Korg 105od Classic Overdrive

The few times this effect has worked, it has been easy to use, but the gain is too high to really work with the pedal... It is straightforward enough for anyone...

The effect is okay for overdrive... It sounds like a very crisp digital distortion, not a warm overdrive..

Looks are decieving.. It appears to be a solid box, but since I brought it home, it works 1 out of 10 times I try and click it on... im guessing this is no fluke, as the echo pedal from the same line of korg effects has similar issues...

Why hasn't their "contact" part of their web site worked in several months... They are impossible to reach, and the one email I got to someone at Korg has not been answered... I would really appreciate some service, as this was not a cheap pedal, and i would like to think I could trust the Korg brandname (i have really liked some of their products)...

Do not buy their pedals if reliability is important to you.. The sound quality isn't bad--has some unique features... but between the quality and lack of support I would advise against any korg pedal fx purchases.

The Korg 105od Classic Overdrive is a fairly complex piece of computer technology masquerading under the guise of being a simple stompbox with four knobs and a toggle switch. The pedal's design is more straightforward than Korg's three other ToneWorks pedals (104ds Hyper Distortion, 301dl Dynamic Echo, and 411fx Super Multi FX), as the toggle switch provides an additional level of gain rather than designating knob functions. If you are a total luddite, you could use it like a standard stompbox and dial in good tones right away. The beauty of the pedal, however, is that you can store two settings by holding down the program button on the respective "red" and "green" channels.

Things get a bit confusing when you get to the switches on the back. Reading the manual, you would be led to believe that the "High/Low" input selection would mimic the inputs on an amp - "High" for single coils and "Low" for humbuckers. This, however, is not the case as "High/Low" evidently refer to the respective outputs of the pickups. I only bring this up as it is not consistent among all of the pedals in this line, as my 301dl Dynamic Echo has these levels reversed to the more traditional configuration. Furthermore, the "Amp/Line" output selector uses the same sort of reverse logic with "Amp" activating a high roll-off filter/ amp simulator.

The manual is the weakest part of this pedal, but fortunately isn't really necessary.

Here's the deal. Because the pedal is an overdrive, rather than a distortion, it works okay with solid state amps (I use a Peavey Bandit with either a P-90 equipped SG or a 335 solid body with dirty finger humbuckers), producing its best tones when used as a clean boost. However, when overdriving a tube amp (I have an Ampeg VT-60) it produces fantastic tones. The best word that comes to mind is "creamy." I mean I know it is a cliche, but the tones are nothing less than artery-clogging eat-a-stick-of-butter and hope that you HMO covers quadruple-bypass surgery creamy.

Previous reviewers have noted pedal noise, especially when using batteries instead of an AC adapter. Although this pedal is the noisiest of the ToneWorks clan at high gain settings, I found it to be quieter than an original TS-808 that I ran into a guy using. If this were the case with something like a delay or a chorus effect it would be a problem. But remember - this is after all an overdrive designed to overload your amp's pre-amp section to produce distortion for rock and blues music. Getting all worked up about trivialities such as a little noise is exactly opposite of the original rebellious intent and roots of the two genres.

Furthermore, this pedal cleans up very nicely with either a softer pick attack or reduced volume, even when it is at high gain settings, in a way that the distortions on the 411fx Super Multi FX and the 104ds Hyper Distortion do not.

As far as a tonal palate, the best way to compare this pedal to Korg's Hyper Distortion is to compare Thin Lizzy's Whiskey in the Jar to Metallica's. Some more tones that this pedal is quite competent in copping:

Rush "Cygnus X-1"
Who "Magic Bus" (Live at Leeds)
Blackfoot: "Highway Song"
James McMurtry "Levelland"
Led Zeppelin "Heartbreaker"
Blue Oyster Cult "Godzilla"
Gear Daddies "Time Heals"
AC/DC "Live Wire"

Given that this pedal is digital, it is amazing how well it emulates tube circuitry. However, it seems to emulate all aspects of tubes - both good and bad. You know how some days you turn on your tube amp and it sounds kinda off because of temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, or whatever? Well, this pedal is almost as temperamental. Sometimes it sounds incredible, sometimes it seems to be a bit off - a bit noisier or just lacking something. (This could of course be the fault of the amp or even me, but still?.) As other reviewers have noted there also is a slight delay when you engage it. I have compensated for this by programming one setting for clean and the other for dirty, as there is no delay when changing from program to program.

After reading a couple of other reviews, I became obsessed with the slight noise the pedal produced when running on batteries. I called Musician's Friend and they replaced it with no problems. However, the new pedal seems to be a bit noisier than the one I returned. During the time it was gone, I found myself really missing it. I knew it was being discontinued and was worried that they would just give me my cash back. When it came, I was so glad to have it back the noise became a non-issue. Now that it has been officially discontinued, however, I don't know what the repair policy would be, if any.

I play a lot of different styles. For straight up rock, this pedal is great. For heavier stuff (e.g., Helmet, Dead Kennedys) I also use it to provide boost for the 104ds Hyper Distortion. If this pedal were stolen/broken I'd try to replace it, but I think that it would be pretty difficult given their relatively short production run.

In short, if you find one of these for less than a hundred dollars - get it.

I purchased the unit used without a manual, so I had a little trouble figuring out how to program it. Other than that, its very easy to use

The Classic Overdrive is superior to my Tubescreamer. The sound is more transparent and warmer than the Tubescreamer. It does seem somewhat noisy when programed with the gain full up, particularly when using single coils. This unit may be one of the best overdrive pedals I have tried so far. It seems fairly comparable to the Fulltone Fulldrive. The fact that it has two programable channels is a nice feature. I was using two overdrive units together, a Tubescreamer for slightly overdriven sounds and a Daddy-O for heavy overdrive. The Korg will allow me to discontinue this arrangement. The sound of the Classic Overdrive is very smooth, with no grit or grind. My Fender Hot Rod Deluxe sounds great with the Korg. You can get very good SRV sound out of the Korg with a Strat with Texas Specials. The smoothness of the overdrive also permits you to attain Eric Johnson-like lead tones.

It seems well made and hopefully will last.

I think I made a significant discovery here with the Korg Classic Overdrive. I A/B'd it with my Tubescreamer and Daddy-O, and the Korg had a better, more natural sound -- more like a tube amp turned up than an effects pedal. In short, I am very impressed indeed. The Korg is best suited for blues and rock, but is not a metal-type pedal. The only problems I have with the unit is that it seems a little more noisy when the gain in on full than some other units. However, an earlier post said that the Korg Classic OD is more noisey when you use batteries, which is all that I have used so far. In addition, there seems to be a very slight delay when you engage the unit. That said, I would strongly recommend this OD due to its sound, multi-programable channels and the price. Hey, for $45 used, I was a great deal and a major find.

Its pretty simple to use. A lot of features like boost switch, anp or line out switch, and a low and high output switch; alond with overdrive, level, tone, and contour knobs. You can also program two settings with the footswitch on the right side. Everything is right there. It just takes some time to dial in your settings.

I'd have to give it a ten. It does everything I want it to. I play a Les Paul Studio through a Fender Blues deluxe. It can sure change the tone of that amp. Its good at boosting the amps overdrive and shaping your tone with another source. I've played it through that and a JCM900 and it absolutely doesn't change the tone of the amp unlike some harsh distortion pedals (Fabtone). Its sounds great as a clean boost or an over the edge crunchy, hard rock distortion with plenty of gain and then some.

I'v only had it for about two weeks and have had no problems as of yet.

It does everything I want it to. I don't know if it would be for metal because I've never tried dialing that up. I use as a boost to my amp's gain and it does a fantastic job.

This is a revision to my original review. Although this pedal has a great sound, it is sooo noisy when using batteries. As soon as you plug in an AC adaptor, the noise disappears. This seems to be a descign flaw because I took it back to the store and tried several other units with the same results. I tried the Hyper Distortion and the 411 Multi-Effects and neither of them had this problem. Anyhow, for that reason, I exchanged it for a 411 Multi-Effects, which was able to do everything that the 105d was capable of doing, plus a whole lot more. My advice - DO NOT BUY THIS PEDAL, unless you are planning on using a wall wart!

Very straightforward. Any idiot could figure it out. You just set the dials and hold down the program button until it blinks, which indicated that you've saved your patch.

The sound quality is great. It has somewhat of a Tubescreamer flavor, but with much more gain and attitude. I would say it sounds about halfway in between a Tubescreamer and a SansAmp GT2. The distortion is very midrangey, which is what I like. I played it thru the clean channel of a JCM2000 half stack and got great results. It has a direct out for plugging straight into a mixing console. The texture of the distortion is much more refined than an ordinary stompbox. I would put it in the same category as the SansAmp and JD-10, which are classes more as 'amp emulators' as opposed to distortion pedals. The high-gain sound can be best described as 'brown'.

Built like a tank. Made of metal. The footswitches are solid. Battery life is 15 hours on a set of 4 AA alkalines, which is pretty good, compared to Boss stompboxes, which seem to use up a single 9-volt in about 2 hours.

Can't say. Only had is less than 24 hours.

I think this is a great overdrive unit. It was definitely worth the extra $$ because of the superior sound quality and features. It can turn any amp into a 3-channel beast. It's almost like having a fulldrive with independent channels.