The Stampede SOV-1 is a low gain overdrive pedal. It has Output, Boost, Tone, and Gains controls, Boost and Effect footswitches, and a two position treble boost/normal switch. The pedal is powered with built-in AC power supply. The power supply is regulated with a transformer and two regulator IC's mounted on the PCB. There is no option for battery operation. The pedal is solidly built in a heavy duty, dark red metal case. The black, pointer-type control knobs are very easy to see where they are set. The SOV-1 has three LED's: a blue one that lights when AC power is applied, a red LED that lights when the OD circuit is activated, and a second red LED that lights when the volume boost function is activated. All three LED’s are extremely bright. Over the past few weekends my band has played three outdoor concerts. The LED’s on the Sov-1 were the only LED’s I could clearly see on my pedalboard in bright sunlight. The footswitches appear to be high quality, and have a light touch and make a clicking sound when activated/deactivated. The SOV-1 is a fairly large pedal, with dimensions of 6 1/4" wide and 4 1/2" deep. The face of the pedal is canted at a slight angle for easy viewing.

All of the internal components are PCB mounted to a 1/16" thick, double sided fiberglass PCB board. The input and output jacks, and the two footswitches are also chassis mounted. They support the PCB board in the case along with a single stand-off and screw. The pedal is true bypass, and this is controlled via a PCB mounted relay. The OD circuit is based on three non-socketed JRC4558D op amps. The pots are not directly attached to the case. It seems possible that the pot shafts could be moved in a manner that would cause the PCB board to flex a bit. This concerns me, because it might result in PCB connection problems with heavy use. Some strain relief for the pots and two additional standoff’s would make me feel more comfortable about the long term reliability of this pedal. With the exception of the floating pot issue mentioned above, the internal construction looks neat and very well done.

Over the past few weeks I’ve used it with several different Les Pauls (with real PAF’s or Lindy Fralin’s), a ES-335 (real PAF’s) and a Flying V (Dirty Fingers) at various gigs. For amps I’ve tried it with a ’66 Vibrolux Reverb, a ’65 Super Reverb, a ’68 Twin Reverb, a ’94 Mesa Boogie Blue Angel and the clean channel of a Two Rock Emerald Pro. Although the SOV-1 shares the JRC4558D op amp with many other OD pedals, it has it’s own unique voice. In comparison with other completely solid state OD pedals I’ve tried the SOV-1 sounds very tube-like. This is especially true at higher gain settings. As gain is increased tonal transparency remains intact until about the 12:00 position. At this point the pedal starts sounding a bit muddy, especially when playing more than one note at a time. If the gain control is increased beyond 12:00 the muddiness continues to increase. Single note lines still sing sweetly with nice sustain, but individual note definition is lost when playing chords. At the higher gain settings chordal note definition was much better with the bridge pickup than the neck pickup on any of the guitars I used. Backing off the guitar’s volume control doesn’t cause the SOV-1 to clean up as well as a pedal like the FD2 or the Baby Blue. The SOV-1 has a tiny dash of Dumbleness in it. It’s very sensitive to pick attack – if you diminish your pick attack the pedal cleans up nicely. If you dig in with your pick, you get a breakup that is very natural sounding and amp-like. A very transparent clean boost can be achieved when the gain control is turned full counterclockwise and the boost control is used. Using the treble boost switch adds more top end when needed. The clean boost is smooth and sounds very good, especially with the Vibrolux and Super Reverb. You can hit the SOV-1 with an input signal of about +20db before it starts to clip and sound buzzy. The pedal was very compatible with several other OD pedals (TS-808, FD2, Baby Blue, Maxon 820, Pedalman 818, Landgraff, Menatone Howie), a Soul Bender, a Distortion Pro, Maxon CP101 and Ross compressors, and a Choralflange chorus. I normally don’t use a wah pedal, but I tried it with a borrowed Teese RMC1 and RMC3, and it worked perfectly with both of them. In my opinion, the Stampede SOV-1 would work best for someone who is looking for a warm, just over-the-edge overdrive sound, and a fairly hot clean boost. At higher gain settings the SOV-1 produces a sweet, singing sustain when playing single note licks, especially on the unwound strings. But at gain settings above 12:00 it starts sounding muddy, and that limits it’s utility for playing rhythm.

FVB pretty much took care of the meat of the review for this pedal. I'll just add a few things. First, I'm now finished looking for my perfect Overdrive pedal. Second, the highest settings sound like Hendrix OD to me and everything below sounds like great low to medium amp distortion that is very thick, with rolled off highs, and slightly compressed sounding (maybe?). I wanted thick mild overdrive, and I've got it. Don't be fooled though, when you crank the gain you get lots of OD but like I said before it kinda sounds similar to Hendrix. I would compare it to his Machine Gun tone, but it actually probably gets just a bit more gain. Anyway it rocks. Take the plunge if it sounds like it's up your alley. I took FVB's advice and I was really happy with the results. Now I want two.

Oh yeah, and it cleans up alright when you roll off the volume.

M