Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Info about the Maxon reissue: Originally released in 1979, the Maxon OD808 was one of the first tube-amp overdrive simulators to hit the market. Its smooth, creamy crunch tone caught on quickly, and helped to launch a long line of predecessors as well as imitators. Today, the OD808 design is without a doubt the most … Read more
Here’s something quite interesting. A switch to toggle between TubeScreamer-like, and a Rat-like mode. Basically this could be the basic tool, think swiss army knife, of overdrives and distortions. I omitted the in/out buffers from the layout, but used the original JFET pinout. I built the layout, and noticed that with my batch of NE5534s … Read more
Maxon’s now discontinued Overdrive / Soft Distortion pedal. Brother to the very popular OD820 and in the same series with the same size case. This layout uses two dual opamps instead of the 3 singles in the original to keep the layout size down. The equivalent of the LM741 in dual opamp form is probably … Read more
Info from Maxon about the reissue: Originally released in 1979, the Maxon OD808 was one of the first tube-amp overdrive simulators to hit the market. Its smooth, creamy crunch tone caught on quickly, and helped to launch a long line of predecessors as well as imitators. Today, the OD808 design is without a doubt the … Read more
Klon killer? Some people think so, but whatever it’s certainly a great sounding overdrive. Info about the original from Maxon: While many consider the OD808 to be the greatest overdrive ever created, Maxon is not a company to rest on its laurels. Instead of basking in the glowing praise, Maxon has focused on the user’s … Read more
This is an awkward one to do a layout for because there seems to be so many schematics out there that the best one is always going to be a matter of personal preference. The original used one half of the opamp for the effect, and the other half for the bypass buffer, with a … Read more
ROD 880 Real Overdrive Controls & Features Powered by Hand Selected 12AY7EH Preamp Tube Based on the TK999 Tube King Switchable Noise Reduction Circuit w/Variable Threshold Control Standard 9VDC Power Adapter Heavy Duty Enclosure Extremely Wide Range of Overdrive Tones Bass: Controls boom and thump Gain: Controls gain level Mid-Boost: Controls punch and kick Treble: … Read more
To me there are a few pedal companies that will never seize to amaze me, Maxon being one of them. I can look back at some of the first Maxon pedals I ever had and remember them being stunning little devices. The art of the stompbox is something that the people at Maxon have down … Read more
For those of your who haven’t had a chance to go out and try some of Maxon’s new 9 Series let me just say this…quality and class all the way baby. To be quite honest, I haven’t heard any difference between the vintage runs of these pedals and the new. The build quality is immaculate, … Read more
There isn’t one stompbox junkie out there who has not heard of Maxon’s effects pedals. What they’ve done for the music scene with their killer effects and builds has held tight since first they peaked their head in the early 70’s. Many of you might not know it but Maxon actually started out as a … Read more