Transparent pedals comparison

[newpedals]

I visited a friend to help me out with some covers which she is good at playing. Her boyfriend had returned from Europe, and he had gifted her a mini nobleman (Nobels clone) pedal which she hadn't yet checked out.

She also has a Mooer Blues Crab (Blues breaker clone), Nux horseman (Klone) and Caline pure sky (Timmy clone, without the toggle, v1?)

We daisy chained them quickly to compare them. Plugged her MIM Telecaster into a Blues Junior. We took turns playing her guitar.

The pure sky had the largest noise floor, but it could be because of our daisy chaining. So we didn't audition it.

We had set the amp a little past break up. The Klone sounded amazing.

When we tried the Blues crab, the flavor of the gain was, for the lack of a better word, mellow-er. It felt very natural, reactive to our playing, and articulate. The pedal struggled with output though.

Lastly we tried the Nobleman, and we were surprised. It had quite some gain, and we turned down the drive on the amp. It sounded glorious.

If we had to chose one pedal, if plugging into a clean amp - undoubtedly we would chose the Nobleman.

If we had to chose one, to be used with an overdriven amp, it would be the Klone.

The OG timmy is a nice pedal from what I have heard, but neither of us can afford it at the moment.

I am not promoting clones. On the contrary, after trying these I would recommend others to buy the originals made by well known people and manufacturers.

We felt too shy to record a video, because compared to the experienced people on here, we will sound cringey.

Thanks for reading this though.

 

[Aelred]

I haven’t voted yet – I have some testing to do. I’m currently running a Bluesbreaker style into a Crunch channel and a Colorsound style into a different amp’s Clean channel (both Engl).

I have a Timmy and a Klon KTR I can – and should – test as well, along with an EQD Westwood. I don't have a Nobel's of any kind.

I do like the Colorsound for cleans – but the other half of that pedal is a Fuzz.

And there a lot of Boost pedals on the market such as Spark and EP, or my Spaceman Mercury IV.

 

[saarangnarayan]

The Timmy is (IMO) an absolute legend of a pedal. The most versatile of the bunch here, tbh. If I could have only one pedal (apart from my unicorn TS-9), it would be the Timmy. It can do pretty much anything; the flexibility is unmatched when it comes to low-mid gain drives. It can also do a pretty convincing higher gain overdrive. The bass knob is the secret sauce in that circuit.

 

[newholland]

into a clean amp? probably a klon, cause it can dirt up. never tried a nobels. i genuinely cant find a use for the caline.. just not useful to me, especially into a clean amp. bluesbreakers are okay, but id take a guv'nor any day of the week.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Depends on the amp for me.

 

[gearJunkie]

The Protein Drive is my favorite OD pedal, and the green ODR1 side is the main attraction, so Nobels for me.

 

[miggelblast]

 

[the swede]

View attachment 41593

Good one, sleeper for sure.

 

[the swede]

I’ve tried this numerous times over many years. Slowly and stubbornly I’ve realized that the only pedals that i actually like into a pristine clean amp is the “amp in a box” type of drive pedals. They’re meant to sound like a breaking up or distorting amp.

Overdrives like the ones mentioned in @newpedals list are often made for driving the amp, making the amp breakup or distorting and the gain character from the pedals is meant to blend in with that.
Not trying to be a snob or anything, but that’s what they’re made to do. And personally i realized that after trying many “overdrive” pedals into a clean amp and not really liking the pedals gain/drive sound. As a subtle tone enhancer/clean boost/shaper… yes, they’ll work. But for a pedal standalone crunch/breakup not very much.

Timmy actually gets away with it, because of the EQ imo, but still, it doesn’t quite get “there” when used with a clean amp that doesn’t want to be pushed into breaking up.

Summary, imo.
If the clean amp can be pushed to breakup. Any overdrive that fits the taste/amp/guitar will work.

If it’s a clean amp that stays clean, “amp in a box pedals” is the way to go.

And typically, what I’ve noticed, is that overdrives isn’t as dynamic in their own gain than amp in a box drive pedals wich seem to behave more “amp like” with dynamic playing, volume knob and such.

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

I did a guitar store shootout for getting an OD to juice up things on a clean amp two years ago. Tried the MXR Timmy, NUX Horseman and the Wampler Euphoria. I thought I would walk away with a Timmy since it’s a favorite in the Helix but the Euphoria was the winner for me. Currently have it running on 18V. It has an active bass knob so probably not the best when you have to cut a lot of bass. Works well for me to beef up and give some attitude to single coils with the clean channel on my Fireball 25. I think it’s supposed to bring some dumblish flavor. Also versatile with three different diode modes plus taking higher voltage.

 

[laxu]

None of those are in any way "transparent".

The answer depends on what amp. Fenders might favor the more midrangy pedals for example.

 

[metropolis_4]

I’ve tried this numerous times over many years. Slowly and stubbornly I’ve realized that the only pedals that i actually like into a pristine clean amp is the “amp in a box” type of drive pedals. They’re meant to sound like a breaking up or distorting amp.

Overdrives like the ones mentioned in @newpedals list are often made for driving the amp, making the amp breakup or distorting and the gain character from the pedals is meant to blend in with that.
Not trying to be a snob or anything, but that’s what they’re made to do. And personally i realized that after trying many “overdrive” pedals into a clean amp and not really liking the pedals gain/drive sound. As a subtle tone enhancer/clean boost/shaper… yes, they’ll work. But for a pedal standalone crunch/breakup not very much.

Timmy actually gets away with it, because of the EQ imo, but still, it doesn’t quite get “there” when used with a clean amp that doesn’t want to be pushed into breaking up.

Summary, imo.
If the clean amp can be pushed to breakup. Any overdrive that fits the taste/amp/guitar will work.

If it’s a clean amp that stays clean, “amp in a box pedals” is the way to go.

And typically, what I’ve noticed, is that overdrives isn’t as dynamic in their own gain than amp in a box drive pedals wich seem to behave more “amp like” with dynamic playing, volume knob and such.

Not the Blues Breaker and the ODR-1. Those were both designed as “amp in a box” style drives, not boosts.

The Blues Breaker is meant to sound like a Blues Breaker amp, and the ODR-1 was designed to sound like a Bassman breaking up.

 

[metropolis_4]

Agree that, other than maybe the Klon, I wouldn’t call those very transparent. But I like all of them!

If I could only have one it would either be a Timmy or an Anniversary ODR-1

 

[the swede]

Not the Blues Breaker and the ODR-1. Those were both designed as “amp in a box” style drives, not boosts.

The Blues Breaker is meant to sound like a Blues Breaker amp, and the ODR-1 was designed to sound like a Bassman breaking up.

 

[newpedals]

View attachment 41593

I may be wrong but I had seen a demo of this in which it seemed to sound like a fuzz with higher gain dialled on the pedal.

I think this circuit is somehow either similar to MXR Distortion+, WH Red Llama or both. They sound similar at higher gain - I had tried the D+ mentioned above in a store.

 

[miggelblast]

I may be wrong but I had seen a demo of this in which it seemed to sound like a fuzz with higher gain dialled on the pedal.

I think this circuit is somehow either similar to MXR Distortion+, WH Red Llama or both. They sound similar at higher gain - I had tried the D+ mentioned above in a store.

I don't know the specifics, but to my understanding Red Llama and Hot Tubes are somehow similar circuit-wise.

Yes, it gan get a bit fuzzy at higher gain settings – I wouldn't replace any fuzz with it though. IMO it shines at lowish/medium gain when it sounds just like the amp cranked a bit more. It responds well to pick attack and rolling off guitar volume and also stacks great with other drives or fuzzes.

 

[Richard_G]

I guess I'd have a hard time choosing between my Paul C Timmy v1 and my Wampler Ge Tumnus Deluxe - partly depending on what amp I was using - but my choice would probably be my Timmy most of the time.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I chose something else, although it's hard to choose just one. It can vary on the mood and sound I'm going for. Into a clean or edge of breakup amp, I like the OD-3 as a general workhorse, but also the Mystic Edge or a Green Rhino MKIV. Each has a different midrange quality. The Mystic Edge can be the most transparent if needed. BK tube driver is another that I can use low gain and retain some stringy top end which some may interpret as 'transparent'.

Fwiw, since the Red Llama has been mentioned... I do like it a lot in Helix land. It has similarities to a fat BK (real one) cranked up when HI is to zero and LO to max. Gets into fuzz territory.

 

[Aelred]

The best tone sweetener for my Engl AE50 Clean channel is the Clean channel on my Bad Cat Black Cat – and a Radial AB/Y pedal. I want my clean to be clean, not edge-of-breakup into breakup.

The Crunch channels on both of together is also wonderful to my ears. I put a Wampler Pantheon, Klon KTR, Colorsound (half a BAT Coven) and a Timmy in front of the AB/Y, and they are good OD pedals, but I prefer a Spaceman Mercury IV for the harmonics or a Spaceman Artemis – whatever the hell that thing is (Modulated Filter is only part of it. I think it’s the EQ that’s doing the work here).

Or my Strymon Deco II delay for the tape saturation.

Of the OD pedals, my pick was the Klon KTR slightly over the Coven/Colorsound. But I can kick the other side of the Coven and fuzz away!

 

[joebloggs]

I prefer Klones with HB style guitars, and have a Tumnus Deluxe, which is fantastic. Lately I have been using a BB style pedal with my single coil guitars, and prefer that sound over the Klone when playing a Strat or Tele. My BB style is an MXR Duke of Tone...and it's great. My amps are always set for clean... Reeves(Hiwatt), Two Rock, Louis Electric or Carr Telstar...each give a different flavour.