Allums OD-308

[Keven]

Some of you guys may have heard about this DIY kit that's monte's own design. I was intrigued by it for a while and had some cash to burn, so i ordered it.

http://monteallums.com/custom_effects.html#OD308

finished putting it togheter and i must say i'm quite impressed with the amount of drive on tap, the amount of difference between all modes, and how quiet this thing is. I've only tried it into a clean amp at home, but tonight i'll plug it into my traynor, replacing my tube screamer clone. this is gonna be fun.

anyhow, if any of you guys were hesitating on this pedal, don't, it's pretty damn good, and the build is intuitive.

of course, when i finished building it, i plugged it in, and it didn't work. but that's because in my haste i forgot to put the opamp in the socket.. :oops: i've done that twice in 2 builds so far, haha... not very hard to troubleshoot! :lol:

[gwEm]

thanks for the review - i must admit i was quite curious about it

[Keven]

Okay. this is a real honest review. took the pedal down to rehearsal for a head to head with my current favorite, a General Guitar Gadgets ITS8 clone.

to be fair, the Od-308 is a terrificly smooth overdrive. good high end. can work wonders with dark amps i reckon. but it didn't hold ground next to the ITS8. on the ITS8, the low end was ballsier, and the low mids were chunkier. hi-mid and treble were roughly the same, but with a bit more bite on the OD-308 . not something i like however

from what i've found, this is a good overdrive for all styles. doesn't dish out the br00talz enough for my metal band though. it's still a definitely useful studio tool. on its own at lower levels it's a good pedal. at high levels for heavy metal, it doesn't have the low end my ITS8 build has. which is strange, i was expecting the complete opposite.

i'll give it an 7.5/10. good allrounder for a clean amp looking for  low volume drive.... and i do say drive, not distortion, although the pedal has lots of drive available.

but if you have a pedal you're quite happy with and you're looking for more low end and chunk, look elsewhere, or keep yours!

quite the fun build however :D

[HTH AMPS]

if you want a tight low end with the RAT circuit, you have to cut some bass - thats why the RAT has that big fat midrange.  If you let more bass into the circuit, you get that muddy fuzztone like on a Fuzz Face.  Any Tube Screamer type of OD will have a much tighter low end for sure.

it might be worth running the Allums RAT clone pedal with an EQ pedal after it to boost the low end.

[Keven]

I'm more about letting each pedal have its accepted character actually. my tube screamer seems to be made for my band rig. i have a BD-2, a SD-1, the OD-308 and a CS-3 at home running through my ADA mp1 - EVJ power amp rack to have a variety of drive sounds at home at controlled volume. the BD-2 is more of a light crunch that can go really full range, the SD-1 has this nice mid peak but gets muddy on the low end, and the 308 really works well with the compressor kicking up its rear end.

it's not that the pedal is bad, it doesn't work for my rig, given the fact i favor 7 and 8 string guitars, the low end is much needed. at home, it's quite different, since it's more about practicing different styles :D thanks for the heads up however, i'll have to try this out!