Quick OD comparison: BB Preamp vs StinkBug vs OD-16

[Denim n Leather]

I received my latest batch of pedals for the Ye Olde Blog Review and is my usual practice I recorded a quick comparison against my go-to OD pedal, the Xotic BB Preamp.

You can stream the MP3/download the WAV here: http://soundcloud.com/bena/od-comparison-13-nov-10

Straight guitar is Agile AL2800 w/Bare Knuckle Riff Raff into the EAST Studio 2. Marshall 2x12 loaded with G75T's. Recorder is a Tascam DR1 about 1ft from the cab.

First OD is the BB Preamp.
Second OD is the EMMA StinkBug.
Third OD is the HAO OD-16.

The OD-16 has  LOT of volume boost and gain on tap!!

More OD pedals can be heard at my online database: www.ampsnthings.com

[Brow]

Cool!

I'll check it out later  :D

[Telerocker]

All three good pedals. Like the Stinkbug especially, very balanced and round, where the HAO seems to excell in the midrange.

[hunter]

They are all nice, the HAO is obviously louder than the other two (normalising the three parts individually would have been good for comparison) - but it also seems the HAO is more open sounding, with the BB being the most congested and dark.

I prefer the HAO for amp like drive, whereas I like the BB as a different sound - it IS dark but still has some crunch to it, and it's very even order harmonics, whereas the HAO has some more dirt/square wave tone to it.

[Transcend]

I think the level differences are in fact a great thing.

As i imagine that Ben would have just left the amp at a set level and just changed between the pedals and just ran the same DI through each setup.

This is great as it shows the different nuances of each pedal very well and the obviously volume increase with the HAO.

If they were normalised it wouldn't really show the natural differences between the pedals as well.

[Denim n Leather]

They are all nice, the HAO is obviously louder than the other two (normalising the three parts individually would have been good for comparison) - but it also seems the HAO is more open sounding, with the BB being the most congested and dark.

I prefer the HAO for amp like drive, whereas I like the BB as a different sound - it IS dark but still has some crunch to it, and it's very even order harmonics, whereas the HAO has some more dirt/square wave tone to it.

The BB is the most versatile of the 3, by far. With everything in the middle of its range, it does thicken the tone a bit, which I love. It also adds a very palpable 'oomph' to the sound.

Normalization? Noooo, that effect is terrible to audio!!

[Denim n Leather]

I think the level differences are in fact a great thing.

As i imagine that Ben would have just left the amp at a set level and just changed between the pedals and just ran the same DI through each setup.

This is great as it shows the different nuances of each pedal very well and the obviously volume increase with the HAO.

If they were normalised it wouldn't really show the natural differences between the pedals as well.

Close, 'cept I was playing live in this one, unlike the database, which is the identical performance/setup and is reamped.

You will never hear a Normalized clip from me!

[hunter]

Normalization? Noooo, that effect is terrible to audio!!

Depends on the algorithm you're using. With normalisation I mean that the signal peak is 0dB, I didn't mean compression or limiting.