Maxon OD-808 Reissue

pretty standard for an overdrive, only three knobs

I play a USA jackson w EMGs into a single rectifier (on the vintage channel). I use this pedal with a Boss NS2 noise suppressor.

I play old school metal similar tone to helloween etc. I always try and minimise gain on the amp to let the clarity and punch shine through (gain is usually 12 oclock which isnt much at all on this channel). Mid punch attack for staccato picking is important for me and one thing I pay close attention to.

I also have a TS808 and a Boss SD1, both of which are fantastic in their own right but this one is a winner for me. It has less mid range "nasal" punch than the TS808 and is the most neutral sounding of all three which is perfect since I use it as a tightener/boost to my already distorted amp tone.

The pick attack is as good as on the TS808 but a shade less aggressive than the SD1 which certainly has more gain at its disposal. The SD is more dirty and gritty sounding especially in the upper mids, but I wanted a more transparent sounding pedal.

Loss of bass is not an issue at all, but if I ever went back to a vintage marshall the lack of gain might lead me to dust off the Boss SD again...

I have to say it looks pretty flimsy in comparison to my TS, which looks as though you could drive a tank over it.

Havent had to deal with them

Have been playing guitar seriously for about 7 years (plus about 5 years playing bass).

I'm afraid alot of people get confused about what overdrive pedals do, hence some spurious, low scoring reviews. All they are really used for is to boost the signal going to a tube amp which adds a tone which some people like. They arent distortion pedals so they wont really do much with transistor amps! they certainly wont make you sound like dimebag or whoever :-)

As a neutral sounding boost with clear uppper mids and little loss of bass this pedal is a dream and an absolute keeper for me.

It is annoying that you have to unscrew the whole thing just to get at the battery and it doesnt feel anywhere near as sturdy as the TS version so I cant give it a 10, but on sound quality alone it does get a 10 and I'm really fussy!

I play blues / rock ... right now my rig is various strat's / tele's into - older analog "stack-o-dimes" crybaby - >> STL (super tuberscreamer) >> CS-2 (comp) >> BD-2 >> Uni-VIbe (stereo) >> .... various amps ... mostly fender clean - (blues.. & all)

i'm writning this review becasue i see a lot of 10s everywhere... i Love Tubescreamers , ihave used several incarnations to pump up that smooth blues tone ... this one is nice but TOO nice, i have used the Ibanez SD-9 Awesome pedal (truley a 10) TON of gain never turned it up too much... but w/ my current rig i scaled back a bit to a STL Super Tubescreamer also a 10... The Maxon 808 is transparent and all... but it doesn't have enough punch ... i love the switch design, nice thats it's true bypass... probly be great with the analofg man 808 mod (can't say honestly) you MAY really like this pedal just know that (IMHO) it's too polite... too tame... not enough gain ... and i don't mean - big distortion / fuzz or gain like that .... I MEAN TUBESCREAMER TYPE GAIN... so in that sense IT"S LIMITED... i guess if it's within your required paramaters then fine... just wanted to give you the benifit of a disenting opinion ... i don't run that many pedals .. i believe most cases less is more... but in this case ... less is just not quiet enough... for me... there has always been hype around the tubescreamers ... you might like it ... but you might want to try it first ...thats all i'm sayin ... lol

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3 knobs !!! how difficult can it be???

setup:
guitars: 1995 PRS CE24 - 1996 Gibson SG standard - 1991 fender american standard stratocaster - 1984 Tokai telecaster - 1989 mongrel Charvel
into
cry baby - MXR dyna comp - Xotic BB preamp - maxon OD-808 - Xotic AC booster - Seymour Duncan pickup booster - MXR Smart Gate - Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe - TU2 tuner (in effect loop) Boss DD-20 all in Laney VC15 amplifier

Sounds awesome as a boost on the dirt channel as a boost or great on its own on the clean channel. Sounds amazing on top of the Xotic drives as well. People tend to grubble about loss of bass etc... but that's to be expected with a Tube Screamer type pedal. If you play loud enough the bass loss won't be a problem at all (" ))

does feel a bit flimsy compared to my other pedals but as long as you don't jump on it both feet with the intent to kill it..... As for back up I've got other pedals on the board (not counting the ones who are bored to tears in their little box waiting to see the light of day)
GAS is a terrible affliction (;-))

no idea - never got in touch with'em

I play everything and anything as long as it's good music. I play in 3 bands: a 50's and 60's cover band, a 70's 80's 90's 00's cover band and my local church worship group. The OD-808 sounds great in every situation.
All in all I'm looking for another one, just in case the 1st one packs up.

No problem there. N/A

I use it through Fender original blackface deluxe reverb. Various other amps. Tube and solid state. Sounds really great.
I also have an Ibanez turbo tube screamer. TS9. Maxon sounds better to me. You can really hear the difference. It has some more mids. It's just more vintage in sound and feel when you play it. It cuts through more. Ts9 sounds "bigger" to me but lacks some character. It is personal i guess. Ok, in a band situation- you could not probably hear it...

Ok. It is very light- which I like but it seems way more vunerable than the Ibanez. In a pedalboard-great. Otherwise, you got to take care of it. Almost feels plastic. Ibanez is heavier and really is heavy duty.
My main issue, the reason that i am writing this is that you have to unscrew the bottom plate to change the battery. Ok, that it cool- like it always was. BUT, the screws are really rubbery and If you don't have the exact size screwdriver, which you won't have somewhere on the gig, you will just ruin the screws. I could not open it at home. The screws are just soft. I will use it in a studio with a wall wart but, for gigging I will take the Ibanez( there is a battery compartment).
Anyway, if you will not use the battery than it is great.

N/A

I am a pro musician. Jazz- fusion. If it was stolen, I would buy a maxon series 9 tubescreamer. It is true bypass. Ibanez is not and maxon vintage reissue ia not. They all sound great but I would check for practicality of them all.
Maxon od 808 is the best for pedalboard 'cos it is very light and you power it via dc9 input. It sounds great. Looks wonderful.
Accessing the battery is bad. Shame for such a great sounding product.
I would like to see how it is with the new Ibanez ts808.

Very easy to use

I'm a believer. I can't speak at all about how metal guys use this pedal with their high gain amps. That makes no sense to me, if your amp has a gain knob, why would you buy it if you didn't like the sound of it or need more gain? Anyway, if you have an amp that only overdrives if you crank it - but need/want overdrive at lower volume levels - and like the vintage overdrive sound (similar to a small fender tweed cranked), this is the best overdrive I have ever played. Hands down. If will not give you any more gain than that level. So if you think you need more gain, look into a Fulldrive or something of that nature. Like most of you, I have tried a ton of OD's. They did a great job on this one. It definitely cuts the bass and blasts up the midrange. If you don't want that sound, don't look at a tubescreamer

Solid construction.

Haven't had to use it, so I have no idea

In my opinion, absolutely hands down, the best overdrive pedal I have ever played.

This pedal is very easy to use, as are most pedals. The manual is bland, but really the generic settings they give are just a good start, who uses those anyway. As for getting a good sound out of it, I had no problems at all, anywhere across the board it sounds good to me.

I am using this with an American Standard Tele, as well as a Highway 1 Tele, modded to the end of the earth through a Fender Deluxe Reverb. The OD 808 sounds fine all throughout the sweep of gain and volume. As with a tubescreamer, it seems to sound best when amp is already overdriven, but even when played at lower volumes I must say I am quite satisfied. I found that the ts9, Blues Driver and Sparkle Drive were quite farty sounding at lower volumes, but the OD808 was very nice. If there is a downside I have not found it yet.

I would depend on this as it seems like a well built pedal, but being a paranoid guy, I would use a backup...but that's just me.

n/a

I play Blues, and in my opinion this pedal is a good match. I've been playing long enough to realize good quality, and that's what this pedal is. For me, I'm not about high gain distorted sound. That's why this pedal is terrific. If you like a smooth mild overdrive this is it. the only reason I won't give it all 10's is because no pedal is perfecy

These are basicly the Ibanez tubesreamer in Maxons own format. Theres just three knobs; gain, balance (level of effect) and tone. What I like about this pedal is that it has a traditional plunger type stomp switch rather than a hinged type foot switch like you get on a Boss pedal. I previously had an Ibanez TS9 tubescreamer but the footswitch kept failing and I got sick of repairing it, so I got this as a replacement. Sounds virtually the same to me.

I run a Les Paul into a 100W JCM800 stack on the high input with nearly everything maxed out, my core tone is therefore very distorted. I run this pedal with all knobs set at around 2 oclock and basicly it gives my tone definition which makes it excellent for old school metal. Because it tends to boost the mids (like all Tubescreamers) it tightens up the bottom end which makes the tone very chunky, it even works well with drop tunings. You need to use this with a good valve amp that is turned up and cooking, when playing at home I have to turn the volume of my JCM800 down to below 1 and at this level you dont get the full effect of the pedal. When played into a clean amp you get a nice light bluesy type of drive.

Seems rugged enough with its MXR style die cast box.

Sent an e-mail to Maxon once and got a polite replay after a few days (the Japs are generally polite people anyway!)

Shove it infront of a cranked up naturally distorting valve amp for hard rock and metal tones. Shove it infront of a clean amp for blues and lighter rock tones. These really are the dogs doodahs for making your tubes scream. Theres loads and loads of expensive boutique Tubescreamer clones out there but if youre after a tubesreamer tone then just buy a Maxon (or Ibanez) tubescreamer. They are the original and best in my opinion. I think alot of boutique pedal makers make money out of peoples curiousity and addiction to buying pedals.

Very easy to use three controls:

Drive, Tone, Balance

Input, Output, 9v input, battery compartment

Awesome pedal.

Warm overdrive great for blues/rock tones.

Great for boosting your amps front end to give your amp more grind ie metal.

Not true bypass but no noticeable tone loss

Used live and in studio no problems

Never needed them

Great tone from this pedal. No audible tone loss with effect in effects chain.
Great as a stand alone overdrive pedal or used as an amps boost or combined with a Distortion pedal.
Rugged and reliable.

Very easy to use, 3 knobs: Gain, Tone, Balance. My only problem is the fact that you have to unscrew the back to replace the battery but it's not that big of a deal, but I gave it a 9 because of that.

I play a Fender Telecaster with an after market Seymor/Duncan mini-humbucker and I also play a Gibson Les Paul Classic through a Fender Twin. On my drive channel this thing sounds great, adds some bite to my tone. I get a little more gain, a little more high end as well, sounds really good. On my clean channel it sounds good also but I wish that it had just a little more oomph, If I could get just a little more out of this thing I would get a great. It is a little noisy if you have it turned up to the max and have your amp cranked but it's not unbearable...
I am considering trying out the Maxon TS9 Pro, which has a boost and is switchable to 18 volts... Anyhow this is a great pedal, not a 10 but close.

I have only had it 2 weeks now so I guess I will have to get back to you...

Haven't had to deal with 'em.

I play punk rock music, Ramones, The Clash, Against me! type stuff. If you are looking for a high gain pedal this is not it, but if you are looking for a pedal to add to your sound with this is perfect. I probably would not buy it again, not because it doesn't sound good but because I am looking for just a little more gain (like if this pedal went up to 11 it would be perfect) I do love the look (very retro), and it does sound great through my drive channel, but I wish the battery was easier to get to since I hate dealing with adapters at shows. In the end I am very happy with this pedal.

Very simple to use.

3 controls:

Overdrive - controls amount of drive

Tone - equalise sound

Balance - mix of effect and dry signal

Well the sound of this pedal is very cool.

It can be used as:

1) a traditional overdrive pedal (sounds great as a stand alone overdrive SRV, Hendrix, Zep tone)

2) a boost pedal to add more clarity or grit to your sound (especially with high gain amps, helping to cut some low freq and add some mid freq creating a punchier sound for recorded or live sound)


Now although this pedal is not true bypass I can hear no audible change in tone. Which is nice to know as there are a few overdrives out there that suck alot of tone. Not this one though.

Relatively new pedal so we shall see.
There are alot of pros out there who use them both in studio and onstage so Im guessing it will be fine.

Have not dealt with them, never had a need.

I like the sound of this pedal. It is quite a nice looking pedal too and small; which is nice, if like me you have a rather over filled pedal board already.

Compared to other overdrive pedals I have tried I have to say I prefer this one.