Maxon ROD-881

This pedal is easy to use even if it has a lot to offer... It has two modes: Overdrive and Distortion and a Boost option for each mode. So, there are four tone variations available. There is a separate light control for Boost and effect on/off switches and this is a big plus. Boost is activated by foot while to go from Overdrive to Distortion you have to reach down and flick the switch by hand. Other features include: bass, middle, treble- eq knobs, Gain and Master(level)knobs. On the back next to the AC cord input is a built in Noise Reduction with on/ off switch and a threshold control. The Rod 881 has metal chasis and of course a 12AX7 tube inside. The unit runs on 9V.

This is one of the most amazing and impressive Tube OD/ Distortion units I have ever seen and heard. I own and have used many classic pedals out there over the years like Tube driver, Tubescreamer, DS 1, SD 1, DOD 250, Maxon OD 808, Guv'nor, Guyatone OD X, Radial Tone Bone Classic... but this one beats them all! It can do anything each of above mentioned can and then some... My main guitars are an ESP Vintage+ (Strat type) and ESP H 1000 Deluxe which is a set neck/ two humbuckers type of guitar. I use various amps like Laney, Fender, Crate,...
Sounds ROD 881 produces are very warm, thick, "real" and "organic". It feels as if it becomes one with the amp and just pushes it to a new level. It has a great range of tones since it has three independent knobs for bass , middle and treble frequences - so you can really dial in sounds you want. There is a lot of volume/headroom available - it's loud if you need it to be. The range of Gain can go from slight OD boost like Tubescreamer 808 (but better)all the way to turning a clean sounding amp to Marshall or Boogie rage...think early Van Halen. It's very articulate and smooth sounding...you get to "feel the string" under the pick...which means - very dynamic and responsive. The 12AX7 tube that it comes with seems to be a nice one. Unit also cleans up very well with the guitar vol. knob roll off even in higher ranges of gain which is very important for me. I have never been so excited about an OD pedal I have to admit... Both modes - OD and Distortion are good (although I prefere OD). Boost does not add too much of volume boost but thickens the tone instead. On top of all this there is a switchable Noise reduction feature that is "built in" and which works just great... better then Boss NS-2 for example. This feature is very cool since it allows you to use amp's clean tone and then step on ROD 881 and have a high gain tone with Noise reduction feature "on" and then go back to clean amp sound. With an outside Noise reduction unit this would not be possible since you can't set such a unit to "clean- up" high gain noise effectively but still go back and use amp's clean setting. You would have to switch the outside Noise gate unit as well to be able to use the clean sound - which is a drag... Maxon solved this problem with ROD 881's built in Noise Reduction- Bravo for this extra usefull feature!!! But it's not that the pedal has a lot of noise when this feature is in "off" mode... The only thing to improve here would be if the Noise Reduction switch could be activated or deactivated by foot (you have to do it with your hand). Same goes for OD/Dist mode switch- but I guess this would take a lot of space and doesn't really bother me.

The one thing I can't get here is a transparent clean boost like MXR Micro Amp - but ROD 881 is not designed to do this in the first place.

As far as lead tone quality goes (with the right guitar and amp)this is a teritory where this pedal is unrivaled. I can dial in sounds very close to Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen, Van Halen, ZZ Top and anything in between...enough said.

Works fine for now. I didn't have any problems yet and don't expect any. But on a gig everything needs backup...

Maxon pedals are distributed by Godluke for US and these people are great to deal with. Kevin knows and cares what he is selling...

I play "virtuoso- oriented" guitar music mixing styles like rock, metal, blues, neoclassical... This pedal is the most "complete" out there. Sounds amazing! It runs on 9V so it's easy to integrate on a pedalboard with other 9V units... not like some other Tube OD s which are 12V and in some situations hard to deal with because of that. Only thing I wish it had is a "footswitchable" control for the Noise reduction feature .
If lost I would want another one right away.

Gain, Master, Bass, Middle, Treble.
Some tweeking is required to get it just where you want it.

Toggle switch between overdrive and distortion.

Slide on/off slide switch and knob on back for noise reducer and sensitivity.

Effect (On/off) switch and boost switch.

1 12AX7 tube.

Excellent warm tube sound. Not tinny or buzzy. No noise at all. The noise reducer on it works better than it needs to and it does not suck any tone. You can adjust the sensitivity. It is not true bypass, but it is Maxon and I've found that their non-true bypss products don't change the tone.

It has 3 modes. 1 overdrive mode, 1 distortion mode and a boost that works for either mode. The overdrive is very warm and ballsy. I like the overdrive mode with the boost on better than the distortion mode. The distortion mode to me is too over the top.

It comes with a EH 12AX7WXT tube in it, which is a great tube. I think the distortion on it is somewhere near 60%, but I might be wrong. The best part about tube distortion boxes is that you can change the tubes. I put a JJ 12AX7 in it and it totally changed the tone. It mellowed it out to a vintage type medium gain distortion. I put a 12AX7EH and it put it over the top. I tried a Mullard 12AX7 and a 12AU7 and finally settled on the 12AU7.

I play mostly harder stuff, like Zakk Wylde, Ramstien, Pantera type of thing, but this works for the lighter stuff too. Actually, the stock tube is more sutited for medium to high gain hard rock. The Mullard I have in it gives it more balls. If you want a metal sound, I would go with a 12AX7EH or a higher end Sovtek, which are both about $10, so its worth the upgrade.

My setup.
Ibanez RG-570, Schecter C1-Classic, Fender Telecaster =>
Morley Bad Horsie => FD2, FD DS-Pro, Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive (Keeley mod), Zvex Fuzz Factory, Retroman Lola => Boss EQ-20 10 band => Rocktron Hush => Maxon CS-9 chorus, Maxon AD-900 delay, Boss DD-20 delay modeler =>
SMF 15 Watter (badass $1700 new amp made by the Matchless guy)

It is built very well, with a few mass produced shortcuts, as a previous reviewer pointed out. I would put it in the same ball park as Fulltone. The tube is not mounted on the circuit board. It is mound in a heavy duty socket on the side of the metal casing, so you can change it as many times as you want without it breaking.

I have never dealt with them.

Excellent tube distortion. It has the benefit of being able to produce anything from light pop rock to the classics to metal, with the change of a tube and some EQ tweeking. Excellent quality sound with no noise whatsoever.

Well, here goes. I've used this guy for one gig so far, so the jury's still out on this one, but it seems pretty damn good so far. Here's a little background on me and tube-king-type pedals (of which this is one): I stumbled accross the Japanese version of the Tube King when my Chandler TubeDriver kicked the bucket around 10 years ago. The Tube King was my main pedal for 10-12 years before I finally got really tired of fixing it all the time. I saw that the TK999US was built more like a tank, so I buoght one. The TK999US to my ears actually had a thicker, more Mesa-y metal distortion than the TK999 (Japanese). At the time I was playing blues and preferred the transparent sound of the Japanese model. The band I'm in now does lots of rock, and I have come to prefer the TK999US for that sound-the high-gain Boogie recto (whatever you want to call it) sound. Makes my Twin reverb sound passably like a high-gain amp.

Enter the ROD881 -- A tube king with a switch between OD/Dist AND a BOOST SWITCH? I had to have one!! Needless to say, I went through quite some trouble and money to get my hands on one all the way from Japan. Now I have to hand it to Maxon, they MUST actually listen to thier pedals because when I got it I opened it up and it had an Electro-Harmonix 12AX7 tube, straight from Japan!!! I was very surprised that they went through that much trouble to get a good-sounding 12AX7 in there. So now you know the story of how I got it, etc. read on....

Oh, by the way, it really takes a LOT of playing with knobs and switches to get to know the sounds that are possible from this box--and there are many!!

If the TK999 Japan is more transparent and musical than the TK999US, than the ROD881 is like the TK999 Japan, maybe even a little bit more transparent!! Very warm suond. Again, I have to think that Maxon actually used their ears to design this product, that's the only reason I can see to use an Electro-Harmonix 12AX7, they're certainly not the cheapest 12AX7 you can get, nor the highest-gain (well at least in my opinion--anyone have actual numbers?). So that leaves TONE as the reason to use this tube. Now I am back to the transparent sound of my Japanese TK999 that I liked so much, but I'm missing the Boogie/Marshall preamp crunch sound. Enter the boost control. But first, a caveat: In playing through a tube amp with tons of clean headroom at a low volume, this pedal sounds buzzy/fuzzy, almost bad, and the boost is WAY too much boost. However, I was very pleased to find that when used live, with the preamp already close to breakup, the distortion is rounded out quite nicely, and the boost gives a small volume increase but an AWESOME fatness increase in the distortion!! Way out-boogies anything I have played excepting a true Boogie or Marshall preamp saturation. So, I think it will be my guy from now on. Look for my TK999 Japan and my TK999US on ebay pretty soon, I'm going to stick with this guy!

Unfortunately, along with the great sound of the Japanese TK999 I now have to put up with the Japanese version's construction. Who the hell decided it would be a good idea to mount the jacks and power supply connector right to the pcb? And a metal nut on plastic threads no less? Come on, get real, this thing is poorly constructed for live use. The knobs stick way up high and they are loose, so good luck keeping them!! I lost 3 out of 5 for my Japanese Tube King....

I do have a new NGM pedalboard, though, which is built like a tank. Enough, in fact, to make up for the pcb-mounted construction and loose knobs on this pedal.

Maxon actually conversed with me over email although I did not buy this pedal from them, I think they may still be the same guys that designed all those great Ibanez pedals? These guys are INTO tone, unlike our Dunlop/Fender/Ibanez/whatever crappy corporations we have here these days where nobody uses their ears or actually plays an instrument. No wonder a Maxon (Ibanez) TS808 goes for $600!!! These guys actually care whether or not their product sounds good!!!!

For me, this pedal is the Holy Grail. Everyone has their own opinion, and I still use a TS9 and Metal Charger too, and I still feel like I can't get all the sounds I want, but this one is so versatile and incredible effective with a tube amp that's just beginning to distort that I'm selling my Ibanez Tube Kings. I almost wish this thing had patches so that I could switch settings in the middle of a song...

Due to the jacks that have PLASTIC THREADS WITH METAL NUTS MOUNTED TO A PCB BOARD design I can't give this pedal a 10. Sound quality is everything I had hoped, and it's almost TOO versatile, but I sure wouldn't mind a more road-worthy construction.

Easy! It's just like another channel added, it's got pre and post gain, bass, treble and middle controls. It also has a switch to go between overdrive and distortion, plus an added boost switch which really kicks the pedal over the top (forgot to mention, comes standard with a GE5751 valve)

This is hands down the best distortion/overdrive pedal i own, it can go from typical tubescreamer overdrive to over the top gain, even sounds better when you open your amp up, just like a true tube amp!

It's made of metal, it looks very sturdy & should be able to keep up with constant gigging

i haven't tried them, i don't think theres too many of these units out there

like i said, it's got to be the best distortion/overdrive box out there! if you do get the chance to buy one, take it!!

Quite easy to use, has a gain & master volume with a three band tone control (Bass, mid, high - just in case you were wondering!)
Tone controls are very sensitive & can change the whole effect quite easily
Has a switch to go from overdrive to Distortion & also a boost switch onboard. Also runs a 5751 Jan Phillips valve !
(Basicly it looks the same as the Ibanez Tube King TK999 - Maxon made these effects for Ibanez (Along with the original TS-808)

I use this with a Marshall TSL100 (On the crunch cannel) and a Peavey Classic 30 (With 12"Ext Cab) With various guitars, mainly a Ibanez RG470 with Paf's, a home made strat & a Fender Toronado.
I love this thing a lot - it's been one of the first distortion pedals i've owned that doesn't sound like crap when you turn the volume up to stage levels. Has a fair amount of gain on tap, not to go into the metal range however cause the overdrive of this unit sounds more "Real" than most pedals i've used.
But if you turn up the tone controls - which are quite sensitive, you can throw in what sounds like almost too much midrange - so just gotta play around with them until you find something your happy with.
Doesn't sound like everyone else this pedal - you can sound however you want.
I play alot of everything from Rock to funk & groove - for the rock side of things this pedal really (& i mean really Kicks it!)

This is pretty well built - all steel constuction, I took it apart to try different tubes in it and found this thing has a whole bundle of those JRC4558d chips !
very nicely done!

Havent had to (touch wood) but i might be difficult cause i once contacted Maxon in the USA who told me they didn't sell this pedal there cause of a Patend infringment (??? wonder whats going on there?)
But was able to check a few things out on Maxon' Japanese website.

Very happy with it, can do all types of drive imaginable - well for my needs anyway! This pretty much would be the same as an Ibanez Tube King with more gain, and its really well made, great sounding bit of gear!