PedalPCB Oddity, OD-1

[Thewintersoldier]

My weekly build report, the one time a week I post anything that could be considered remotely close to constructive and worthwhile. This week I'm sharing my oddity build. The Oddity is a clone of the Boss OD-1. But Chris, didn't you already build on OD-1? I did, I built the odd one out which is the first issue version of the OD-1 which used a quad opamp and the input/output buffers are opamp based. The oddity is based on the second version of the OD-1 which uses a dual opamp and transistor based buffers. The OD-1 was bosses first compact overdrive pedal and one of the architects of the the tube screamer and SD-1.

Rumor has it the change in design of the OD-1 circuit was do to boss engineers claiming that the American made quad opamps used in the pedal were inconsistent. I would bet that the change came about when the 4558 was widely available and Japanese manufacturing meant that it was cheaper to use and thus higher profit margins could be had. The changes in the circuit make for a definitive audio difference. Many people seem to prefer the quad opamp version and analogman would have you believe that the second iteration is hot trash. So what are the differences?

The quad opamp version is voiced a little deeper, has less compression and more grit, more balanced sounding and slightly less gain and volume. The dual opamp has a brighter more cutting tone, slightly more volume and tighter aggressive gain. To me, the first version is slightly more lofi sounding and the dual opamp version is more refined and in line with the modern overdrives that followed it. I can use words all I want so I put them head to head in a video so you can hear the difference. The pedals are set with the gain each at 9 o'clock and the volume set to be as close as possible. I used my looper so I can keep it consistent and switch between pedals with both hands. Different yet very close and either version you go with can be set up similar and i would be happy to use either version.

The build was simple, low parts count which means with only 2 knobs and minimal components everything part had an impact on the overall sound. Typical ppcb, fast and painless with no hiccups and a clean layout. Blue tayda enclosure with UV print and for graphics went the the GOAT Stephen Strange. I highly recommend this build as it is a solid overdrive and the sound is greater than the sum of its parts. The cost to reward ratio is outstanding for the project.

[jimilee]

Yes, Dr.Strange finally gets his own pedal!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jessenator]

love that you've done these side by side! I have a favorite for sure now.

[WonkoTheSane]

Slick, clean and well designed as always. Love the Dr Strange art too, he was one of my favorites back in the 80s.

[brucer]

Awesome build report.  Video comparison a great addition.  I know which one I love! 
Dr Strange's gut shot could hang in a gallery, but the odd one out belongs on my pedalboard.

Thanks for posting!

[Willybomb]

How are you getting such vibrant yellows on the blue powdercoat? 

I usually do a white silhouette of my artwork to go underneath in the white layer, but I haven't found Tayda's registration to be that sharp for the next layer on top - there's usually smidges of the white layer showing at the edges.

[lars]

Excellent, clean builds. And it's great to be able to A/B them both to get a definitive sound comparison! I think the OD-1 has quickly become the new Klon and/or Tubescreamer. It's the overdrive everybody is talking about, building, and tweaking.
Personally the two mods I feel really take the 2nd version OD-1 to the next level are changing the value of R6 (4.7k) to a smaller value around 2.7k - 3.3k, to get more distortion. This would be good to put on a mini toggle. The other odd mod I've found is to change the connection point of D6 and D5, where they connect to pin 6 of the 4558. If you put that connection on a toggle so it can be lifted and connected to anywhere on the plane that R4, C3, R9 connects to, you get a volume boost and a more "refined, amp-like" clipping characteristic. It's hard to describe, but it definitely changes the feel of the overdrive. I found the easiest connection point for that mod is off the Level control wires, where the wire is labeled 15 on the schematic. To me it makes the pedal sound more like a Tweed Deluxe amp going into breakup, think Mike Campbell-type tones.