OVERDRIVE- J D ANALOG Tone of the Gods ... a Masterpiece or just a luxury?

 J D ANALOG TONE OF THE GODS PRE 

The builder wanted his favorite amp asound a JTM 45. He wanted his favourite OD pedal a Jan Ray and a great clean boost to be all built in a pedal. He wanted to have his Strat to get an SRV sound to come through it all. So to do so it had to have the headroom of a real tube amp pre ...that's a scary 150 volts.

So here it is! As soon as the paint dries you can get one. :-)

$445.00 USD

CONCLUSION

I have owned a super high headroom Marshall in a box by as small builder

in the past. The headroom does make a BIG difference but it is nothing that can be

streamed through a demo onto a low fi PC or Smartphone.

So in the end you have to do what you do on any dirt pedal purchase and go by the sound first and your trust in the reviewer second. In short I have 15 pedals that I would call Marshall. I have another 10 or so that are hot rodded but have a Marshall vibe and still another 10 that are great sounding like an OCD that are accepted by a lot of players as Marshall like ...but ...they really are not!

This has a sound not dissimilar to a Carl Martin Marshall. I have his Panama. It is fat and warm but it doesn't have any serious bite. To be fair so does my Empress Cornerstone yet it lets the chime of my Strat come through. The 'Gods' pedal was voiced to be a pedal for a Strat.

The price is not cheap and I had to borrow it from his top price for pedals that have 8 knobs and 2 foot switches not 10 knobs and 3 switches. It may be even $500.00 USD  ...OUCH!

ONE SIZE FITS ALL ?

I wish. 

I love OD's. I have 34 on my board. I use ever one to cover my 25 original tunes

at a gig. In other words they are not pedals that spend days or weeks not being used.

My point is simple ...one OD will not be perfect on every tune. One OD may be acceptable

to you to gig. My original tunes have a  Prog Metal vibe. I want them to sound as close to perfect as I can make them. Who among you strives deliberately to have a second best sound. 

I do not see anyone with their hands up ???

The bottom line there are killer OD's in every price range. 

The OD that is huge and fat may even be sluggish can be the best in a wall of sound slow moving Doom tune. Another OD maybe even a bit thin but is bright and bitting for a fast moving tune with a busy rhythm. Then there is everything in between! Add to that if you are like most players these days you have at least 2 guitars. The best OD for a Strat is not the best for a LP.

I never say never ...but I avoid 'monster pedals' they are meant to do at least 2 distinct sounds. Two pedals usually by 2 different makers do it better. 

I recommend the whole range from low gain to a medium gain a high gain and for some even a Metal style extra high gain. That makes 4 OD's as the minimum. Exceptions? Yes some players play in a style that fits into a small box. Blues players often use an OD as an always on pedal or as a boost pedal for a solo. Players needing at least 2 OD's are getting very, very rare. Others that go for a modeling unit NEVER just use one sound. Even if it is just a light crunch they may use a Vox AC 30 sound as well as a Fender Deluxe. Yes? ...yes.