I cannot put into words how much I appreciate how thorough and precise this breakdown is with its respect to tone distinctions. If I needed surgery or a lawyer, this is the guy I would hire. Much love, mad respect. Thank you Mason
I don't think I can pick favourites here. They all got ridiculously close, it's quite incredible. No way a listener at a gig would be able to tell them apart. Excellent playing too!
@@VertexEffectsInc Argh! Okay, I'll try... TS: 3 for Strat, 1 for LP BB: 3 for Strat, 1 for LP Klon: 3 for Strat, 1 for LP Pedal 2 was really toppy and I never really liked how it sounded. The others were much trickier to choose between but I seem to have landed on the same results for each comparison. And again I really have to commend your playing.
TS9 Strat - pedal 1 (w/ 3 a close 2nd) TS9 LP - pedal 2 BB Strat - pedal 2 BB LP - pedal 3 by far Klon Strat - pedal 2 (they all did well here) Klon LP - pedal 2 (again, all did well) Volume might be an aspect. Also you might come with - "Ha! They were all the same! 😛"
Volumes were all the same, some of the distortion at certain frequencies might give the illusion of more volume in some cases, however they're all coming in around -9 on the metering. Thanks for the vote!
@@VertexEffectsInc 1 and 2 always sounded virtually exactly the same to me, and it maybe suited the Klon a little better? So maybe option 3 for the Tube Screamer and Blues Breaker, and lets go with Option 1 for the Klon. Thanks!
Tubescreamer: Pedal 3 sounded incredible for the strat- the Les Paul part sounded REMARKABLY like Wrong Side Of The Blues 🤣, but I'd also say Pedal 3. Blues Breaker: Pedal 1 for the Strat to me sounded identical (but Pedal 3 was my favorite)- for the Les Paul Pedal 3 sounded closest and best to my ears Klon: Strat Pedal 3-- Les Paul Pedal 2 Also more video of Mason playing guitar because DAMN that was good
cool, very interested in this video and the results, I have the TC Nova drive, wondering how it stacks up. Thanks TS-9 - Strat 1, LP3 Blues Breaker - Strat 3, LP 3 Klon - Strat 1, LP 2
Great video Mr Marangella. Very well thought out and produced. Very easy to follow snd understand. Watched the whole thing. One thing that stood out to me is that pedals 1 and 2 sounded like the drive sounds were different when you went from TS-BB-klon. Which makes me think that they are pedals with different preset sounds actually modeling the relevant pedals whereas pedal three sounded like the same pedal every time with changes in drive and tone. It also had the most mids consistently so I reckon 3 is the Nova Drive. Could be wrong though. I was struck by how minor the differences were. €100 -€700 in the price difference. Didn’t really sound it.
Strat TS - 2 LP TS - 2 Strat BB - 2 LP BB - 2 - though I didn’t think any sounded good really. Strat Klon - 1 LP Klon - 1 Crazy how they all made the delay respond slightly differently really interesting Oh and shut up! Your playing is great! Really tasty blues player. Good feel.
Super interesting! TS / Strat - Pedal 3 TS / LP - Pedal 3 by a long shot. LP really highlights the differences! BB / Strat - Pedal 3 BB / LP - Pedal 3 by a LONG shot. Pedal 1 and 2 don't come close. K / Strat - Pedal 1 is closest to my ear, but I don't think any of them capture it. K / LP - Pedal 1 Pedal 2 generally feels over-hyped to me. High noise floor, and just a bit too 'forward.'
Screamer- I kind of like 3 for the strat best 2 on the Strat’s blues breaker 2 on the Strat’s Klon as well Great video brother. I’ve always loved sampling ODs on my Line 6 stuff. They’ve really stepped up with the Helix products. The drives surprised me for sure. I still run my Golden Boy and Morning Glory in its loop though…
Generally speaking, I liked 1 the best. Number 3 sounded like someone singing into a tin can, to my ears at least. Just doing overall favorite because I feel like the whole point of having one of these is to have a do it all overdrive.
Truthfully, none of them sounded bad. I have a nova drive and find it to be useful and hits a good TS9 tone. I like the MIDI control as well - can use it to control volume and gain levels for some cool effects
@@VertexEffectsInc pedal 1 seemed not thinner but less full without it being a deficiency, more high mids inherent in the circuit? Dunno. Better w buckers. 3 was fuller but fuller, no 'glitter' with singles. Good but darker. Better for a bright amp perhaps.better w singles. I'd play all 3 don't get me wrong. 2 more clarity. 1 less bloom. 3 lacked top zing. My 2 cents
TS9 - Strat-3 LP-3 • BB - Strat-3 BB-3 • Klon - Strat-3 BB-2 ••• Comments I liked #3 over all, though #2 is really close. Pedal #1 seemed to have a lower volume...? Also wondering why you used the Klon with such a clean setting, a I've heard it doesn't really activate until at 1-3 o'clock ...?
Klon was made for low gain. When you'd see it demonstrated back in the day in the 1990's they'd tell you to set the gain around the LED and tone and volume to taste. I think it's less useable at more gain than 12:00 and not as much of a stand out pedal.
Pedal 2 sounded better on both guitars and better than the actual tube screamer. , Blues breaker = Pedals 1& 2 as good as the blues breaker . , Klon = I liked pedal 1&2 better on all sounds and bother guitars . So with me , it is a tie between pedal "1" and "2" but leaning a bit more to pedal "2' for over all sounds .
Great way to compare! Loved the video. TS Strat 123 LP 231 BB Strat 321 LP 312 Klon Strat 321 LP 312 Looking forward to the results (I currently use a TC Nova Drive with my G System)
1.1: 3 1.2: 3 (2) 2.1: 1 (3) 2.2: 3 3. 1: 2 (3) 3.2: 1 the brackets indicate that I felt the pedal came very close to the one I preferred... generally, I found that I preferred the sound of all the pedals (original and emulations) with the strat. thanks for the test, you really had a good idea and put it in action in the best possible way 👍 I am anxious to see the results 😁
@@VertexEffectsInc sorry, English is not my mother tongue... 😁 in my comment I mistakenly said "brackets" when I ment colons. I put between colons the pedal I felt came very close to the one I liked best. when there are no colons it means I felt the best one was clearly above the two others. I hope that my comment is clear now 😁
On the bluesbreaker LP segment was the only place i could tell a difference between them. Pedal 2 was brighter and airy while pedal 3 was darker , pedal 1 seemed to be spot on.
You’re welcome! Thank you for the awesome content! By the way, I forgot to mention my overall favorite: 2 wins overall. I was torn between 2 and 3. 3 sounded nice and fat on the Strat, but I play humbuckers pretty often.
I seemed to like Pedal 1 mostly... Here I am secretely wishing #1 is the one I've been wondering about (you're not telling, so neither am I, hahaha!!) BUT in any case the three seem to me to be real close ...
@@VertexEffectsInc For Stratocaster, I might say pedal 2 is my choice for three pedals. Les Paul with pedal 1 or pedal 2 is difficult choice for me. But I could say I like pedal 2 for all three pedals with LesPaul, as well.
It'd be hilarious if like in a month Mason comes out with a video showing that the chips inside the TS were just some run of the mill opamp chips that no one cares about. Lol. Just to fuck with the cork sniffers.
I own an Overture for a few months now and like it so far. As far as I know, none of the available modes were based on a Klon, neither a Bluesbreaker...so what's up?
None of these have explicit "Klon" "TS" or "Blues Breaker" sounds in them, however they are programmable and have the ability to shape tones similar to these classical overdrives - so they're all on equal footing in hat regard. We'd love to hear your picks as to what you thought got closest to the classics.
@@VertexEffectsInc I’d have to say as far as dirt goes, I like the Greer Lightspeed. 2 of those stacked is even better. I also use pedals of my own ( Bombastortion, Plexian Herb, Kleer Drive) I like the Strymon Dig delay, Boss Digital Dimension Chorus. ( the version with knobs, not the preset one) I like your Boost.
les paul and second pedal all three , but i do like the klon cause ...just cause , thanks brother and love how informative and the devil is in the details approach to EVERYTHING GEAR RELATED. And sorry for getting back late i was jamming, later.
Ill listen again on better headphones but Guitar really shouldnt matter much if you control input levels well. It comes down to how hard is hitting front of pedal.
Ok making notes as i listen again. On tube screamer I actually like number 2 better than the real tube screamer but 3 sounds closer to the real screamer maybe.
Ok, I was being lazy. I will put in the work, since you guys have obviously put in a lot of time on this. I will check back in after my kids are in bed.
Excellent test! I definitely enjoyed the video. However, I have a few questions for you: 1. Why would you go through all the trouble of putting together a controlled and accurate test, and then muddy the waters by adding reverb and delay?? That makes it harder to hear the pure sound of each pedal! 2. Where in the signal chain are the reverb and delay coming from? Axe FX? Pedals after the amp? Logic? 3. How are you recording from your amp? Direct out? Cab sim? Mic on a cab?
1) The delay and the reverb were added to fit the part, there is processing on some clips, and others that have hardly any ambient effects on. Since it’s a constant across all of the clips for each example, this shouldn’t be a factor. Furthermore, in the context of how we might all use these devices is generally not going to be bone dry. 2) In post - Echo Boy and Valhalla plug ins, but set up on the representative clip as not to impact the constant variable of the guitar playing looped through the pedals. 3) Speaker cabinet in my iso box under the house. It’s a SM57 on a Celestion Classic Lead 80 on all examples.
@@VertexEffectsInc Thank you for the clarification!! Ha, I forgot about the vote! I thought #1 was definitively better than 2 and 3 in all examples across the board. It sounded the most natural and the most like the pedal it was trying to emulate. To my ears, 2 and 3 both had some very slight digital distortion when you played a bit harder.
They should all be pretty balanced - I match them up on my metering before we recorded them so they were all hitting about -9 or so in Logic. With that said we'd love to hear your picks - feel free to cast your votes so you can be included in the tally.
I commend you on pulling this vid together. Great idea. I do question the omission of the Strymon Sunset but you can't do every pedal. Having one drive pedal to do a convincing version of about every sound I want is a key part of my rig. I do wish the Strymon did a good Fuzz, but then I suppose I get to pick and choose a pedal just to do that and can swap from Fuzz to Muff as the mood strikes me. My favs from the demo: TS: Strat #1, LP #2 BB: Strat #2, LP #2 Klon: Strat #1, LP #1
@@jspartacus None of these pedals are "pure analog". Each has a digital brain allowing them to be programmed and switched via midi. I for one am most interested in what sound pleases my ear, more so than how it was created.
I have the Boss OD-200. It's been a great education for me and fun, but it isn't really my go to for anything. Some very usable sounds, don't get me wrong.
I know there are a lit of options in this space, but it would be cool to include the Source Audio distortions in this type of shootout. In my opinion, those are the best programmable digital distortions available. Excellent concept for a video, great job.
The tube screamer just sounded so much better than the 3 I can’t pick one. There’s a compression to each of the 3 and they didn’t seem to have the high-pass as the classic TS. For the Blues Breaker, I guess I liked one for both guitars. For the Klon, 3 seemed to keep most of the dynamics which having a similar tone.
@@VertexEffectsInc Yes, I really thought it captured the character of the original pedals best across the board. Pedal 2 was least convincing. Not unpleasant, though. Pedal 1 was a pretty close most of the time. Just not as close as 1.
Tube screamer strat=tie Tube screamer Les Paul=pedal 1 Blues breaker strat=pedal 1 Blues breaker Les Paul=pedal 2 Klon. Strat=pedal 1 Klon. Les Paul=pedal 1
@@VertexEffectsInc sorry about that I didn't have time to listen to the rest it was really late I'll listen to the rest when I get home from work today and give you my opinion 👍👍👍👍👍
If you want test overdrive with the Klon, it generally helps to play actual notes and not just trust your exhaled breath to pick the strings. Klon data will be useless because you did not play hard enough for the effect to kick-in.
Klon "Sweet Spot" is not a heavily overdriven sound - when it was first being demonstrated a guitar shows back in the 1990's - Klon Siberia demonstrators would show the gain around the LED light and volume and tone to taste to give you an idea of it's intended use as more of a gainy boost or low gain drive.
I'll only say this: whichever one the Chase Bliss is, it doesn't sound $600 better than the 10 year old Nova Drive, whichever it is. Jeez, what a ripoff.
@@VertexEffectsInc Frankly, they're all so similar that you couldn't tell the difference after playing 10 minutes into a gig, with drums, keys, bass, a singer, and a crowd trying to out shout your gear so they can talk to each other. So, there isn't one of them that stands out as being $600 better than either of the others.
@@VertexEffectsInc You played it well, making people wait a week to confirm their picks. There's no clear consensus so far, it's all over the map. The frustration that people are feeling is palpable, because they are looking for confirmation of their own purchases. You ought to do this same demo with Klon clones, that'll really stir people up! Bravo.
The problem with these units is they only have one individual tone at a time when often stacked tones are better. So Id need to buy and have space on the pedalboard for like 3 rjm units and one chase bliss. Id want a programmable cali76 stacked as well.
Yeah the problem is I often find the magic in stacking up to 3 pedals and on occasion up to four. Also, which of these was the one I liked the most? For me it was down to number 3 or 2 depending on situation.
Also the RJM Overture needs a mids dial, especially for tube screamer tones similar to wampler clarksdale and a price point closer to $300 to make itviable to buy multiple units... or they could make a stacked unit allowing up to 3 stacked tones and sell for like $999.
The Nova Drive not only supports stackng, but you also can choose which to run first (distortion or overdrive). And you can also run them in parallel, so it goes beyond stacking.
Well...I can't overly get my head around this, as in it doesn't really make complete sense. 3 programmable pedals yes 3 overdrives yes You want us to compare your settings against each od with a strat and LP yes. But, we really aren't comparing much other than your settings & the programmable pedals themselves haven't been modeled per se on any of the 3 specifically. Notwithstanding, your settings did provide some close similarities. However, there's nothing to say that if each of the programmables were tweaked differently, then they'd perhaps sound closer to the ones you were trying to emulate or more pleasing to those that voted. So, I'm kinda lost as to the purpose here? Other than I'm lost here 😂..I did enjoy the video, especially your Tom Petty. Kinda got me thinking...that's such an iconic & tasteful riff, why have I never even thought of playing it. 💭 Thanks for the heads up here. 😎
We're not comparing "settings" we're comparing can we match the sound of the "Gold Standard" overdrives with the programmable "analog multi-effect" overdrives using a Strat and Les Paul. Each programmable pedal is set as close as I can audibly get them to the gold standard exemplar. There are setting ranges for each of the gold standard pedals that the manufacturers recommend along with how they've been used historically - the pedals are all set to their "sweet spot" for each instrument based on my interpretation. It doesn't make much sense in my mind to go for any extreme settings that wouldn't be the norm of how these pedals might be used. I think the viewer can infer the proximity of how other settings might sound in relationship to the reference vs. programmable pedal given the baseline we provide.
@@VertexEffectsInc Hey Mason - thanks for your reply here. :) Yes, you're comparing settings - the settings you've adjusted on the 'programables' to the range chosen on your so-called representative 'iconic' od's. In terms of the title of the video, it seems all three units are 'comparable' to the exemplars. I would therefore assume in a live setting much of a muchness & in a recording perhaps a bit different, but then again every player & every recording sounds different anyway, so that's really neither here nor there. Of course, the inherent weakness of RU-vid sound quality does not allow anybody, regardless of the end equipment used, to pick up on various details that have been lost. So we cannot know what it sounds like in your space. Unfortunately, this is the case for any demo & as viewers, we try to make do & infer sounds that we do not hear. We can't overcome this fact. By contrast 95+% of audiophile channels (maybe more at a guess), do not include any sound bites at all as it is well understood that RU-vid cannot go close to replicating the sound. However, in the guitar world, the platform is used differently, because it's the best means available that reaches a wide audience, it's good advertising and for companies and some RU-vidr's it's profitable. I don't have a problem with any of this & do enjoy watching many of these videos (such as this 😀). When it comes to hearing 'best', I think the framework of the question needs greater thought for it to have much meaning, to both the participants and the content creator. I appreciate the time and effort you put in here. I found it quite enjoyable, yet still, I can't get my head around it as per my original comments. Perhaps, as I don't know the intended purpose here of you gathering some sort of results. Regardless, I look forward to your findings & I may add further details to the next video once known. Cheers mate. 😎
@@VertexEffectsInc yeah, there was something that sounded “dead” to my ears. Or dull. Idk why. I literally couldn’t tell a difference between the originals and 1&2
@@VertexEffectsInc I went back and listened, The first two sounded so different by the time I got to 3 it just sounded completely different but going back and forth between the original then to the pedals, 3 does sound the closest to the original. So I will amend my comment and say 3. Although I liked 1.
ok soo this is what i think.... with the analogue gear there is a element of depthless, rich ness and feel that the simulations just can not capture in my experience.... yes the digital has new and unusual sounds that can only be done digitally and that the beauty of it, but it so has failed to comply replicate the analogue sound..............
I appreciate that feedback, but I still think that this is the best way to move forward by anonymizing all of the devices and then naming them later so we’re collecting as unbiased data as possible.
