Product: IndyGuitarist OD-2 Mod
Price Paid: US $50 used
Submitted
12/30/2005
at
09:24am
by
Carlton Hobbs
Email: carltonhobbs at sbcglobal<dot>net
Ease of Use
:
9
Well, it is obviously easy to use, though like many pedals I use, it can be a little frustrating. It sounds great, but I keep fiddling with it because I want it to just sound slightly different.
Sound Quality
:
9
I have an Indyguitarist modded OD-2r, made in Taiwan, and right next to it, an unmodded made in Japan OD-2. I bought it because I got a great deal, and for the price, I had to compare it. It is certainly an improvement on the original, with bright blue LED too. It has considerably more volume available as a boost, and more gain. It has more bass, brightness, and clarity available. That said, the increased brightness keeps me on the 0-5 range on the tone knob. I love the Turbo setting for its tight sound and added compression. The non-Turbo setting has less added to your tone.
Now here's the thing. I want an overdrive that doesn't increase volume over my clean volume. Yes, that technically means I'm using an overdrive for its own sound and NOT to "overdrive" the amp. I got this at the same time as an MI Audio Tube Zone pedal, and that has more of the Prog Metal Mesa like tone I was after in a pedal. It is slightly scooped, only enough to add some clarity, I don't like excessive scooping. The OD-2 in comparison is more Slash of GnR on its maximum settings. It has the available gain and clarity, but more midrange.
One thing about my rating. If you use this as a real overdrive to increase output to your amp, this rates a 10. At "unity" volume as a distortion pedal, it rates an 8 by me. It really works well as just a bit extra for a lead boost, or a whole lot extra for a lead tone. The two modes are like having a modded SD-1 and DS-1 in one pedal. It is still slightly noisy, but not nearly as much as before, and part of that noise is because it now has massive available gain, which I took advantage of.
Reliability
:
10
Not sure what could go wrong with this. It is very solid.
Customer Support
:
10
Indyguitarist has a whole forum for discussing his and related products.
Overall Rating
:
9
If I were lose this and get another Indyguitarist pedal, I might try a modded MT-2 or MD-2 just to be different, because my Zinky True Grit covers the same territory as this, but with True Bypass. Both of these pedals have the same bit of frustration because the sound so good, but I wish I had a little more control over the midrange. But that is the nature of the pedal, and not something the mods could change or were intended to change. This pedal is more Marshall than Mesa. I usually and actually prefer the Marshall tone to the Mesa tone, but that is why I use an amp that can nail the Marshall sound (Pritchard Sword of Satori) and then want a pedal that can get me the Mesa sound. Hmm. I wonder if Indyguitarist could mod the True Grit's Grit control to be a midrange control?
