwings]

Yeah i have considered that, but i don't really care too much about making a profit. I want something that sounds good. It drives me up the wall buying and selling pedals.

 

[Greenmachine]

I could b wrong, but I think there's not much profit to be made on these...

 

[DakotaRed]

$235 on the analogman site.
$350-$450 on Reverb.
Looks profitable to me.

 

[Post-HK]

I've got a Princeton Reverb with a 12", and my Tele into a Bluesbreaker clone sounds great through it -- since the KoT is BB-derived, it could be great for you too!

 

[cousinpaul]

I agree that the Blues Breaker v1 can sound very good into a clean Fender. The Snouse Black Box is a good one for under $100 USD. The Boss OD3, one of the many Klon knockoffs or even a ZenDrive might also be worth checking out. I've had good results with all the above into a 1X12 PR with my tele.

 

[RetroTeleRod]

If by Nobels you mean the Odr-1 Overdrive, the Visual Sound Open Road is a direct clone of the circuit (according to our own 11 gauge) plus the VS has a great switch and rugged housing. I love mine. Just food for thought.
Thread here...http://www.tdpri.com/forum/stomp-box/470735-nobels-odr-1-tele-pedal.html

 

[uriah1]

He (analogman) also has a POT pedal...

So..so..soo many...my recent snouse is working out good.

 

[telemnemonics]

They are pretty different and which one you like depends on you, but I find the PoT/ KoT circuit to be a bit clean and bright for a Tele (but still great), though AM has popular options for higher gain mods, probably with good reason.

A thought on the OCD, the best sounds I get with a Tele are putting the OCD drive knob on ZERO, and volume past 12, lots of great uncompressed OD sounds in there.
The rest of the OCD is pretty useless to me.

 

[artdecade]

Like a BB circuit with a Gretsch.
Like a Nobels circuit with a Tele.

 

[Hackweed]

If been through a bunch also until Zi found "the one" for me.

Really liked the Nobels ODR1 - used it for a long time until it finally crapped out.

Have Open Road also which I actually like more on the neck than bridge , it is midscooped to my ears. Nobels has more midrange.

Now my main grit pedal is XTS Winford Drive. Love it.

 

[MilwMark]

Nobels + Tele = match made in heaven.

KoT (which I find to be brighter than the first BB) + Tele can be tricky. For some = heaven for others = bright and thin. I had to run the treble OFF on the KoT and it was still painfully bright in my rig, even with the Tele volume and tone pots rolled off. YMMV

You rarely hear folks say the Nobels is bright and thin. Though you hear lots of folks who don't like it, as with any pedal.

The Nobels can be a bit tricky. With Spectrum left of "noon" I hear it as full frequency with a gentle mid push (which maybe gets bigger as you move the Spectrum CCW?). As you move the Spectrum CW, it gets progressively more "scooped" to my ear, mainly by hyping the highs and especially the lows. Regardless there is a very subtle and natural (but useful to me) mid notch at a very particular guitar-friendly frequency. I have come to love it because every time I play through it, it feels and sounds very "tubey". That said, there is a LOT of distortion on tap. And I feel like the Drive knob also changes the EQ, or at least the way the EQ is heard and felt - really pushing the lows if you use Drive above maybe 1 o'clock. Probably OK for single notes/higher string leads, but can be problematic for chords and low string stuff, IMO.

My magic settings are 11 o'clock for all three dials as a starting point. Then I tweak subtly for guitar/amp/room.

All that said, I use it as an "always on" because it is very dynamic. I think it would make a great lead boost as well, but have less experience with that. Honestly what you might be looking for is a good old fashioned Tube Screamer. The SD-1 sounds a little more "ragged" to me. The TS smoother. I don't know if that's the nature of each circuit or just the particular units I tried.

All of that said, it can be tough to pair a drive pedal for thick gain with smaller combos like a PR in my experience. Easier in a band context but for home use or even recording, until you sit the part in the mix, it might sound kind of strident and "buzzy" but that generally goes away in context.

Good luck.

 

[ICTRock]

hopefully you got on the list for a good reason and if so you should get the king of tone.

 

[Post-HK]

I agree that the Blues Breaker v1 can sound very good into a clean Fender. The Snouse Black Box is a good one for under $100 USD.

Snouse is the one I've been using too. I must like bright! I use it to add just a bit of mid push for a perceived touch of grit & a little more volume/fullness, as I don't really put the drive up very high.

(Ugh, now I'm curious to try out a Nobels or Open Road...)

 

[simonsp]

Another one that gets great reviews with a Tele is the Chicken Soup, which is another take on the Nobels ODR-1 I believe.

 

[RetroTeleRod]

Here's what 11 gauge had to say about the Open Road last year.

...the Visual Sound Open Road. VS actually (so the story goes) came up with that one to cater to the N'ville crowd.

Either way, the circuit's been traced, and AFAIK it's 1:1.

So whether or not someone has an issue w/a real ODR-1, very few people will typically find issue with the VS stuff.

I now try to steer everyone to the Open Road if they want "a slightly improved ODR-1 (in construction) at a completely sane price."

 

[artdecade]

Nobels has more midrange.

Its the same circuit. Slightly different tolerances are always allotted for, but the core tone is the same.

 

[Mrbob135]

I like the VS-XO, a double pedal from Visual Sound that has the Nobels circuit on one side, with an adjustable bass dial (a common complaint from Open Road users), and a 808-ish circuit on the other side, with three different clipping options and a clean blend to boot. A lot of versatility and tons of great sounds in one pedal that doesn't seem to get a lot of love.

 

[blowtorch]

I also have the VS-XO, and it's not the Nobels ODR-1, which I also own (an original one).
VS-XO sounds very good, but it's not the same sound as the Nobels.

I love my Nobels with a tele. Until using it with a band, in which case your awesome sound plays a magic trick, and disappears.