Demeter Fat Over Drive

Ease of Use: 10

Very intuitive and easy to use. There are 4 Knobs: (from left to right) Fat, Gain, Volume, Tone. Two stomp switches - one for Drive. One for Boost (individual colored leds = blue on the left for Boost and Red on the right for Drive) and a 2-way toggle switch on the left side of the unit for toggling between Loose and Tight on the Drive circuit. And hold on I?m not done yet - there?s also an opening on the right side of the unit for external control of adjusting the overall level of the Boost.

Sound Quality: 10

When a pedal costs this much - I wanted to know it?s weak points throughout multiple amp and guitar setups to see if this unit could deliver bang for big bucks. For this review I used the following gear:

Guitars: Gibson Les Paul Studio, Fender Deluxe USA Strat, Gibson SG Classic w/P-90?s.

Amps: Top Hat Ambassador, Orange Rocker 30, Mesa Boogie Solo 50 Rectoverb and a Fender Blues Deluxe (4X10).

Here?s the Text from Demeter Amplification?s website as an introduction to the rest of my review on sound quality:

?Announcing the FOD-1 Fat Overdrive Pedal, the marriage of the standard MB-2B Fat Control/Midboost pedal and our recently developed overdrive, showcased at winter NAMM 2005.Combined into a single pedal, the midboost goes from thin to ballsy (think PAF), whilst the overdrive has the ability to go from edgy clean to filthy in germanium mode and edgy to dirty whilst in silicon mode.... it is very amp like in it?s clipping and has wonderful organic harmonic overtones. The first fifty produced are limited edition units painted exclusively by Jon Hayes at Wilkins Guitars <http://www.wilkinsguitars.com/>, with metal etching by Donner Rusk at Tone Safari <http://www.tonesafari.com/>, and all pin striping done by Larry ?VooDoo? Grobee of Sideshow Kustoms, Chicago. Each is one of a kind and will not be reproduced. Individual pictures available upon request. Call the shop for pricing and availability! 818.994.7658. ?

(I left in the info about the first 50 of these pedals being limited edition because the price these limited edition units are $350 each. I am relatively certain that the price will go down accordingly when some sort of standard model becomes available.)

Their verbiage in their intro is dead on when they refer to ?amp-like? because each of the amps I tested this pedal with required different settings to bring fully the best and beefiest tonal combinations out of the amp?s interaction with the FOD. Very organic with each amp - I liked that alot. By utilizing single coils, humbuckers and P-90?s and a good combination of amps - I picked this pedal for my November Pedal Pick of the Month because with each of the guitar/amp setups - I was easily able to dial in multiple sweets spots with all setups easily. The only difficulty I had was trying to decide amongts the delicious slices of heaven throughout the sweeps of each Knob and leaving it the hell alone :o)

The description provided by Demeter Amplification is so dead accurate - I don?t know what else to add to it:

?Combined into a single pedal, the midboost goes from thin to ballsy (think PAF), whilst the overdrive has the ability to go from edgy clean to filthy in germanium mode and edgy to dirty whilst in silicon mode.... it is very amp like in it?s clipping and has wonderful organic harmonic overtones. ?

Dead on accurate both at studio and live levels. The loose and tight controls are perfect descriptions of what each setting offers up. On the Loose side - think pure Marshall voicings - both on rhytms and leads. The Tight side gives you a slightly more compressed feel as the sustain can sweep the clock even at studio levels - ranging into Vox AC-30 turf and beyond. Amp-like to me describes this pedal the best because it extends the range and voicings of whatever amp it?s connected to. The interaction and full range tweakability with (including the external trimmer) gives you 6 controls with a wonderful sweep of raw throaty harmonics on each of the 4 knobs -and a choice between Loose and Tight depending upon the song you?re trying to cover - or even more important - creating your own unigue voicing.

When only the Boost side is engaged - the Gain knob takes on a different personality than it?s purpose served when used on the Overdrive side of this pedal. It becomes a superb Tone control - but not just what you would think of in normal terms - it noticeablely goes from sweet fat bottom ended to egdy to punch you through the band mix or if you prefer - to punch you in the face :o)

Because I wanted to set up one unit for everything dialed in on the Loose side (again for both rhythms and leads) and one for the Tight side (again for both rhythm and leads) I purchased two of these units so I could run them in tandem - which in and of itself just allows twice the tonal arsenal combinations to be set to work together as well as apart.

The unit is mostly very quiet with the exception of the Strat - unless you have noiseless pickups - you can elicit some white noise at the maximum settings on the bridge, bridge/neck, and neck pup settings. Of course running this pedal at maximum ranges through any guitar could damage your amp - this fucker?s got plenty of headroom and powerful volume to knock shit off the walls. So unless you?re deaf and need to run things at maximum settings - you?ll be fine :o)

While the stunning finishes on these limited edition pedals has nothing to do with the tone - it was worth the extra to me to have something unique and different on my pedalboard. These are true works of art - not only with these beautiful finishes - but THE TONE is worth every penny even at limited edition prices even if it were house in a plain black box. I?ve played for 40 years and gigged for 30. This pedal deserves my selction as Pedal Pick of the Month.

Reliabilty: 8

As I?m certain given the build quality of this thing is superb, I cannot rate it higher than an 8 because I simply can?t give a 10 to something I haven?t used extensively on the road for at least a year. I?ve only had these a couple of months - so I cannot possibly know if it will develop issues down the road apiece. Given the reputation of Demeter Amps - I?ll probably kick myself later for not giving it a 10. I reserve the right to come back at a later date and update that rating.

Customer Support: 10

Superb customer service and numerous communications from the builder while they were being built, keeping me posted as to his progress and when they would be shipped to excellent follow up after the sale to make sure I was pleased with my purchase. World class.

Overall Rating: 10

Nobody gets on my Pedal Pick of the Month page unless their product withstands the multiple requirements to pass every test and amp/guitar combination I run them through for hours before making certain I can give this high of a rating. If they were lost or stole -although the Limited Edition ones will never be reproduced - I would purchase two of them again no matter what finishes they were available in. Beautifully made, excellent voicings and beautiful harmonic textures throughout. As always, thanks for reading.

Rev