THE 3 MOST DESIRABLE OD's ON THE PLANET !!!

 SURPRISE SOUND LAB HVO 

$280.00 USD

Kim Hardee a devote player who designed and built tube based amps and gadgets loved to play a small 5 watt tube amp he had built and sold. It gave him an excellent clean sound that he could enjoy night and day without disturbing his family or his neighbors.
Like most of us he loved the sound of a full Marshall stack knocking out euphoric walls of sound.
He ...like all of us headed for the much loved OD pedals we all enjoy.
BUT!!! He found they just didn't cut it. Being a guy making tube amps he concluded that it was not just tubes that make the difference. A tube amp uses a lot more voltage in it's preamp to give it headroom and headroom means a much greater amount of dynamic range and transient response. 
The touch of your pick is immediate and without any mud. Light and shade in your playing is transferred from your hand to the speaker with every nuance intact.
So he thought that if he made a preamp with the high voltage of a real tube amp in his dirt pedal he would be half way there. It took a long time and a second version to get it right. In a blindfold test of the HVO against the King of amps the the Marshall Plexi ... 100 watt Super Lead the difference is negligible.
Having played mine for several months daily I certainly agree.
In short if this is the best OD on the planet for authentic sound.

I have 2 posts on the HVO ...check them both out.


 DAWNER PRINCE RED ROX DISTORTION 

$220.00 USD

So why in hell's name could I come up with a second killer distortion after what I said about the HVO???
It is really quite simple. Pretty much all of us were blown out of the water by one or more recorded tunes by someone playing a killer dirt sound!!! We soon identified the sound as the sound of great tube amp and an amazing guitar. Perhaps even a Les Paul or a Fender Strat going through a Marshall stack. The problem is we dismissed the EQ and compression and mic used to get that sound in the studio!

Well guys designing OD's have not dismissed that!!! Every big selling OD has been an 'impression' of a great tube amp not the real thing at all.
Hell they damn well do sound great! There are many, many to choose from so why the Red Rox?
Simple ...it is as good as them in general but it has ...hands down the very best sustain even at 'bedroom' volumes.
Yes ...check out the post. There is a lot of evidence to support my choice.


XTS ATOMIC OD

$250.00 USD

You just can not get a bad sound out of this OD.
It has a 3 way active EQ with a mids selector each tuned to a different classic sweet spot.
The sound is warm and very, very rich. The gain goes from medium to high gain ...even it is contolled to never go past what is going on with a JCM800

Getting a convincing Plexi sound is a given but like I said you can push it into JCM800 territory.

This pedal is both exciting and comforting. If I were to recommend a great OD not knowing anything about a person's music and playing ability etc. this would be it.


CONCLUSION
Every year we get a whole new choice of OD's. This is my choice for MAY| 2019.
It could change. 
I think the HBO is on firm ground ...it is authentic & the box is huge. Others can make pedals that are smaller and cheaper and they need not worry about any amplifier comparison if they can get a hyped but cool sound. 
If you play loud enough ...like 30 watts or more ...then natural feed back can give you sustain. I have many loved OD's that I use more then the Red Rox ...but it is killer for shredding because if used with 30 watts it can go from long sustain to never never land!
For many of you the prices of these are quite high. Keep in mind though both your guitar and 
amp are probably more expensive ...yet a good OD is usually one third of your sound so if it costs one third it can certainly be justified.




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