Colorsound Overdriver sound clips: Insane boost and fuzz

Posted 2007-10-10 in Effects by Johann.

The Colorsound Overdriver produces the most insane amounts of boost and fuzz of any 9 V-powered stompbox.

The “overdrive” in “Overdriver” means overdriving your (preferably tube) amp with insane levels, not “overdrive” as in soft clipping. This is not a Tubescreamer!

The Colorsound Overdriver is one of the most fun pedals to play with. However, the master volume version is probably more versatile and easier to use than the master-less 70’s one I have.

Power Boost

It’s worth mentioning that the Colorsound Overdriver was also sold as the orange Power Boost. About which the macaris say:

the American market was ready for the sound but felt it looked a bit too . . . well . . .orange . So , it was rehoused in a grey hammerite case , called the Overdriver , Jeff beck made 'Blow by Blow' with it , and the rest , as they say , is a mystery . . I mean history !

Audio clips

• Colorsound Overdriver (MP3, 5.5 MB)
• Colorsound Overdriver (Ogg Vorbis, 4 MB)

In this sound clip, I’m playing my Ibanez 2027XVV into the Overdriver and then into my Boss VF-1 which adds amp simulation and a bit of reverb and delay. I gradually increase the volume and then tweak the bass and treble knobs.

Warning: The clip starts at a very low volume. Do not turn your volume up.

Note that you can still buy a new Colorsound Overdriver.

Dan Armstrong Green Ringer mods

Posted 2007-10-09 in Effects by Johann.

The Dan Armstrong Green Ringer is a simple but effective octave-up circuit that borders on ring modulation. By itself, it lacks a little character but in combination with an overdrive, the Green Ringer sounds great.

There’s been some of attempts to counter the problems of the Green Ringer circuit, add sustain, distortion and make the build easier.

Nulling mod

The Green Ringer nulling mod by JC Maillet adds a pot to balance the mixing of both half-wave rectified signals.

21st Century Green Ringer

The 21st century Green Ringer adds a gain boost and simplifies the signal mixing section.

Switchable filter mod

The Switchable Filter Mod also adds a gain boost and a low-pass filter for signal conditioning.

By the way, Grafton Electronics has started selling a stomp box version of the Green Ringer.

Legendary guitar effects: Ibanez Standard Fuzz

Posted 2007-09-26 in Effects by Johann.

The Ibanez Standard Fuzz, pictured here with the Univox Super-Fuzz, is another one of those crazy 70’s fuzzes.

Its octave is very noticeable. Not a clean octave-up though – a fuzzy one.

“Tone Change”!

Just like the Superfuzz, the Standard Fuzz also offers two tone settings. One with a ton of mids that sounds very rich and another one that is mostly bass and treble.

Audio clips

• Ibanez Standard Fuzz (MP3, 3.8 MB)
• Ibanez Standard Fuzz (Ogg Vorbis, 2.7 MB)

The sample starts with a clean sound, then the Standard Fuzz is switched on with the mid-heavy sound in use. Later, the no-mids mode is on and pickups are changed. The guitar is an Ibanez 2027XVV.

Legendary guitar effects: The Maestro Fuzz-Tone FZ-1, FZ-1A and FZ-1B

Posted 2007-07-21 in Effects by Johann.

Dirty, distorted guitar sounds pretty much started in 1962 with the Maestro Fuzz-Tone.

Maestro Fuzz-Tone FZ-1

Used to record the single (I can’t get no) satisfaction by the Rolling Stones, the FZ-1 was the first distortion effect (“Fuzztone”) on a hit record.

Ironically, it didn’t sell at first:

The marketing and sales people were optimistic about the prospects of selling a lot of Fuzz-Tone effects and produced over 5000 that first year. Gibson's dealers bought 5458 pedals during 1962 confirming Gibson's sales forecast. Unfortunately, the buying public didn't buy all those pedals from the dealers as expected.

• Maestro Fuzz Tone FZ-1 sound clip (MP3, 2.4 MB)
• Maestro Fuzz Tone FZ-1 sound clip (Ogg Vorbis, 1.6 MB)

Maestro Fuzz-Tone FZ-1A

The FZ-1A circuit is pretty much the FZ-1 with some minor changes. For example, it runs on one 1.5 V battery instead of two like the FZ-1.

I think it sounds more like “satisfaction” though.

• Maestro Fuzz Tone FZ-1A sound clip (MP3, 3.2 MB)
• Maestro Fuzz Tone FZ-1A sound clip (Ogg Vorbis, 2.1 MB)

Maestro Fuzz-Tone FZ-1B

Contrary to the other three-transistor Fuzz-Tones, the FZ-1B is a two-transistor circuit running at 9 V. It was designed by Bob Moog from what I know. It’s also not using Germanium transistors like the FZ-1 and the FZ-1A.

The sound is closer to other two-transistor fuzzes, like the Fuzz Face.

• Maestro Fuzz Tone FZ-1B sound clip (MP3, 1.8 MB)
• Maestro Fuzz Tone FZ-1B sound clip (Ogg Vorbis, 1.1 MB)

10 comments

Pages

Page 1 · Page 2 · Page 3 · Page 4 · Page 5 · Page 6 · Next Page »