Maxon OD-808

Pretty simple: tone, distortion, and volume: then again, I've never seen a hard to use overdrive pedal

I use a Warmoth mahogany tele with emg 85/81 pickups, through the Maxon, a TC Electronics sustain/parametric eq and a TC Electronics chorus pedal through a Polytone Mega-brute (ok, I mostly play jazz , so that explains the amp, I guess).

I mostly wanted this so that I could get just a little breakup when I pick hard, especially on double stops. This works great for the purpose. I also use a bit heavier distortion for more bluesy stuff, using the bridge pu (the 81): this gives a great blues tone, and a pretty good 70s Allman Brothers imitation, as well.

This pedal is sensitive to pickup level and picking attack, which I quite like (although it is a bot of a pain with the neck pickup, which has a ridiculously high output leve). You can completely change the tone by turning the pickups up or down and by picking harder or softer.

It seems well built, but I've just had it a couple pf months, so we'll see. I've had the TC electronics pedals for almost 15 years, so it's got a lot to live up to.

Never tried

For the purpose, at least a 9. I tried some other od pedals; the voodoo labs sparkle drive (that one was shrill and unpleasant to my ears, but it's all a matter of taste), the route 66 (don't remember the manufacturer), the fulltone fulldrive, the other maxon tubescreamer type pedal, the rat (which I've owned previously), the really weird blixonic thingy (can't remember the name, it's shaped like a big tuna can), as well as the usual boss and dod stomp boxes, and I liked this one best. I can control this one the best through my atack, and it's not too shrill to my ears (this could mean that you'll hate it, since I don't like really trebly sounds).

The flaming negative reviews below seem pretty infantile to me; this is all a matter of taste and subjjectivity, but I just can't see anyone saying it absolutely sucked.

That being said, if you want a pedal for playing heavy metal, this one won't work for you at all; it's maximum level of distortion isn't as high as some of the other pedals I tried.

Easy to use. You gotta tweak it for a while and then you never have to touch it.

Swamp Ash Tele - Crybaby Wah - Small STone Phaser - Line 6 DElay - Maxon OD-808 - Mesa-Boogie Bottle Rocket - MXR Micro Amp - Tuner - 70's Silver Face Deluxe.
It's way quieter and clearer than a ts-9. There's no weird papery upper mids.

Has never gone down, looks like a solid construition.
I used a ts-9 with an 808 mod [any decent tech can mod the pedal for 20 bucks] for years but replacing the dodgy footswitch every 2 months got a little tiresome. I attempt to step on less pedals during a perfromance and stomping on a malfunctioning TS-9 switch 18 times looks pretty goofy onstage. I got the Maxon so to avoid that.

Dunno, it works now.

I play with a comedian on T.V. and in an outrageous Soutehrn Rock band with 10 musicians and do studio stuff. I've been playing in bars since I was a kid. I would buy this immediately if I lost it. I use this for 80% of my sound. On stripped down gigs I use only this thing. It's awesome for a half-gainy warm rhythym gtr sound: Think Stones Exile on Mainstreet - ZZ top Fandango - Most Zeppelin. That's what this sounds like and those are the guitarist I try and rip off. It sounds great in combination with a 2nd heavy dist pedal [I use a Bottle Rocket] for creamy lead tones. Good Lord, did I just say 'creamy lead tones! I suppose we are all guitar nerds. Oh well, it's fun.

Its easy to use but for the $140 you pay for it, its not that good sounding. The manual is in the box where it belongs.

I used this with my strat and Les Paul through my tweed Bassman and was very disappointed with the sounds I got. I find that the Maxon sounds harsh and trebly and the only usable sound I perceived was the clean drive sound. At higher gain levels I found it to be very harsh. I couldn't get the sounds of my favorite artists (Clapton, Gibbons, Bloomfield, etc.), nor could I dial in a usable tone for my own preference. The one redeeming quality it sounds good as a boost to a TS-9 but $140 for a boost, c'mon get real.

I owned it for 2 months and nothing happened to it.

I play blues and blues-rock and I found this pedal to be a horrible value. It sounds a lot like the TS-9 at lower drive settings but at higher settings my TS-9 blows it away. I sold this to a local stratocaster "nut" and he loves it, I however bought a Marshall Blues Breaker and found that to be outstanding at only $75. Don't buy into this horrible hype, the pedal is not worth $140. Unless you have disposable income then I would suggest getting a TS-9 or a Blues Breaker.

Easy to use.

I have two of these original Maxon pedals (not reissues.) One is in the same style casing as the Ibanez TS-808, and the other even rarer one is in the "flatbox" case (similar to the shape of the Maxon OD-808 reissue). I use the pedal with P-90's LP Jr. style guitars, Les Paul humbucker style guitars, and Strat style guitars, through blackface Fender amps. Both pedals have the same classic sound as the Ibanez TS-808. I colect the Ibanez pedals, and each TS-808 differs a bit one from another -- and I'd say the Maxon versions rate right up there with the some of the best TS-808's I have. And they are so much rarer and cooler.

Very reliable.

N?A

You might come across one of these for a low price, since they are not so well known as their identical Ibanez TS-808 counterpart -- and if so, I recommend you grab one. And for me, the original Maxon OD-808's are so cool, sound great, and so rare, I feel they are well worth $500 to $700. It took me years to find them.

www.leoquintero.com.
Extremely easy to operate.

Very quiet. great tone. It sounds great with a Strat and a Fender amp or Fender like amp.

I take it to all my studio sessions and live gigs.

I do a lot of studio work. Get a lot of clean, bluesy and distorted sounds.

This box really helps me get the singing tone I need from a distortion box.

www.leoquintero.com

Extremly easy to use..plug in and youre good to go.gain,tone,and volume knobs..nothing confusing.

I use a strat w/ anderson pickups going intoa rivera rakehead. It seems to me that this overdrive is the bomb at almost any setting.It can be used as a boost when gain is low and output high or crank the gain for a fatttly rich overdrive.This bad boy covers Hendrix,srv,and floyd to the t and the tone knob is extremly usable.Im never going back to my other green box.Put it in front of your signal chain and enjoy the richness.

Ive only had it for a few weeks...so far so good

havent had to call them:see "reliability"

Ive been playing for 7 years and find this the most usefull overdrive ive yet to have.It came down to the fulltone fulldrive and this green box and I appriciated its grittyness more.The fulldrive got a little to smooth and creamy(eric jhonson)where as this thing retained its twang in higher gain setting:however the boost feture on the fulldrive is missed here(thats the only thing keeping me from from getting the logo tattooed on me) .If your thing is fat twangy overdrive you better give this thing a try.I would definitly buy another if this was lost.

very easy. Similiar to a MXR pedel. Gain, tone, and balance controls.

Excellent "transparent" overdrive box. I have owned many original Ibanez TS-9's and TS-808's over the years but always manage to sell them because someone is ALWAYS willing to part with LOTS of money to buy 'em from me. After exhausting my suppily of other friends closets, garages and junk boxes, my suppily of originals has dwindled off in the last few years. The TS-5 Soundtank (which is the only 'screemer I have left), while good in its own right, is not a "tubescreamer" per-say beacuse the tone is generates itself is quite different. The Maxon is very smooth and much warmer than the TS-5 I just A/B'd 5 minutes ago. Plugged in front of My Fender Bassman, the OD-808 is quite creamy and responsive without the harsh top end that some similiar OD boxes may have. In honesty, any "tubescreamer" will only made a good tube amp sound better and bring the amp into natural tube saturation. The most important thing (to me anyway) is that the Overdrive keep the amps character and remain a natural extention of the amp. The Maxon does this just like I remember my originals doing to the exact same Fender amp. Looks like a winner to me especially since these are built using the same components as the originals. Nothing earth shattering, but this OD-808 does what I want it to do and then some.

Looks very reliable with metal housing and durable "stomp" switch.

Just bought it from by next door neighbor who has had it for a month or so. I heard his Maxon through an early 60's Fender Concert amp I my jaw hit the ground cause I heard true TS-808 tones comming from the amp. I knew then I would have to get this pedel and fortunatly I was able to save a few bucks by pestering my neighbor for his. Let the suckers spend the big bucks in the vintage market for old and beat up originals. I sold **at least 7 or 8** originals for $200-$300 a pop and this pedel is just as good so try one out if you can. Highly Recommended.

Very simple with 3 knobs (overdrive, level, tone), 1 input, 1 output, and on/off switch. Manual gives some sample settings, but is very easy to figure out.

The sound quality of this pedal is FABULOUS! I've owned a number of overdrive pedals through the years and the moment I played this pedal I had to buy it. It works as a great boost pedal to overdrive your preamp tubes. Tons of output and is very responsive. The OD starts at very slight clipping to SMOOTH blues (not trebly like my TS9) to classic rock style crunch. Very versatile, best sounding OD pedal I've ever heard/used. Highly recommended!

I use my TS9 as a backup. Maxon pedals are built very well. I also see '70s Ibanez pedals, Maxon made all the early Ibanez pedals, everywhere, so if that's any indication, I don't think there will be any problems. And if there are, I'm sure Godlyke will replace it ASAP.

I've spoken to the owner of Godlyke, the distibutor of Maxon in the U.S., a couple of times. He answered the phone both times and with friendly and informative. If I ever have a problem, it should be no problem to fix/replace it.

This is a exact replica of the '70s Maxon OD-808 and Ibanez TS-808. I opened the pedal up to see how the construction of the pedal looked and to see the components. The construction is very neat and it even has the JRC-4558D opamp chip like the originals. Do yourself a favor and test one out. The most versitile, best sounding overdrive pedals made!

Very easy 3 knobs

this really kills the low end and compared to my TS-808 vintage Ibanez Tube Screamer it sounds like crap

I wouldn't mind using it on a gig for reliability purposes but since the sound sucks and is a shell of the real TS-808 I wouldn't use it in the first place

never dealt with Maxon

This is a sick imitation of the TS-808 and makes me sick to see a pedal in this class even try to imitate the Tube Screamer

Its real easy to use, it looks just like a TS808 and sounds the same because they are identical in every part. The only difference, "name" logo. These are sold in Japan, Ibanez had maxon make all there TS808s in the old days, so Japan had to have there stock to and they called it the OD-808. No manual. Its real easy to get a good sound out of it, its a TS808!

I opened it up and compared it with three other TS808s I own. Its identical in every part and my OD808 was even older than my TS808s. Based off the serial numbers on the JRC4558D IC chip. It read 0344. And thats an early JRC chip. The numbers I had on the TS808s were like 1444, 2435 etc, none in the hundred brackets. No noise from the pedal. I used a 1960 strat and fender amps to a/b the pedals. I could definitely get the SRV vibe off this pedal, because its a TS808. I was so lucky to find this pedal in Japan. For some reason, in Japan they don't have a clue about these old OD808s.

its been around for 20years.

Don't knock until you try it. One dealer told me no one wants these Maxons because no one knows the deal about them or SRV didn't use them etc, etc. Its like guitar players rather by an authenic pair of Levi's jeans because so so wore them instead of buying a pair that cheaper because it doesn't have the label on the back pocket. This pedal is a TS808 in disquise, and thats the way I like it.