Here is a quick sonic tour of this weeks pedalboard. I was playing a strat into a weber alnico equiped Deluxe. There is an SM57 a little less than a foot back from the speaker and a Behringer condensor at ear level, maybe 4 feet from the speaker. The amp was at a little less than 3 on the volume knob. That was a mistake I think, as the amp sounds a little distant in the recording. Also there is a metallic thing in the recording that I think is phasing from the two mics. Each pedal gets a couple of cowboy chords, then a goofy riff at the 5th fret, and the same riff at the 12th fret. There are things I would like to do again but it was late and done quickly. The fuzzes wanted a louder amp (as did the mics), the Swamp Thang wasn't set at the right speed or depth for the ditty I played through it, the guitar volume is set too loud for the demo of the London - Neo combo (it sounds really cool with the guitar back down just slightly), etc. Me and the guy who owns the recording gear are sort of on a learning curve. We will get better fast though, as we are both a couple of nerds. So stay tuned. Here is a pic of the board used..



and here is the clip...

Clip

Thanks, mapleneck...great idea on the clips. They sound just fine to me. Great tones all around! All the overdrives sound great, as do the fuzzes. I can tell the London sounds a wee darker than the McFuzz. I thought the Mos and BBOD sounded oddly similar...just slightly thicker with the Mos. SLIGHTLY. The Big-bottom Neo doesn't sound too different than my stock Neo, but maybe I'll go ahead and try that mod anyway. Damn, I love that pedal.

Thanks, Mapleneck! Good job. I was looking at the Mosferatu, the BBOD and the Neo--I think (based on your clip) that the Mos would work best for what I need.

That's what this forum is all about.

Hey nice Mapleneck!

I liked the BBOD and Mosferatu the most. I agree with Beckanon here, they sounded very similar, but have a slight preference for the BBOD on those clips. I generally prefer the Mosferatu a bit more with my setup.

Nice tour mapleneck! That's a great idea, i might have to run through that as well with my board. I liked the neo and mos the best out of those, and the swamp thing sounds great as well. You've got a huge palette of tones there. I didn't find a huge diff between the blackstone, the bbod, and mos, but they all sounded great.

Great clips Dave. I've just had a BBOD on loan from Diamond Fur for the past 2 weeks. (Thanks mate!!) Your clips captured the tones of the BBOD and the Mosferatu really clearly.

They are similar although to my ears the BBOD has this upper mid-range snark(for want of a better term!) that I couldn't tame with the tone control. The Mosferatu is smoother but still cuts through at stage level.

Over the past few months the Mosferatu has become firmly entrenched as my designated muscle lead overdrive.It has more gain than I'll ever need - I never have the gain above 12 o'clock - and can pump out an obscene amount of level.It does sound a little dark at living room volume but comes alive at stage volume with a thick sustaining lead tone.

Thanks again for the clips and don't be so critical of your efforts. I really think you nailed the tonal rudiments of the BBOD and Mosferatu.

Thanks for the clips Mapleneck. That swamp thing sounds incredible!!! Funny enough, I couldn't tell that much difference between the OD's. Some had more low mids, but the gain settings were all pretty close. What's your take on the MOS???

Thanks everyone. I hope this is helpful, and becomes more common. Several have mentioned that the overdrives sound similar. I think there is a couple reasons for that. One is me, I set them fairly similar. I play the guitars volume a lot and it seems to work best for me to set the ODs to a fairly high level of gain just to have the extra on tap when needed, and use the guitar volume to suit the song. Another reason is that the recording quality is not all that accurate. The character of the pedals comes through, but the tones are altered somewhat. In person the BBOD and the Mosferatu aren't all that similar to my ear. The Mos is very attenuated in the higher registers and very compressed. The BBOD is a bit thinner sounding, and fizzier. Much less aggressive sounding, even when teh BBOD gain is higher. The BBOD is voiced more evenly for lack of a better term. It is slightly mid heavy, but just barely. The Mos has a strong honk to it and is clearly voiced to bring out the shredder in us all. Someone mentioned the Mos cuts through at band levels and that is an understatement. The Blackstone has more in common with the Mosferatu than with the BBOD. The Mosferatu just takes up where the Blackstone leaves off in terms of gain. The Blackstone does great in a mix, and doesn't really shine on its own as in this situation. That could be why Blackstones aren't more popular. They don't audition well IMO. They really have to be played in a mix to appreciate them properly. I think all these pedals are very different and I need to do a better job making clips in the future to bring out their strengths.