Transparent pedals comparison

[Gary Ladd]

My favorite *low gain* non-OD pedals, though none are 100% "transparent":

DCW Jam Ray
Doobtone EQ 18v
Durham SexDrive
GasPedals Gecko (Custom EP boost w/loop)
Landgraff M-OD (or RAT @ -0- Gain)
Lovekraft Chupacabra (see above)
Lovepedal LO
Lovepedal STP
Klon (Partspipe)
PE Germ
SHO
TC Jauernig Luxury Drive
Tim v1
Timmy v1 or v3 (very different)
Zvex SHO -or- Super Duper 2-In-1

Depends on guitar, amp or preamp + application & music style

 

[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.

Damn, I can't believe I forgot to mention the Lovepedal amp50. Such a wonderful boost/od/sweetener into a clean amp. I just haven't been using it for a while -- but it's definitely time again. I really like it into the twin reverb. Another pedal that can get close to the amp50 would be a BAE Hot Fuzz at minimal gain settings. But it also comes with more eq flexibility. DOD 250 is no slouch either.

 

[saarangnarayan]

Damn, I can't believe I forgot to mention the Lovepedal amp50. Such a wonderful boost/od/sweetener into a clean amp.

It’s a Timmy.

 

[newpedals]

I read some intersting stuff online.

The OG Bluesbreaker has soft clipping. Some pedals based on it give option of hard clipping.

ODR-1 seems to have some mixture of hard and soft clipping.

Klones are actually hard clipping, but the way they are designed helps retain the sound of our guitars and amps.

Timmy is mostly soft clipping, but probably the newer versions have a toggle enabling us to switch between aysmmetric (Boss SD1 style) and symmetric (tubescreamer-y) modes.

 

[saarangnarayan]

Timmy is mostly soft clipping, but probably the newer versions have a toggle enabling us to switch between aysmmetric (Boss SD1 style) and symmetric (tubescreamer-y).

The MXR version (based on the V2) has that, too. TBH, the MXR Duke of Tone (bluesbreaker) and Timmy might be good contenders to shoot out. Both are different from each other but can cover a lot of each other's tonal territories.

 

[the swede]

I read some intersting stuff online.

The OG Bluesbreaker has soft clipping. Some pedals based on it give option of hard clipping.

ODR-1 seems to have some mixture of hard and soft clipping.

Klones are actually hard clipping, but the way they are designed helps retain the sound of our guitars and amps.

Timmy is mostly soft clipping, but probably the newer versions have a toggle enabling us to switch between aysmmetric (Boss SD1 style) and symmetric (tubescreamer-y).

Timmy was always my favorite OD pedal since its EQ is so useful. I very much liked it as a standalone dirt pedal to, into a clean amp.
I do remember preferring the toggle in the assym. position.

for the time being ive got a Honey Bee by One Control on the way. It will be my first foray into the Björn Juhl stuff (Mad Professor, Bearfoot, BJFE, One Control). The Honey Bee drive has quite the reputation for being very "amp like" and dynamic, being a "amp in the box" type of design, so it will be interesting. Mainly because i was searching for a mini drive pedal, had my sights on Timmy mini or Duke of Tone, but i quickly found myself listening to all the Honey Bee videos i could find.

The One Control versions






Bearfoot version

 

[newpedals]

Timmy was always my favorite OD pedal since its EQ is so useful. I very much liked it as a standalone dirt pedal to, into a clean amp.
I do remember preferring the toggle in the assym. position.

for the time being ive got a Honey Bee by One Control on the way. It will be my first foray into the Björn Juhl stuff (Mad Professor, Bearfoot, BJFE, One Control). The Honey Bee drive has quite the reputation for being very "amp like" and dynamic, being a "amp in the box" type of design, so it will be interesting. Mainly because i was searching for a mini drive pedal, had my sights on Timmy mini or Duke of Tone, but i quickly found myself listening to all the Honey Bee videos i could find.

The One Control versions






Bearfoot version

These are interesting. They sound so good. Being boutique, they must be expensive.

I am assuming the Yellow and Silver pedals are based on the respective Klons. The blue is probably based on a Bluesbreaker.

Gonna sleep now.

 

[the swede]

These are interesting. They sound so good. Being boutique, they must be expensive.

Relatively i think they are decently priced for the quality the offer.

I am assuming the Yellow and Silver pedals are based on the respective Klons. The blue is probably based on a Bluesbreaker.

Dont assume
Björn has said all these Honey Bee variants are designed to mimic amp sounds and are suitable as standalone drive/distortion pedals.
Honey = "Supro amp"
Silver = based on the Honey but more "American silver"
Blue = based on the Honey but more gain, likea modern distortion

Gonna sleep now.

Do that, and try not to think of everything as clones of klones, because while alot of overdrives and pedals are based on a small number of circuits, not everything is.

 

[the swede]

@newpedals
the story of the Honey Bee

It all began in Björn’s workshop in the dark and magical land of Stockholm, Sweden. He was working on a much loved but very beaten up old red Supro amp loaded with a Mojo speaker for a guitarist friend, the rather marvellously named Grönis von Schnabelstein-Dänicken. The amp was basically lifeless and Björn was having to perform a feat of necromancy to raise it from the dead. This involved rewiring the amp and replacing many of the components including the transformers, which were the main culprit for its demise. He replaced them with larger ones which gave the amp a slightly heftier low-end response while retaining the old-school honkiness that made it so special.

But what does this have to do with anything? Well, at the same time as he was working on the amp, Björn was at a loss as to what he could make for The Great Scandinavian Guitar & Drum Show of 2002. It was his friend Grönis who suggested he make a pedal that had the qualities of the beaten up Supro. Why not try to make a pedal that had the sound and character of a small worn-in combo, one that had probably started as more of a jazz amp but that came to be loved by punk rockers due to the slight lack of treble and the fact that it would distort nicely when you really dug into the strings Johnny Ramone-style? With this concept in mind Björn set to work producing some prototypes and testing them using his mint green Flying V with hand-made pickups and a Marshall Valvestate. Grönis monitored Björn’s progress and would keep telling him to remove such-and-such frequency because it sounded too much like a conventional distortion pedal. Finally, they settled on a design that truly captured the spirit that they were after. The name of the pedal was born from another moment of serendipity. In need of an enclosure for the showpiece pedal, Björn turned to his engineer Mårtensson who tried out a yellow tint. Both Björn and his partner Eva thought it was too light in colour and so Mårtensson added more and more layers of the yellow until the pedal turned a colour that all three of them agreed looked like honey.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

@newpedals
the story of the Honey Bee

It all began in Björn’s workshop in the dark and magical land of Stockholm, Sweden. He was working on a much loved but very beaten up old red Supro amp loaded with a Mojo speaker for a guitarist friend, the rather marvellously named Grönis von Schnabelstein-Dänicken. The amp was basically lifeless and Björn was having to perform a feat of necromancy to raise it from the dead. This involved rewiring the amp and replacing many of the components including the transformers, which were the main culprit for its demise. He replaced them with larger ones which gave the amp a slightly heftier low-end response while retaining the old-school honkiness that made it so special.

But what does this have to do with anything? Well, at the same time as he was working on the amp, Björn was at a loss as to what he could make for The Great Scandinavian Guitar & Drum Show of 2002. It was his friend Grönis who suggested he make a pedal that had the qualities of the beaten up Supro. Why not try to make a pedal that had the sound and character of a small worn-in combo, one that had probably started as more of a jazz amp but that came to be loved by punk rockers due to the slight lack of treble and the fact that it would distort nicely when you really dug into the strings Johnny Ramone-style? With this concept in mind Björn set to work producing some prototypes and testing them using his mint green Flying V with hand-made pickups and a Marshall Valvestate. Grönis monitored Björn’s progress and would keep telling him to remove such-and-such frequency because it sounded too much like a conventional distortion pedal. Finally, they settled on a design that truly captured the spirit that they were after. The name of the pedal was born from another moment of serendipity. In need of an enclosure for the showpiece pedal, Björn turned to his engineer Mårtensson who tried out a yellow tint. Both Björn and his partner Eva thought it was too light in colour and so Mårtensson added more and more layers of the yellow until the pedal turned a colour that all three of them agreed looked like honey.

It's very loosely based on Rat topology. Doesn't sound anything like one but the DNA is in the circuit.

 

[FuzzyAce]

It’s a Timmy.

I've never heard that. You sure you're not thinking about the Amp Eleven instead? I know a lot of their designs incorporate the COT circuit which is based off some form of the Electra distortion -- from what I've read. But honestly, I don't know because I've not looked too deep into it.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I've never heard that. You sure you're not thinking about the Amp Eleven instead? I know a lot of their designs incorporate the COT circuit which is based off some form of the Electra distortion -- from what I've read. But honestly, I don't know because I've not looked too deep into it.

No you're right it's an electra.

 

[FuzzyAce]

No you're right it's an electra.

Cool, thanks.
I love the simplicity of the amp50. Just a single bias control with so many subtle flavors all the way up to complete fuzziness.

 

[Dave Lewis]

I’ve used all of those on the list into clean amps

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Cool, thanks.
I love the simplicity of the amp50. Just a single bias control with so many subtle flavors all the way up to complete fuzziness.

It's a really great circuit that's super easy to mod. There's no one who's gotten more mileage out of it than Sean from Lovepedal.

 

[saarangnarayan]

I've never heard that. You sure you're not thinking about the Amp Eleven instead? I know a lot of their designs incorporate the COT circuit which is based off some form of the Electra distortion -- from what I've read. But honestly, I don't know because I've not looked too deep into it.

You’re right. For some reason my mind pictured the Big Box Amp Eleven, which I own and love a lot. I do love the COT circuit that is in boost side the Big Box Amp Eleven, but I love my Tchula more, which IIRC is a modified COT stacked with another COT. I do like the EQD Special Cranker a bit more these days, tho, which is a more refined and flexible Electra.

 

[FuzzyAce]

You’re right. For some reason my mind pictured the Big Box Amp Eleven, which I own and love a lot. I do love the COT circuit that is in boost side the Big Box Amp Eleven, but I love my Tchula more, which IIRC is a modified COT stacked with another COT. I do like the EQD Special Cranker a bit more these days, tho, which is a more refined and flexible Electra.

I've wanted to try the Tchula for while, but I have enough pedals to keep me busy for a while!

 

[newpedals]

Relatively i think they are decently priced for the quality the offer.

Dont assume
Björn has said all these Honey Bee variants are designed to mimic amp sounds and are suitable as standalone drive/distortion pedals.
Honey = "Supro amp"
Silver = based on the Honey but more "American silver"
Blue = based on the Honey but more gain, likea modern distortion

Do that, and try not to think of everything as clones of klones, because while alot of overdrives and pedals are based on a small number of circuits, not everything is.

Thank you for correcting me.

When I see silver and gold colored pedals, JRAD Archers and Warm Audio, Behringer Klones come to mind. Sorry.

 

[Dave Lewis]

Thank you for correcting me.

When I see silver and gold colored pedals, JRAD Archers and Warm Audio, Behringer Klones come to mind. Sorry.

Nothing wrong with Warm Audio pedals or Behringer .

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Wow behringer made a lawn mower.

You do get dragged on your face but it only costs 10p and it's got a metal enclosure. Result