Mitch
12 augustus 2004, 14:34
Na een hoop tijd te hebben besteed bij postkantoren is de Parametric Overdrive dan eindelijk aangekomen. Ik heb er een review van gemaakt op Harmony Central, maar voor wie daar nooit komt hier een kopie van de review (wel in het Engels dus):
To start with: mine's a bit different than the already very versatile 'stock' Para OD. I had some requests which Keith executed very well.
Here's the standard Para:
http://www.bigtonemusic.com/sitebuilder/images/PODtop-418x367.jpg
And here's mine:
http://home.kabelfoon.nl/~sjem/images/gitaarzooi/mkanterstop.jpg
I'll get to the differences in the following text.
Controls
The two rows of controls may look intimidating to those of us that hate to tweak, but they interact in an easy way.
I'll go the Arab way, from right to left
"Gain" is kind of a fine tuner for "Drive". So consider "Drive" as your usual gain knob and "Gain" as an extra knob to control the saturation, a bit like 'pre amp/power amp', but more refined.
The control of the amount of drive doesn't end here, by the way, but more on that later.
"Timbre" interacts with "Tone". The "Tone"knob is just your regular midrange roll-off tone knob, but the "Timbre" knob lets you preselect the frequency that is rolled off. That way, you have major control over the tonal properties of the overdrive !
Now, my Para OD is one with the DOD250 as a basis (the other option is ofcourse a TS808 as starting point) and Keith founf the 250 to work better with a three way "Timbre" switch rahter than a full-range knob. I believe him immediately, but the nicest thing is that it is easier to change tone 'on the fly'
This one ranges from a slightly darker sound, causing fuzzier tones, to pretty transparent, to nice 'n bright.
"Symmetry". Now there's a unique feature.....not only you can choose between symmetric clippin and asymmetric clipping, but you can choose anything in between too. This is very, very usable. There are some points in the range where there is such a nice overlap between the two, that you can have best of both worlds: pick attack still causing lots of volume dynamics instead of causing crunch dynamics only (asymmetric clipping) and good crunch and beefy sustain as well (symmetric clipping).
In that respect, it influences the amount of crunch too.
This is a control that takes little time to figure out the results in sound, but does take some time to find the sweet spots (don't worry, it has several :D )
"Level" is ofcourse the overall volume.
Then there's the Boost ! The standard Para has a toggle switch to put the boost either before the drive as a gain boost (think Fulltone, Banzai) or after the drive circuit (think Carl Martin), so you use it as a volume boost for solo's.
Now for the custom part: I knew the blessings of a small boost in front of an OD but wanted a solo boost too, so mine has a toggle switch to switch the pre-boost on or off. Inside is a trim pot to choose the amount of boost.
Next to that, the boost is an independent one (usable without the drive) and I wanted to have the ability to boosting sparkly clean (mosFET) and boosting it the dirty way (germanium, like full range rangemaster clone) so a toggle switch was added for that too.
Gear
Basically, I have a TS808-hating rig: mahogany guitars, one with P90's, one with a P90 and a humbucker and EL34 based amps. No need for a mid hump
So take that rig in consideration when you read on. I will test it with different guitars and on EL84's later on .
Sound
Lenghty story so far.....now here's what matters most: the sound. To start with, a DOD250 is different in sound than a TS808, so you have a different starting point. The 250 is by nature more neutral in tonal response, which was the reason for me to choose a DOD250 as a basis.
Now let me tell you: this is an Academy Award winning actor: it can act like anything! From a sparkly clean boost using just the boost circuit, to a slightly compressed level boost using the OD. From a slightly crunching sound with "symmetry" on fully asymmetric (5 o'clock) and gain and drive at noon, to full Marshallesque crunch with Drive at three o'clock.
The "Timbre" and "Tone" knob allow for a vast range of tones. In comparison to say, a Menatone Red Snapper, it can only be equally transparent on lower gain settings, but the great thing is you have s much control on the overall sound: you can make it darker sounding without muddying it up and make it brighter sounding thatn your rig anturally is without making it thin or ice-picky.
The best thing for me personally lies in the pre boost. When it's off, you have your typical slightly compressed OD sound (depends on the "Symmetry" ofcourse, but let's keep it simple :wink: ). With the pre boost on, the dynamics increase quite a bit. Both in volume and in clipping, your pick attack matters so much more ! The downside is that "Gain" becomes less of an influence, but the overall drive sounds becomes both more agressive and more controllable. I've heard my share of OD's and this is absolutely one of the best, combining a good amount of crunch with pick-sensitivity.
"Drive" on full means RAT-like distortion, especially with the pre amp on.
At all times, you can kick in a solo boost with the Boost, but with the Germ boost, you can also kick in a different sound at the same volume level. With the germanium boost added, there are really nice classic rock and hard rock sounds to be had.
Bottom line
Already loving Keith's Fuzz Master due to it's versatility, I knew he'd make one hell of a do-it-all overdrive. And yes, this is one of the most versatile OD's out there.
Furthermore: Keith took the time to understand what I was looking for in an OD and took the trouble to build one with all the custom options: KUDOS !!!!!!!
To start with: mine's a bit different than the already very versatile 'stock' Para OD. I had some requests which Keith executed very well.
Here's the standard Para:
http://www.bigtonemusic.com/sitebuilder/images/PODtop-418x367.jpg
And here's mine:
http://home.kabelfoon.nl/~sjem/images/gitaarzooi/mkanterstop.jpg
I'll get to the differences in the following text.
Controls
The two rows of controls may look intimidating to those of us that hate to tweak, but they interact in an easy way.
I'll go the Arab way, from right to left
"Gain" is kind of a fine tuner for "Drive". So consider "Drive" as your usual gain knob and "Gain" as an extra knob to control the saturation, a bit like 'pre amp/power amp', but more refined.
The control of the amount of drive doesn't end here, by the way, but more on that later.
"Timbre" interacts with "Tone". The "Tone"knob is just your regular midrange roll-off tone knob, but the "Timbre" knob lets you preselect the frequency that is rolled off. That way, you have major control over the tonal properties of the overdrive !
Now, my Para OD is one with the DOD250 as a basis (the other option is ofcourse a TS808 as starting point) and Keith founf the 250 to work better with a three way "Timbre" switch rahter than a full-range knob. I believe him immediately, but the nicest thing is that it is easier to change tone 'on the fly'
This one ranges from a slightly darker sound, causing fuzzier tones, to pretty transparent, to nice 'n bright.
"Symmetry". Now there's a unique feature.....not only you can choose between symmetric clippin and asymmetric clipping, but you can choose anything in between too. This is very, very usable. There are some points in the range where there is such a nice overlap between the two, that you can have best of both worlds: pick attack still causing lots of volume dynamics instead of causing crunch dynamics only (asymmetric clipping) and good crunch and beefy sustain as well (symmetric clipping).
In that respect, it influences the amount of crunch too.
This is a control that takes little time to figure out the results in sound, but does take some time to find the sweet spots (don't worry, it has several :D )
"Level" is ofcourse the overall volume.
Then there's the Boost ! The standard Para has a toggle switch to put the boost either before the drive as a gain boost (think Fulltone, Banzai) or after the drive circuit (think Carl Martin), so you use it as a volume boost for solo's.
Now for the custom part: I knew the blessings of a small boost in front of an OD but wanted a solo boost too, so mine has a toggle switch to switch the pre-boost on or off. Inside is a trim pot to choose the amount of boost.
Next to that, the boost is an independent one (usable without the drive) and I wanted to have the ability to boosting sparkly clean (mosFET) and boosting it the dirty way (germanium, like full range rangemaster clone) so a toggle switch was added for that too.
Gear
Basically, I have a TS808-hating rig: mahogany guitars, one with P90's, one with a P90 and a humbucker and EL34 based amps. No need for a mid hump
So take that rig in consideration when you read on. I will test it with different guitars and on EL84's later on .
Sound
Lenghty story so far.....now here's what matters most: the sound. To start with, a DOD250 is different in sound than a TS808, so you have a different starting point. The 250 is by nature more neutral in tonal response, which was the reason for me to choose a DOD250 as a basis.
Now let me tell you: this is an Academy Award winning actor: it can act like anything! From a sparkly clean boost using just the boost circuit, to a slightly compressed level boost using the OD. From a slightly crunching sound with "symmetry" on fully asymmetric (5 o'clock) and gain and drive at noon, to full Marshallesque crunch with Drive at three o'clock.
The "Timbre" and "Tone" knob allow for a vast range of tones. In comparison to say, a Menatone Red Snapper, it can only be equally transparent on lower gain settings, but the great thing is you have s much control on the overall sound: you can make it darker sounding without muddying it up and make it brighter sounding thatn your rig anturally is without making it thin or ice-picky.
The best thing for me personally lies in the pre boost. When it's off, you have your typical slightly compressed OD sound (depends on the "Symmetry" ofcourse, but let's keep it simple :wink: ). With the pre boost on, the dynamics increase quite a bit. Both in volume and in clipping, your pick attack matters so much more ! The downside is that "Gain" becomes less of an influence, but the overall drive sounds becomes both more agressive and more controllable. I've heard my share of OD's and this is absolutely one of the best, combining a good amount of crunch with pick-sensitivity.
"Drive" on full means RAT-like distortion, especially with the pre amp on.
At all times, you can kick in a solo boost with the Boost, but with the Germ boost, you can also kick in a different sound at the same volume level. With the germanium boost added, there are really nice classic rock and hard rock sounds to be had.
Bottom line
Already loving Keith's Fuzz Master due to it's versatility, I knew he'd make one hell of a do-it-all overdrive. And yes, this is one of the most versatile OD's out there.
Furthermore: Keith took the time to understand what I was looking for in an OD and took the trouble to build one with all the custom options: KUDOS !!!!!!!